This is a list of compositions by John Williams.
The following list consists of select films for which John Williams composed the score and/or songs.
Year | Title | Director | Studio | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1954 | You Are Welcome [1] [2] [3] | Oliver L. Vardy | Studio Hamburg | Promotional film for the tourist information office of Newfoundland |
1958 | Daddy-O | Lou Place | American International Pictures | Feature film debut Credited as Johnny Williams. |
1959 | Gidget | Paul Wendkos | Columbia Pictures | Orchestrator |
Year | Title | Director | Studio | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1960 | I Passed for White | Fred M. Wilcox | Allied Artists Pictures | Credited as Johnny Williams |
Because They're Young | Paul Wendkos | Jerry Bresler Productions Columbia Pictures | ||
1961 | The Secret Ways | Phil Karlson Richard Widmark | Heath Productions Universal Pictures | |
1962 | Bachelor Flat | Frank Tashlin Budd Grossman | 20th Century Fox | |
1963 | Diamond Head | Guy Green | Jerry Bresler Productions Columbia Pictures | |
Gidget Goes to Rome | Paul Wendkos | Columbia Pictures | ||
1964 | Nightmare in Chicago | Robert Altman | Roncom Films NBC | Television film |
The Killers | Don Siegel | Revue Studios Universal Pictures | Credited as Johnny Williams Adapted material by Henry Mancini | |
Redcap | — | ABC ITV | Credited as Johnny Williams Television series; Episode "Nightwatch" | |
1965 | Lost in Space | Anton M. Leader Sobey Martin Paul Stanley | Irwin Allen Productions Jodi Productions Inc. Van Bernard Productions Inc. 20th Century Fox Television CBS | Credited as Johnny Williams Television series; Episodes "The Reluctant Stowaway," "Island in the Sky", "The Hungry Sea" and "My Friend, Mr. Nobody". Williams composed two different opening themes, one used only for the first season; the second was also adapted by other composers for later film and TV remakes of the series. |
None but the Brave | Frank Sinatra | Tokyo Eiga Toho Artanis Productions Warner Bros. | Credited as Johnny Williams | |
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! | J. Lee Thompson | Parker–Orchard Productions 20th Century Fox | Credited as Johnny Williams | |
1966 | The Rare Breed | Andrew V. McLaglen | Universal Pictures | |
How to Steal a Million | William Wyler | World Wide Productions 20th Century Fox | ||
The Plainsman | David Lowell Rich | Universal Pictures | ||
Not with My Wife, You Don't! | Norman Panama | Fernwood Productions Reynard Productions Warner Bros. | ||
Penelope | Arthur Hiller | Euterpe Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | ||
Jericho | Barry Shear | Arena Productions MGM Television CBS | Credited as Johnny Williams Television series; Episode "The Ghostbreaker" | |
Time Tunnel | Irwin Allen | Irwin Allen Productions Kent Productions Inc. 20th Century Fox Television ABC | Credited as Johnny Williams Television series; Episode "Rendezvous With Yesterday" | |
1967 | Valley of the Dolls | Mark Robson | 20th Century Fox | Credited as Johnny Williams Songs written by André and Dory Previn Nominated—Academy Award for Best Scoring of Music — Adaptation or Treatment |
A Guide for the Married Man | Gene Kelly | Credited as Johnny Williams Composed title song (written by Leslie Bricusse, performed by The Turtles) | ||
Fitzwilly | Delbert Mann | The Mirisch Corporation United Artists | Credited as Johnny Williams | |
1968 | Sergeant Ryker | Buzz Kulik | Universal Pictures | |
Land of the Giants | Irwin Allen | Irwin Allen Productions Kent Productions Inc. 20th Century Fox Television ABC | Credited as Johnny Williams Television series; Episode "The Crash". Replaced a score by Alexander Courage | |
Heidi | Delbert Mann | NBC | Television film | |
1969 | Daddy's Gone A-Hunting | Mark Robson | National General Pictures | |
Goodbye, Mr. Chips | Herbert Ross | APJAC Productions Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (US) David Ortan (UK) | Nominated—Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture — Original or Adaptation (shared with Leslie Bricusse) | |
The Reivers | Mark Rydell | Cinema Center Films Duo Films Solar Productions National General Pictures | Nominated—Academy Award for Best Original Score — For a Motion Picture (Not a Musical) |
Year | Title | Director | Studio | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | The Fabelmans | Steven Spielberg | Amblin Entertainment Reliance Entertainment Universal Pictures | Nominated—Academy Award for Best Original Score Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score Nominated—Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media |
