# JW bequeaths all scores and sketches to Juillard



## NoamL (Mar 6, 2018)

Great news:

*NEW YORK * –– *The Juilliard School* announced today that it has received a bequest from Academy Award-winning composer and conductor John Williams of his complete library of concert music and film music scores as well as his sketchbooks. Mr. Williams, who studied piano with longtime Juilliard faculty member Rosina Lhévinne, announced the gift at a special alumni event held in Los Angeles at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills, where Mr. Williams was also presented with a President’s Medal by Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi.

Acknowledging this gift, Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi said, "We are deeply grateful to John for his extraordinary generosity in bequeathing Juilliard his extensive library of both concert and film scores. John has been a wonderful friend and colleague for many years. His artistry, creativity, and endless imagination make him one of the most admired and respected musicians of our time. His gift will be a unique resource for all of our musicians at the school, particularly composition students who can study first-hand John’s breadth and versatility as a composer."

"Since my earliest days as a fledgling piano student, I have looked up to the Juilliard School as the Mecca for the study of music in our country and beyond," Mr. Williams said. "It’s therefore a privilege for me to donate my sketches, papers, and scores to Juilliard, to be made available to those students particularly interested in the intimate processes of film scoring."

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This will make his complete scores much more available to study.


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## RiffWraith (Mar 6, 2018)

Uh-oh. This does not sound good.


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## d.healey (Mar 7, 2018)

I hope they actually make the scores available and don't just lock them in a vault


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## Iskra (Mar 7, 2018)

Not to undervalue JW bequest, which I find a wonderful gesture (we should wait to the fine print of Juilliard in a few months to see if this would help all musicians or kept in a vault for some Juilliard alumnae), but he could have uploaded everything to the Internet and that REALLY would have been earth-shaking.


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## d.healey (Mar 7, 2018)

Iskra said:


> he could have uploaded everything to the Internet and that REALLY would have been earth-shaking.


He'd have to digitize everything first and that would be no easy task.


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## Iskra (Mar 7, 2018)

Oh, I apply to do that work for free! (I guess among many, many, many others)


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## MatFluor (Mar 7, 2018)

I hear student jobs ringing at Juillard - scanning and typesetting all JW scores. Could be a nice long-term project - if Juillard does something like this.

When I studied Computational Linguistics, we did that with the Swiss Alpine Club, all their yearbooks (articles yadda yadda), all scanned, OCR'd and annotated for linguistic usage. Same could be done with JW's music. It would be wonderful. A Digital JW database.


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## Iskra (Mar 7, 2018)

MatFluor said:


> It would be wonderful. A Digital JW database.


Truly wonderful!


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## wst3 (Mar 7, 2018)

agreed - I sense a trip to NYC in my future!


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## South Thames (Mar 7, 2018)

Realistically, the way these things usually go is that access is granted to scholars and/or people with a scholarly interest in reviewing them. I wouldn't have thought they'd be made easily/widely available, but one can hope. I'm amazed at the amount of JW stuff that is out there already, albeit unofficially. Since there's no commercial interest in publishing this stuff, I used to always assume I'd never get to see those scores.


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## patrick76 (Mar 7, 2018)

That rarescores guy from sheeto is gonna be pissed.


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## CT (Mar 7, 2018)

patrick76 said:


> That rarescores guy from sheeto is gonna be pissed.





This is awesome. I'll be spending a lot more time around the Lincoln Center area, I bet!


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## NoamL (Mar 7, 2018)

MatFluor said:


> I hear student jobs ringing at Juillard - scanning and typesetting all JW scores.



Presumably, typeset conductor's scores already exist for many of these films.


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## d.healey (Mar 7, 2018)

NoamL said:


> Presumably, typeset conductor's scores already exist for many of these films.


A lot of the conductors scores are already available (not all officially). I think it's the sketches and his own handwritten work that is of most interest.


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## Mundano (Mar 7, 2018)

great news for the world of musicology!


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## RiffWraith (Mar 8, 2018)

wst3 said:


> agreed - I sense a trip to NYC in my future!





South Thames said:


> Realistically, the way these things usually go is that access is granted to scholars and/or people with a scholarly interest in reviewing them.



For the record, I emailed the J. Lib, and was told that they would not have any material for some time, and that the work will be available to scholars and researchers on an appointment basis.

I then asked if a composer like myself - who would like to "research" JW's scores - would qualify.... and the answer was yes, I would be accommodated.

Cheers.


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## Matt Riley (Mar 8, 2018)

He is truly a world treasure. I saw him conduct the Boston Pops several months ago and it was one of the highlights of my life. He is such a gift.


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## adg21 (Mar 10, 2018)

Uploading his scores to the internet would have been the most stylish thing to do. Juilliard will no doubt claim ownership for all time


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