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From: dp@astrovax.UUCP (Deborah L. Padgett)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: more on John Williams and stealing
Message-ID: <353@astrovax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-May-84 15:15:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: astrovax.353
Posted: Wed May 23 15:15:50 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 26-May-84 12:30:47 EDT
References: <864@unm-cvax.UUCP> <12100002@acf4.UUCP>
Organization: Princeton Univ. Astrophysics
Lines: 53

I find the assertion that just because a piece of music has a similar rhythm to
some other piece, it must have been "stolen" from the "original" (usually
classical) work ludicrous. I agree that the Imperial March captures the 
atmosphere and intensity of Holst's "Mars" (for which I complement Williams),
but the march form of the piece and its straightforward, rather than atonal,
melodic approach are a far cry from the earlier work; as a matter of fact,
I like the Imperial March better. Williams may have been inspired by Holst,
Wagner, Stravinsky, etc., but they, in turn, were inspired by a host of others.
In fact, most of these classical composers did their best to emulate one or
more of their peers in a mentor/apprentice relationship. Some, like R. Strauss
imitating Wagner, enhanced the style of the "original" composer considerably
even if his music "sounds familiar".
No form of music, classical or otherwise, has ever "sprung full-grown from the
mind of a single creator. Styles evolve as each contributing composer inserts
a little of his or her own individualism into their work. The only difference
between Williams and the composers of the classics is the span of time between
his works and theirs; the Romantic style that he composes has been largely
submerged by the atonality of most "serious" music written during the 20th
century. Anyone writing a fugue for organ would have similar problems and
would undoubtably look to Bach's century for inspiration.
In addition, I question whether those who claim to like the music of Jerry
Goldsmith and Bernard Herrmann but not John Williams have really been listening
to the latter's music. I enjoy the music of both of these other composers,
but they share Williams' recognizability. Herrmann seems to have had a further
tendancy to write "Mickey Mouse" scores (music which reflects the slightest
action occurring on the screen) and is perhaps the 
most literal musical interpreter of
movie special effects. Although his "North by Northwest" is one of my
favorite scores, I have howled with laughter at his "Giant Lizard" piece from
"Journey to the Center of the Earth"; Williams' music for Lost in Space is
MUCH better than this! I needn't mention "It's Alive" or "It Lives Again"
("...there's only one thing wrong with the Jones baby - IT'S ALIVE!!" remember?)
which were Herrmann's final "works", but I will anyway, in case Rich Rosen
has forgotten...  Jerry Goldsmith is my second favorite film composer. He
occasionally has flashes of inspiration (PATTON maybe; I haven't figured out
where he got that one yet), but mostly he shuttles between a clear melodic
style which is very similar to Williams and a standard atonal score.
The latter style is usually characterized  by a single unobtrusive theme which
is punctuated by violent bursts of nonharmonious sound (PLANET OF THE APES,
ALIEN, OUTLAND, POLTERGEIST). I can clearly distinguish his Wagnerian style
scores from those of Williams, but some people obviously cannot (or don't
try). My only real complaint with Goldsmith is that he doesn't write pieces that
are musically complete. He always seems to be unsure of how to end his music,
unlike Williams, who organizes his music into distinct themes and set pieces
which interplay in the score, but also exist independently of it. The only
exception to this rule seems to be Goldsmith's score for "STAR TREK - THE
MOTION PICTURE" (my favorite score of his) which, I claim, was inspired
by STAR WARS and shares many of its characteristics. In addition, the Klingon
music mentioned by an earlier article also sounds very much like Holst's
"MARS". In any case, I enjoy the music of all these composers and others
(like John Barry and Miklos Rosa), and I regret that some people refuse to
recognize the merit of film music in general, or John Williams in particular.