2023 | Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny | James Mangold | Walt Disney Pictures Lucasfilm Ltd. Paramount Pictures | Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition ("Helena's Theme") Nominated—Academy Award for Best Original Score Nominated—Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media |
Williams has composed music for four Olympic Games:
Year | Title | Network | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1958 | Playhouse 90 | CBS | Episode: "The Right Hand Man" |
1958–1959 | M Squad | NBC | — |
1958–1964 | Wagon Train | NBC ABC | — |
1959 | Markham | CBS | Episode: "Woman of Arles" |
1959–1960 | Bachelor Father | CBS NBC ABC | — |
1960 | Tales of Wells Fargo | NBC | — |
1960–1962 | Checkmate | CBS | Theme Nominated—Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media |
General Electric Theater | Episodes: "Ten Days in the Sun" and "Journal of Hope" | ||
1961 | Kraft Mystery Theatre | NBC | — |
1961–1963 | Alcoa Premiere | ABC | Theme |
1962–1963 | Wide Country | NBC | Theme |
1963 | The Eleventh Hour | Episode: "The Bronze Locust" | |
1963–1965 | Kraft Suspense Theatre | Theme | |
1963–1967 | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Theme | |
1964 | Breaking Point | ABC | Episode: "Better Than a Dead Lion" |
1964–1965 | Gilligan's Island | CBS | Episode: pilot |
1965 | Ben Casey | ABC | Episode: "A Little Fun to Match the Sorrow" |
Lost in Space | CBS | Episodes: "My Friend, Mr. Nobody", The Hungry Sea", "Island in the Sky" and "The Reluctant Stowaway" | |
1966 | The Tammy Grimes Show | ABC | Theme Episode: "How to Steal a Girl Even If It's Only Me" |
1966–1968 | The Time Tunnel | Theme Episode: "Rendezvous with Yesterday" | |
1968 | Land of the Giants | Episode: "The Crash" | |
CBS Playhouse | CBS | Episode: "Saturday Adoption" | |
1976 | 48th Academy Awards | ABC | Musical director |
1981–2005 | Evening at Pops | PBS | Theme |
1985–1987 | Amazing Stories | NBC | Theme Episodes: "The Mission" and "Ghost Train" |
2009 | Great Performances | PBS | Theme |
2022 | Obi-Wan Kenobi | Disney+ | Theme Score composed by Natalie Holt Theme adapted by William Ross |
Composition Year | Title | Premiere Date | Premiere Performers | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1969 | Concerto for Flute and Orchestra | 1981 | Leonard Slatkin/St. Louis Symphony Orchestra – Peter Lloyd, flute – St. Louis | |
1976 | Concerto for Violin and Orchestra | 1981-01-29 | Leonard Slatkin/St. Louis Symphony Orchestra – Mark Peskanov, violin – St. Louis | Composed at the suggestion of Barbara Ruick, first wife of the composer. Begun in 1974, shortly after Ruick's death, and completed in 1976 |
1985 | Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra | 1985-05-08 | John Williams/Boston Pops Orchestra – Chester Schmitz, tuba – Boston | Composed in 1985 for the Centennial of the Boston Pops |
1991 | Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra | 1991-04-13 | John Williams/Riverside County Philharmonic – Michele Zukovsky, clarinet – Los Angeles | Composed in 1991 for Michele Zukovsky, principal clarinet of the LA Philharmonic [8] |
1993 | Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra (The Five Sacred Trees) | 1995-04-15 | Kurt Masur/New York Philharmonic – Judith LeClair, bassoon | Composed in 1993 for the 150th celebration of the New York Philharmonic |
1994 | Concerto for Cello and Orchestra | 1994-07-07 | John Williams/Boston Symphony Orchestra – Yo-Yo Ma, cello – Tanglewood | Composed in 1994 for the opening of the Seiji Ozawa Hall in Tanglewood |
1996 | Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra | 1996-10 | Christoph von Dohnányi/Cleveland Orchestra – Michael Sachs, trumpet | Composed in 1996 for Michael Sachs, first trumpet of the Cleveland Orchestra |
1997 rev. 2002 | Elegy for Cello and Orchestra | Premiered by John Williams, piano, and John Waltz, cello. Later arranged for cello and orchestra | Composed in 1997 for a memorial service in Los Angeles. Based on a secondary theme from Seven Years in Tibet | |
2000 | TreeSong for Violin and Orchestra | 2000-07-08 | John Williams/Boston Symphony Orchestra – Gil Shaham, violin | Composed in 2000 for Gil Shaham |
2001 | Heartwood: Lyric Sketches for Cello and Orchestra | 2002-08-04 | John Williams/Boston Symphony Orchestra – Yo-Yo Ma, cello – Boston | Composed in 2001 for Yo-Yo Ma |
2003 | Concerto for Horn and Orchestra | 2003-11-29 | John Williams/Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Dale Clevenger, horn – Chicago | Composed for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's principal horn Dale Clevenger |
2007 | Duo Concertante for Violin and Viola | 2007-08-17 | John Williams/Boston Pops Orchestra – Victor Romanul, violin – Michael Zaretsky, viola – Tanglewood | Composed for Michael Zaretsky |
2009 | Concerto for Viola and Orchestra | 2009-05-26 | John Williams/Boston Symphony Orchestra – Boston | Composed for Cathy Basrak. Unreleased |
