I'm out in beautiful Yakima, WA, playing the first gig of the season with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra. The program is a celebration of John Williams' 80th birthday and features many of his best-known scores. Coincidentally, I read an article yesterday by J. Peter Burkholder on musical meaning, and it offered an interesting way into the music of Williams. Many people have accused Williams of "borrowing" from other composers, and on, occasion, outright copying. I would argue that this borrowing, or modeling is precisely why his music is so successful.
In short, Burkholder's model proposes a five-stage process by which listeners ascribe meaning to a piece of music:
Here's where I'll bring in John Williams. I'll start with the obvious, the "Imperial March" from Star Wars.
The similarity between this and "Mars, bringer of war" from Holst's The Planets is unmistakable. They both begin with the martial triplet figures, and both are in G minor (basically). The diminished chords in the Williams allude to the the tritones in Holst's melody. The listener who is familiar with both works immediately makes the musical connection. There are, of course, differences between the two, but not enough to overwhelm the similarities. Once the musical connection is established, the listener can draw meaning from Williams' reference to an outer-space themed piece that evokes war. (Both pieces and their titles aside, there are many features of either that clearly evoke marching and war: the drum taps, dissonance, the gradual crescendos--particularly in the Holst. I suspect a listener could detect a martial/warlike meaning in both of these pieces with no extra-musical prodding.)
On to Superman:
I want to extend Burkholder's line of thought to Superman. The opening of this bit calls to mind Copland's Fanfare and all of its attendant meanings. It features the brass, fourths and fifths, timpani, etc. It simultaneously evokes Strauss's Zarathustra: in a way, it's a retrograde of that opening. This is significant, as Williams evokes another Strauss piece, Death and Transfiguration, as the "heroic" theme later. So in the opening eight measures or so, Williams manages to blend the common man, superman (Ubermensch), and some sort of military sensibility. Once the march proper starts (around 0:28) the music is clearly martial: it sounds like a lot of things--Star Wars is perhaps most prominent (Star Wars was released in 1977; Superman in 1978).
To summarize: the score for Superman (at least the bit I excerpted here) combines ideas of the common man, the "superman," heroism, war, death and transfiguration, and outer space. Sounds a bit like the Superman myth to me.
Of particular interest to me is his music for the NBC Nightly News (I didn't know he wrote this until I received my music for this concert):
To me, this music refers directly to the Superman theme in many ways. The key is the same, and many of the melodic and rhythmic figures are similar. Thus, the news is tied up with ideas of common men, heroism, death, war, etc. In the middle section (around 1:20), the snare drum (supported by cellos, basses, and bassoons) suggests not only a martial trope, but also a typewriter, teletype machine, perhaps Morse code... any number of implements that made disseminating the news possible in its early days. The opening and closing sixteenth-note violin figures also imitate this typewriter sound, but the snare drum clarifies this association. I think, though, that the only reason I made that connection is because of the work's functional association: were it not the theme for a newscast, I would not have heard a typewriter. (By that same logic, this passage is similar to the opening of "Mars" or the "Imperial March," but I'm hard pressed to hear a typewriter there, even if I try.)
Williams' strong allusions to preexisting compositions (including his own) which are themselves rich with allusion, creates a very strong web of possible meanings that anyone from the novice to the experienced listener can draw on to create meaning. While many accuse him of borrowing a bit too liberally, I would argue that this borrowing is precisely why his scores are so successful.
UPDATE: Compare "Hymn to the Fallen" to the excerpts from Holst and Star Wars: what's the same? What's different?
In short, Burkholder's model proposes a five-stage process by which listeners ascribe meaning to a piece of music:
- We recognize familiar elements. These elements may be a texture, form, instrument, chord, or any number of other aspects.
- We recall other music that makes use of these familiar aspects.
- We perceive other associations with the material beyond the primary associations.
- We note what is new in the present example and how familiar elements have changed
- We try to make meaning out of this information (78-9)
Here's where I'll bring in John Williams. I'll start with the obvious, the "Imperial March" from Star Wars.
The similarity between this and "Mars, bringer of war" from Holst's The Planets is unmistakable. They both begin with the martial triplet figures, and both are in G minor (basically). The diminished chords in the Williams allude to the the tritones in Holst's melody. The listener who is familiar with both works immediately makes the musical connection. There are, of course, differences between the two, but not enough to overwhelm the similarities. Once the musical connection is established, the listener can draw meaning from Williams' reference to an outer-space themed piece that evokes war. (Both pieces and their titles aside, there are many features of either that clearly evoke marching and war: the drum taps, dissonance, the gradual crescendos--particularly in the Holst. I suspect a listener could detect a martial/warlike meaning in both of these pieces with no extra-musical prodding.)
On to Superman:
I want to extend Burkholder's line of thought to Superman. The opening of this bit calls to mind Copland's Fanfare and all of its attendant meanings. It features the brass, fourths and fifths, timpani, etc. It simultaneously evokes Strauss's Zarathustra: in a way, it's a retrograde of that opening. This is significant, as Williams evokes another Strauss piece, Death and Transfiguration, as the "heroic" theme later. So in the opening eight measures or so, Williams manages to blend the common man, superman (Ubermensch), and some sort of military sensibility. Once the march proper starts (around 0:28) the music is clearly martial: it sounds like a lot of things--Star Wars is perhaps most prominent (Star Wars was released in 1977; Superman in 1978).
To summarize: the score for Superman (at least the bit I excerpted here) combines ideas of the common man, the "superman," heroism, war, death and transfiguration, and outer space. Sounds a bit like the Superman myth to me.
Of particular interest to me is his music for the NBC Nightly News (I didn't know he wrote this until I received my music for this concert):
To me, this music refers directly to the Superman theme in many ways. The key is the same, and many of the melodic and rhythmic figures are similar. Thus, the news is tied up with ideas of common men, heroism, death, war, etc. In the middle section (around 1:20), the snare drum (supported by cellos, basses, and bassoons) suggests not only a martial trope, but also a typewriter, teletype machine, perhaps Morse code... any number of implements that made disseminating the news possible in its early days. The opening and closing sixteenth-note violin figures also imitate this typewriter sound, but the snare drum clarifies this association. I think, though, that the only reason I made that connection is because of the work's functional association: were it not the theme for a newscast, I would not have heard a typewriter. (By that same logic, this passage is similar to the opening of "Mars" or the "Imperial March," but I'm hard pressed to hear a typewriter there, even if I try.)
Williams' strong allusions to preexisting compositions (including his own) which are themselves rich with allusion, creates a very strong web of possible meanings that anyone from the novice to the experienced listener can draw on to create meaning. While many accuse him of borrowing a bit too liberally, I would argue that this borrowing is precisely why his scores are so successful.
UPDATE: Compare "Hymn to the Fallen" to the excerpts from Holst and Star Wars: what's the same? What's different?