21 - Classical Trends for Film, Television and Broadway

John Williams, famous American musical composer and conductor

Trends of a classical nature in music for film, television and theater as well as that called New Age 1950 - 2010

• Modern Classical Music

1. Diverse
1. Conventional instruments
2. Electronic instruments
3. Computer-generated aspects
2. Often complex
1. Classic tonality (major, minor, chromaticism)
2. Influences from world and Jazz
3. Traditional and non-traditional forms
4. Melody and harmony over timbre and rhythm

Truly American Composers

• Charles Ives (1875 - 1954)

1. Great innovator in music
2. Highly successful businessman
1. Felt great freedom to compose
2. Substantial resources
3. Style
1. Based composition on American things
2. Complex (performers and audiences)
4. Representative Pieces
1. 4 Symphonies
2. 200 Songs
3. Tone Poems
4. Three Places in New England
5. The Unanswered Question
6. 2 Piano Sonata
7. Variations on America (listen until 5 minutes into the video)

• Aaron Copland

1. Merged classical and vernacular styles
1. Innovative but built on concepts of past
2. Organized new music concerts
3. Sources
1. Cowboy songs
2. Mexican songs
3. Church music
4. Jazz/Blues
2. Works
1. Ballets
1. Billy the Kid
2. Rodeo
3. Appalachian Spring
2. Patriotic Music
1. Fanfare for the Common Man
2. Lincoln Portrait
3. Movie Music
1. Red Pony
2. Our Town

• William Grant Still

1. Classically trained, African-American composer
2. Over 150 published compositions
1. Opera
2. Ballet
3. Symphonies
3. Used folk themes and Negro spirituals as a basis, serious music of a truly American flavor

• Neo-Classical Music

1. Return to structures/aesthetics of the past
2. Forms of previous periods
3. Some augmentation
4. Possible traits
1. Balance of consonance and dissonance
2. Order and structure definable
3. Varied instrumentation
4. Transparent texture
5. Traditional Sounds
5. Not all music is as abstract
6. Many composers returned to practices of the past (maturity?)
7. Traditional styles used but with new adaptations
8. Balance between innovation/style and acceptance

• Neo-Classic Composers

1. George Gershwin (American Opera)
2. Richard Rodgers (Broadway)
3. Leonard Bernstein (Composer/Director)
4. Henry Mancini (Television, Movies)
5. Andrew Lloyd Webber (Broadway)
6. John Williams (Movies)

• George Gershwin (1898-1937)

1. American
2. Popular and classical genres
3. Collaborated with elder brother
 on Broadway shows
4. Best known works
1. Rhapsody in Blue (1924)
2. An American in Paris (1928)
3. Porgy and Bess (1935).

• Richard Rodgers (1902-1979)

1. American composer 
2. 900 songs and 43 Broadway 
musicals
3. Music for films and television
4. Partnerships with lyricists 
Lorenz Hart and Oscar 
Hammerstein II
5. First person to win all of the following awards:
1. Emmy
2. Grammy
3. Oscar
4. Tony
5. Pulitzer Prize
6. Best known works
1. Oklahoma! (1943)
2. Carousel (1945)
3. State Fair (1945 - film)
4. South Pacific (1949)
5. The King and I (1951)
6. Victory at Sea (1952 - documentary series)
7. Cinderella (1957)
8. Flower Drum Song (1958)
9. The Sound of Music (1959)

• Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

1. American conductor, composer, 
author, music lecturer, and pianist
2. Long tenure as the music director 
of the New York Philharmonic
3. Wrote symphonies, ballet music, 
operas, chamber music, and 
other concert and incidental music
4. Tremendous success of West Side Story remained unequaled by his other compositions

• Henry Mancini (1924-1994)

1. American composer, conductor 
and arranger
2. Best remembered for film and 
television scores
3. Record number of Grammy 
Awards (20), plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995.
4. His best-known works include:
1. the jazz-idiom theme to The Pink 
Panther film series 
2. Themes from Peter Gunn,
Newhart and Remington Steele
television shows
3. “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s
4. 
“Days of Wine and Roses” from the 1962 film Days of Wine and Roses
5. “A Time for Us” from the 1969 movie Romeo and Juliet
5. Partnered with Doc Severinsen on albums

• John Williams

1. Born in 1932
2. American composer, conductor, 
and pianist
3. Career spans almost six decades
4. Composed recognizable film scores 
including:
1. the Star Wars saga
2. Jaws
3. Superman
4. the Indiana Jones films
5. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
6. Hook
7. Jurassic Park
8. Schindler’s List
9. Home Alone
10. the first three Harry Potter films

• Andrew Lloyd Webber

1. Born in 1948
2. English composer of musical 
theatre
3. Composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass
4. Seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006
5. Best known works:
1. “The Music of the Night” 
from The Phantom of the 
Opera
2. “I Don't Know How 
to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar
3. “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” and “You Must Love Me” from Evita
4. “Any Dream Will Do” from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
5. “Pie Jesu” from Requiem
6. “Memory” from Cats have been widely recorded and are standalone hits

• Chip Davis

1. Born in 1947
2. Composer, successful innovator
 and music entrepreneur
3. Creator of the group, Mannheim 
Steamroller 
4. Originator of New Age
1. mixing pop music with classical and rock styles
2. effected country music
3. rejuvenated Christmas music

• New Age

1. Music of various styles
2. Intended to create:
1. artistic inspiration
2. relaxation
3. optimism
3. The harmonies are generally:
1. modal
2. consonant
3. frequently include a drone bass
4. The melodies are often:
1. repetitive
2. create a hypnotic feeling
3. sometimes employ nature sounds
5. Pieces of up to thirty minutes are common
6. Vocal arrangements are rare
7. New Age music was influenced by a wide range of artists from a variety of genres
8. Often sold in bookstores and gift shops in addition to traditional music outlets

Prof. Songer

JCTC - Downtown