John Williams''s Film Music
ISBN: 9780299297336
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / University of Wisconsin Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: Motion picture music;

John Williams is one of the most renowned film composers in history. He has penned unforgettable scores for Star Wars , the Indiana Jones series, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , Jaws , Superman , and countless other films. Fans flock to his many concerts, and with forty-nine Academy Award nominations as of 2014, he is the second-most Oscar-nominated person after Walt Disney. Yet despite such critical acclaim and prestige, this is the first book in English on Williams's work and career.
Combining accessible writing with thorough scholarship, and rigorous historical accounts with insightful readings, John Williams's Film Music explores why Williams is so important to the history of film music. Beginning with an overview of music from Hollywood's Golden Age (1933-58), Emilio Audissino traces the turning points of Williams's career and articulates how he revived the classical Hollywood musical style. This book charts each landmark of this musical restoration, with special attention to the scores for Jaws and Star Wars , Williams's work as conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, and a full film/music analysis of Raiders of the Lost Ark . The result is a precise, enlightening definition of Williams's "neoclassicism" and a grounded demonstration of his lasting importance, for both his compositions and his historical role in restoring part of the Hollywood tradition.

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Emilio Audissino is a researcher at the University of Southampton, UK. He holds a PhD from the University of Pisa and has published many articles on Hollywood cinema, film style, and film music.nbsp;Both his MA and PhD theses treated John Williams's film music.

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