JOHN WILLIAMS

By Erica McMillan

BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN WILLIAMS

John Towner Williams was born in Queens, New York on February 8th, 1932. Decided to be a concert pianist at the young age of 15-wrote his first piano sonata Studied at University of California Los Angeles and Los Angeles City College Joined the United States Air Force Attended Julliard

BIOGRAPHY CONTD.
Worked for Hollywood studios as a piano player His first job as a pianist included TV hit series Some Like it Hot, Peter Gunn, and South Pacific-he won two Emmy Awards At 24, he began orchestrating for 20th-Century Fox Williams first Academy Award for Original Score came from Jaws He has won over 40 Oscar awards, Gold and platinum record awards, Emmys, Golden Globes, Grammys

Led national orchestras, including the Boston Pops Orchestra

DUEL OF THE FATES HISTORY

This song is from the motion picture Star Wars. The piece includes a full orchestra, as well as a choir. The choir is used to give a religious, temple-like feel. The duel itself, for which the music is written for, seems like a dance or a ballet, a religious ceremony of some kind. John Williams wrote the orchestra and choir pieces separately, then layered the vocals over the orchestra parts. During the editing of the film, Star Wars 1:The Phantom Menace, George Lucas presented the final light saber duel scene to John Williams. Lucas said he wanted a film which represented the entire prequel series. He wanted it to represent something hiding in the background, something more than what you see. Lucas wanted it to represent the dark side, and how it portrays the doom of the Jedi.

Duel of the Fates 0:00 The choir starts the song out singing lyrics in Sanskrit, introducing the main theme. (Theme A) 0:15 Low strings introduce the rhythmic under current like theme of the entire piece 0:25 Clarinet introduces the orchestral theme (Theme B) 0:40 All strings join in the rhythmic undercurrent 0:45 horns take over the orchestral theme, with the low brass mimicking in a fugue-like pattern 1:03 Choir re-enters with Sanskrit lyrics, with entire orchestra as accompinament 1:15 Orchestra crescendos to the climax of the piece, with trumpets playing a fanfare 1:23 Choir enters with their theme, horns play the orchestral theme over the choirs theme 1:33 Theme A and Theme B meet 1:40 Theme A and Theme B come together to play Theme C 1:47 Choir returns to Theme A, Orchestra plays accompaniment under-towing theme 1:58 Choir climaxes and cuts off, orchestra backs off 2:04 Large crescendo by orchestra. Both choir and orchestra take a break, leaving a reverberation. The low strings enter again with the under current theme 2:11 Clarinet enters with theme B, with the bassoon mimicking 2:20 Orchestra crescendos to horn entrance of the theme, copied by the brass. Flute then takes the theme, with the strings doing a frantic fast rhythm, continuing to crescendo. Flute and French horns are battling for the theme, until they come to a clash 2:37 Whole orchestra, in unison, plays Theme C 2:43 Choir enters with Theme A, with the orchestra playing the under current, and horns playing Theme B 2:55 Choir and Orchestra join together with Theme C 3:04 Choir climaxes and cuts off, Orchestra continues to play 3:08 Choir re-enters with slower A Capella version of Theme A 3:15 Timpani gives rhythmic battle-like rhythm 3:22 Orchestra re-enters with under current Theme 3:25 Brass play a frantic short rhythm, representing the last ditch in the battle, followed by percussion. Brass crescendo with the under current theme; enter cymbal crash 3:35 Low strings re-enter with the under lying theme. Bassoon enters with Theme B. Choir enters with Theme A. Choir and Orchestra do a short recap of combination themes, ending with brass fanfare, timpani, and cymbal

THE RAIDERS MARCH HISTORY

This song was originally two separate songs played on the piano. John Williams invited Steven Spielberg to a performance where he played the two songs. Spielberg told Williams to put the two songs together, resulting in The Raiders March. This theme recurs in each of the Indiana Jones movies, and has also been used in other Indiana Jones movies to portray the character of Indiana Jones. This song is known as a leitmotif, which is a recurring musical theme. It was composed around 1980, and released in 1981. This theme has been known to most all as Indiana Joness theme song.

The Raiders March 0:00 Low brass begin the song with an underlying motif. 0:07 Trumpets enter with Indiana Jones Theme 0:22 Woodwinds enter playing with low brass on rhythmic motif 0:37 Entire string section enters playing Theme B, with woodwind flutters above all 0:51 Snare drum enters with a militaristic march-like rhythm with trumpets playing Theme B, with strings doodling underneath. 1:17 Trumpets re-enter with Indiana Jones Theme, with low brass and strings playing underlying motif. Piccolo joins trumpets in Indiana Jones Theme 1:31 Each section mimicks end of Indiana Jones theme. Starting with strings, then horns, then low brass 1:35 Key change; repeat of Indiana theme with trumpets above all 1:49 Indiana Theme is cut short, woodwinds play Theme B 2:01 Strings enter with slow rhythm 2:06 Introduction of Love Theme by low strings and horns, with violins playing harmony over top 2:39 Violins copy the end of the theme followed by the cellos playing the theme with violins harmonizing 3:04 Harp glissando; changes key, violins enter with Love theme, accompanied by celli playing ascending scale-like accompaniment below 3:30 Love theme is bombarded by original motif played by flutes and low brass. Horns playing theme B 3:57 Trumpets enter to finish off theme B and crescendo into Indiana Jones theme 4:46 Horns enter with ending Coda accompanied by violins ending with brass fanfare to the end, accompanied by strings