The music to James Bond, Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars films is immediately recognizable, even if one doesn't know the names of the composers. "Score – A Film Music Documentary" pays tribute to its creators.
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7 great film music composers
How long should a list of the most important film composers be? Should it number 10, 50 or 100? Who should be included is a matter of dispute. Here's our small and personal selection.
Image: AP
Max Steiner
Considered the father of film music, the Austrian-American composer was the first to underscore dialogue with music. Early on he discovered how music can enhance and even transform the impact of images, such as in the classics "King Kong" (1933), "Gone With the Wind" (1939) and "Casablanca" (1942). Nominated 24 times for an Oscar, Steiner was awarded the distinction three times.
Of Jewish background, the composer emigrated from Austria to the US in 1934 and soon set standards for Hollywood film music. Generously paid by Warner Bros. Studios, he was able to choose his own projects. Korngold devised the music to "Anthony Adverse" (1936), "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938) and "The Sea Hawk" (1940). He also wrote piano and orchestral works, Lieder and chamber music.
Bernard Herrmann (r.) with Alfred Hitchcock
A young woman is stabbed under a shower in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" — the scene rendered doubly terrifying by screeching violins. Herrmann's score in Hitchcock's "Vertigo" first conjures up a vague sense of unease, then propels the action forward at the end. The American composer's long career comprises the Orson Welles classic "Citizen Kane" (1941) and Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" (1976).
The 20th Century Fox theme, one of the most familiar signature tunes ever, was actually composed for a different studio but rejected. Newman also devised the scores to "Everything About Eve" (1950) with Bette Davis and "The Seventh Year Itch" (1955) starring Marilyn Monroe. His sons, Thomas and David Newman, are also important film composers.
Image: picture-alliance / Mary Evans Picture Library
Ennio Morricone
The Italian wrote the ultimate film music to "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968) as well as to "Once Upon a Time in America" (1984), "The Untouchables" (1987) and over 500 other films. Quentin Tarantino used Morricone's compositions in "Inglourious Basterds" (2009) before asking him to write the original score for "The Hateful Eight" (2015).
Image: Jelmer de Haas
Hans Zimmer
The Hollywood-based German took the Oscar for the music to "Lion King" in 1995 and has been nominated for the distinction 10 times. His amalgamation of synthesizer and orchestral sounds was revolutionary. Zimmer wrote the music for over 150 films, including "Rain Man" (1988), "Pirates of the Caribbean" (2003, 2006, 2007 and 2011) and "Blade Runner 2049" (2017).
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John Williams
In 1975, he wrote the music to Steven Spielberg's "Jaws." Without his compositions, the "Indiana Jones" films (from 1981-2008), the "Star Wars" franchise (from 1977), "Superman" (1978), "E.T" (1982), "Schindler's List" (1993) and "Jurassic Park" (from 1993) would have turned out quite differently. Williams' music often works on a subconscious level before culminating in a grand finale.
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"The music is the heartbeat of the film," says director James Cameron in "Score – A Film Music Documentary," in which the late Superman actor Christopher Reeve is also shown praising composer John Williams: "Without the music, Superman's powers are highly diminished," said Reeve. "If you try to fly without that melody, you get nowhere."
Screened at various festivals since last year, the crowdfunded documentary has now been released in German theaters.
At under 93 minutes, "Score – A Film Music Documentary" exhaustively recounts 100 years of film music, beginning in the era of silent films, when an organist seated at a Wurlitzer theater organ had the job of drowning out the noise of the film projector while generating emotional tension to go with the moving pictures.
Much of the documentary is dedicated to modern production methods, with composers working at computers and studio orchestras then sight-reading their scores.
A glimpse behind the scenes
The nearly 60 persons interviewed include film composers Danny Elfman, Rachel Portman, Howard Shore, John Williams and Trent Reznor, giving a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the trade, where the composer customarily joins the production team only after the final cut and then has to meet high expectations. In one instance, a composer recounts seeing his name on a poster announcing a premiere with the music only half finished.
The tremendous pressure is felt even by a master of the trade, German composer and Hollywood resident Hans Zimmer: "I have no idea where the music is coming from. You're afraid that somebody could turn off the tap."
One director actually worked in reverse order: Stanley Kubrick selected the music first and then perfectionistically expected his actors to act on the beat, often driving them to distraction.
"2001: A Space Odyssey": Stanley Kubrick was not only a visual perfectionistImage: imago
Kubrick's use of Richard Strauss's tone poem "Thus spake Zarathustra" and of Johann Strauss's "Blue Danube Waltz" in "2001: A Space Odyssey" has iconic status, and in his epic "Barry Lyndon," Handel's Sarabande and Schubert's piano trio practically take on starring roles.
Paving the way
Even Richard Wagner (1813-1883) deserves a mention among film composers. Although he lived before the era of moving pictures, his music as a means of dramatic expression set the score for those to follow — and 109 years after it was first heard, his "Ride of the Valkyries" thundered forth in Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam epic "Apocalypse Now."
In "Apocalypse Now," Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore blasts Richard Wagner's music from his helicopter to scare the ennemyImage: picture alliance/United Archives/IFTN
Arnold Schönberg and Dmitri Shostakovich also dabbled in film music in the early 20th century, but one composer who perfected it in the 1940s was Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who had fled fascism in Austria.
Click on the gallery above to see some of the composers who've created the music that intensifies, complements or even acts as a foil for the visuals. Their melodies and rhythms have entered the collective consciousness, even if their names sometimes haven't.
