John Williams: genius or effort?

According to director Steven Spielberg, John Williams had just played less than 5 notes of the film's theme when Spielberg's wife cried. Less than 10 more notes later, Spielberg burst into tears, and then John Williams also shed tears.

John Williams - Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™

From the mysterious melody like the magic bell that opens each Harry Potter movie to the accompaniment like small footsteps walking steadily on tatami mats in Memoirs of a Geisha, from the heroic music that rings out when Superman flies over like a savior to save a girl falling from a high place to the warm and cheerful melodies of Christmas night in Home Alone..., a person just needs to compose one of those pieces of music to be memorable.

But John Williams composed all of those songs, and countless others, both inside and outside of cinema.

Wrapping up such a prolific career in a documentary just over 100 minutes long, Laurent Bouzereau’s Music by John Williams (2024) certainly can’t possibly cover every important work by the greatest living film composer (there were far too many). But it does at least give us a sense of how a man could have gone from one pinnacle to another.

Music by John Williams Trailer - Disney+

Talent? Of course, he was a genius, but that wasn't enough. Family history? Also, his father was a musician in Hollywood, but not that prominent.

Was it luck? John Williams himself would nod modestly and tell us that yes, he was lucky; but as an audience, we know there was more to it than that. And the answer lies in nothing else but hard work, a lot of hard work.

John Williams hardly refused any offer, no matter how small, in the early days of his musical career.

We know John Williams today as the composer of the most famous film scores of all time in the Star Wars series or Schindler's List, but do we know about the little-known John Williams, a pianist who played the piano for so many Hollywood productions, from classics like Breakfast at Tiffany's, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Apartment to completely forgotten films?

Do we know a John Williams who composed music for average television productions, mindless sitcoms by little-known directors, to the point that a composer who preceded him once advised him to leave the film industry if he did not want to lose himself in this commercial music?

And further, do we know of a John Williams who was once asked by a small studio to write music for a travel documentary about coastal Canada, and he accepted?

Just marvel at the fact that this composer had just finished the score that touched on the most innocent, adventurous things of childhood in Jurassic Park. He had just made the giant dinosaurs come to life through music, and immediately started composing for the best film about humanity in World War II - Schindler's List.

But don't think that he did it just because of his natural talent. These songs are the end result of a life of constant work, of constant sowing, whether on fertile or barren lands.

Williams's creative range was so wide because, it seemed to him, in art there was never any distinction between high and low.

He can agree to score movies that other people think are terrible. He can compose music for networks like ESPN, but at the same time he writes the most challenging, experimental concertos for soloists.

The most recent material in Music by John Williams was shot in 2023. That year, Williams announced that after the fifth Indiana Jones film, he would retire from writing film scores and focus solely on orchestral music. But he later changed his mind, saying he wanted to stay in Hollywood for another 10 years, until he was 100 years old.

So Williams fans, don't worry. John Williams is only 93, and he's still sitting at his desk every morning writing music.

HIEN TRANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/john-williams-thien-tai-hay-no-luc-20250706084928776.htm