2009 | On Willows and Birches (Concerto for Harp and Orchestra) | 2009-09-23 | John Williams/Boston Symphony Orchestra – Boston | Composed for Ann Hobson Pilot |
2011 | Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra | 2011-05-25 | John Williams/Boston Pops Orchestra – Keisuke Wakao, oboe – Boston | Composed for Keisuke Wakao |
2014 | Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra | 2014-07-03 | China Philharmonic Orchestra – Lang Lang, piano – Beijing | Composed for the Music in the Summer Air Festival |
2017 | Markings for solo violin, strings, and harp | 2017-07-16 | Andris Nelsons/Boston Symphony Orchestra – Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin – Tanglewood | Composed for Anne-Sophie Mutter |
2018 | Highwood's Ghost, An Encounter for Cello, Harp and Orchestra | 2018-08-19 | Andris Nelsons/Boston Symphony Orchestra – Yo-Yo Ma, cello – Jessica Zhou, harp – Tanglewood | Composed for Yo-Yo Ma and Jessica Zhou |
2021 | Violin Concerto No. 2 | 2021-07-24 | John Williams/Boston Symphony Orchestra – Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin – Tanglewood | Composed for Anne-Sophie Mutter |
John Towner Williams is an American composer and conductor. In a career that has spanned seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognizable, and critically acclaimed film scores in cinema history. He has a distinct sound that mixes romanticism, impressionism and atonal music with complex orchestration. He is best known for his collaborations with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and has received numerous accolades including 26 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. With 54 Academy Award nominations, he is the second-most nominated person, after Walt Disney, and is the oldest Oscar nominee in any category, at 92 years old.
"The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)" is a musical theme present in the Star Wars franchise. It was composed by John Williams for the film The Empire Strikes Back. Together with "Yoda's Theme", "The Imperial March" was premiered on April 29, 1980, three weeks before the opening of the film, on the occasion of John Williams' first concert as official conductor-in-residence of the Boston Pops Orchestra. One of the best known symphonic movie themes, it is used as a leitmotif throughout the Star Wars franchise.
Michael Giacchino is an American composer of music for film, television, and video games. He has received many accolades for his work, including an Oscar for Up (2009), an Emmy for Lost (2004), and three Grammy Awards.
The music of the Star Wars franchise is composed and produced in conjunction with the development of the feature films, television series, and other merchandise within the epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas. The music for the primary feature films was written by John Williams. Williams' work on the series included the scores of nine feature films, a suite and several cues of thematic material for Solo and the theme music for the Galaxy's Edge Theme Park. These count among the most widely known and popular contributions to modern film music, and utilize a symphony orchestra and features an assortment of about fifty recurring musical themes to represent characters and other plot elements: one of the largest caches of themes in the history of film music.
The various film and theatre appearances of the Superman character have been accompanied by musical scores.
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the film score to the 2005 film of the same name released by Sony Classical on May 3, 2005, more than two weeks before the film's release. The music was composed and conducted by John Williams, and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices in February 2005, with orchestrations provided by Conrad Pope and Eddie Karam. The score was Williams' sixth score in the saga. Shawn Murphy recorded the score. Ramiro Belgardt and Kenneth Wannberg served as music editors; Wannberg served as music editor for the previous Star Wars scores. A remastered version of the soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on May 4, 2018.
The score from The Empire Strikes Back composed by John Williams. Between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, Williams had also worked with the London Symphony Orchestra for the scores to the films The Fury, Superman and Dracula. The score earned another Academy Award nomination for Williams. Again, the score was orchestrated by Herbert W. Spencer and Angela Morley, recorded by engineer Eric Tomlinson and edited by Kenneth Wannberg with supervision by Lionel Newman. John Williams himself took over duties as record producer from Star Wars creator George Lucas.
