First Concert of the 73rd Season

Although Williams is known mostly for his symphonic music, richly orchestrated, he also incorporates voices in a number of his film scores. Examples include Empire of the Sun, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Home Alone, and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

Even if you have not seen Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the most recent episode of the Indiana Jones franchise, you will recognize parts of it because Williams sensibly refers to themes he used in earlier episodes.

Williams, like other successful film-score composers, has been criticized for "Mickeymousing," fitting the music too closely to the action. This practice stemmed from the silent era, when pianists and organists improvised music to fit the scenes they were watching from the orchestra pit.  Williams doesn't quite do that, but many of us remember with a thrill the upward sweep of the orchestra in The Empire Strikes Back when the Millennium Falcon swoops up in a loop, and dives into a crater.  Now that's film music of MY generation.

The "silent era" was way before my time, but not before my father's.  He put himself through college by playing in a local cinema (they were called "theaters" then).  He used to entertain me by improvising bits of film music.  "Daddy, play me some scary music, for when the monster comees!"  He delighted my sister and me.  So I am more accepting of Mickeymousing than others.

It's possible that films and video games have engendered a new type of "composition." In an interview with John Williams, Irwin Bazelon asked Williams if "...one has to be a composer to write film scores." Here is Williams' response.

No. Not in the sense I think you and I would define the term "composer."  I think one could take a primitive with pie tins and bows and arrows and good recording equipment and make a wonderfully effective sound compilation of a mélange of noises. It might be very effective dramatically if it was timed correctly, if it suited the style of the film; if all these things seemed wedded to the grain or fabric of the film, I think it could be wonderful.  Some people say this is composing, this is a composer -- it may be, I don't know.  But not in the kind of European, eighteenth-, nineteenth-, early twentiety-century sense of the word "composer" and the skills which that would designate.

I have heard people say that, yes, they like "classical music."  When pressed to specificy, they say, "I like the Clair de Lune, the Moonlight Sonata, and The Fifth Symphony."  It turn out that they know only those pieces, and it doesn't occur to them to wonder which "fifth symphony."  There are probably hundreds of "fifth symphonies," but we all know to which one they are referring: Beethoven's Fifth!  This may be the world's most famous symphony, and we are so used to it, we often don't bother to add the name of the composer.  However, as you know, Beethoven wrote nine symphonies, not including Wellington's Victory, also known as The Battle Symphony, the "battle" being the one at Victoria, in Spain, at which the Napoleonic troops were routed.

This "symphony," not really a symphony at all, but more likely an overly dramatic tone-poem, was first performed, along with the seventh symphony, in December of 1813, in Vienna.  The seventh symphony was described as a "companion piece" to Wellington's Victory!  The concert was a huge success, largely because of the patriotic ferver it elicited.  The performace at the University of Vienna was a benefit for Austrian and Bavarian soldiers wounded in action.  Today, critics are embarassed by the Battle Symphony, and find it hard to believe that Beethoven wrote it.  It is the "companion piece" which has survived and thrived.

A "classical" symphony comprises four movements, and this one is no exception.  The movements are as follows: I. Poco sostenuto; Vivace.  II. Allegretto.  III. Presto.  IV. Finale; Allegro con brio.

The first movement, Poco sostenuto, opens with a long introduction, almost a movement in itself, followed by the boisterous vivace.  This movement, like all the others, is steadfastly rhythmic, giving rise to the suggestion (by Wagner, among others) that the whole symphony is "the apotheosis of the dance."

The Allegretto is the most famous movement of this symphony.  In a number of performances, it had to be played a second time before the work could continue.  It is slow and to some extent melancholic, almost a dirge.  The haunting quality of the themes had a strong influence on the romantic composers, such as Schubert.  There is a stately fugal passage near the end of the movement.

The third movement, Presto; Presto meno assai, seems to have presented a problem for conductors who differ as to Beethoven's intent.  It means "fast, but not too fast," but what does that mean?  Recordings of this work vary, depending on the conductor.

The third movement of a "classical" symphony, as developed by Mozart and Haydn, was expected to be a rather sedate minuey and trio, that is, a stately dance played twice with a contrasting part between (originally played by three instruments, hence "trio").  Beethoven changed the character of the symphony by introducing the scherzo as a substitute for the minuet.  The trio is said to be derived from an old pilgrim's hymn.  But lots of things "are said."  Scherzo means "joke," but that shouldn't be taken too literally.  It usually means "light," "sprightly."

The Finale; Allegro con brio is positively manic.  It has been described as a Bacchanale, contrasting with the more structured scherzo.  Beethoven's own word for this aspect of his personality is Aufgeknöpft, "unbuttoned."