William Ross is an American composer, orchestrator, arranger, conductor and music director. Ross is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, one Daytime Emmy Award, and has been nominated for one Annie Award. He has been nominated twice for the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s).
The World Soundtrack Award for Soundtrack Composer of the Year is one of the three main prizes given by the World Soundtrack Academy to honour the best movie soundtracks and the people who work on them.
London Voices is a London-based choral ensemble founded by Terry Edwards (1939–2022) in 1973. In its early years, it also incorporated the London Opera Chorus and London Sinfonietta Voices and Chorus. In 2004, conductor and composer Ben Parry became co-director of the ensemble and in 2021 the Director and manager. Ben has held prestigious posts as artistic director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, (2012–2023) and assistant director of Music at King's College, Cambridge (2013–2021). London Voices has been involved in many performances, recordings of operas and CD and film soundtracks, including The Hobbit, Hunger Games, the prequel trilogy of Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series, The Iron Lady, Enemy at the Gates, La traviata, and The Passion of the Christ. They have recorded with such diverse artists as Luciano Pavarotti, Dave Brubeck, Sir Paul McCartney, Jacob Collier, Queen, Deaf Havana, Sting, Renée Fleming, Bryn Terfel and Roger Waters and has performed in concert venues all over the world, including London, Aldeburgh, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Berlin, Paris, Munich, New York, Beijing, Shanghai, Jordan and Lucerne.
John Williams Greatest Hits 1969–1999 is a compilation of concert suites from various films John Williams has scored between 1969 and 1999. The album contains takes from various orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra and Skywalker Symphony Orchestra.
The Golden State Pops Orchestra (GSPO) is an American symphony pops orchestra located in the San Pedro district of Los Angeles, California, in the United States of America. The GSPO is the resident orchestra of the Warner Grand Theatre, an Art Deco movie palace built by Warner Brothers Studios in 1931. The orchestra performs a wide variety of musical repertoire, including classical, Broadway, pop music and even video game soundtracks. However, the primary focus of the GSPO remains film music, a specialty of the orchestra since its founding in 2002. The Golden State Pops Orchestra is composed of professional freelance musicians from around the Los Angeles area.
The Cinematic Symphony is a musical ensemble based in Austin, Texas. The group is composed of volunteers and is dedicated to preserving and performing the music of film and television.
Jurassic World: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the film score to Jurassic World composed by Michael Giacchino. The album was released digitally and physically on June 9, 2015 by Back Lot Music.
Ewoks – Original Soundtrack is the film score to the television films Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor composed by Peter Bernstein. The score also includes brief reprisals of John Williams' Ewok theme from Return of the Jedi. A soundtrack album containing Bernstein's music from both films was officially released as a 12-inch LP record by Varèse Sarabande on December 8, 1986.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the soundtrack album to the 2016 film Rogue One directed by Gareth Edwards, which is the first instalment in the Star Wars anthology series. Originally, Alexandre Desplat was hired for the film score but was replaced by Michael Giacchino during the film's post-production. Giacchino scored the film within a span of the month, despite the tight schedule, and had incorporated John Williams' themes from previous Star Wars films into the score, having minor elements, while most of the themes were newly composed. The soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on December 16, 2016, coinciding with the film's theatrical release.
Gordy Haab is an American film, video game and television composer based in Los Angeles, California. His work has been featured in works associated with franchises including Star Wars Battlefront II, for which he won Video Game Score of the Year from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Haab is also known for his work on Microsoft's Halo Wars 2, for which he was nominated for a 2017 HMMA award. His score for Electronic Arts' Star Wars: Battlefront, won three awards at the 2016 GDC G.A.N.G. Awards: Music of the Year, Best Interactive Score, and Best Instrumental Score. Haab was also nominated for a BAFTA Games Awards for his work on Star Wars: Battlefront.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the film score to the 2017 film of the same name composed and conducted by John Williams. The album was released by Walt Disney Records on December 15, 2017, in digipak CD, Jewel case CD, digital formats, and streaming services.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the film score for the 2018 film of the same name composed by Michael Giacchino. The album was released by Back Lot Music on June 15, 2018 digitally and physically.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is the musical score accompanying the 2022 Disney+ limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi, composed by Natalie Holt and William Ross with the main theme for the title character composed by John Williams. It was released by Walt Disney Records on June 29, 2022.