# John Williams' Superman The Movie



## dcoscina (May 6, 2013)

I had the opportunity to listen to this entire score (the FSM "Bluebox" release that took its masters from the original recording from the film which emphasizes the brass more than the Rhino re release from the late '90s). 

Listening intently to thematic development and diversity, orchestration, and narrative adherence, I firmly believe this score to be the greatest in the history of the medium. Of course that's my opinion but as far as how Williams approached this score, but moreover how he developed it within the narrative, well, it reminds me of Wagner's approach to opera. 

Themes and Key Scenes

*Main Theme- Superman March* (ironically very few cues feature this theme unadorned save for the Helicopter Rescue). Most cues only have the that alternating dominant to tonic brass figure which in of itself is a derivation of the Krypton Theme. You get a quote from this alternating figure during the Trip To Earth cue, the beginning of the Racing the Train, and various other parts of the score. The composer leans on this figure far more than the entire main theme as its concise format lends itself almost to a leitmotif like function.

*Krypton Theme*- as stated above, Williams has a field day inserting and varying this theme (more of motive actually) throughout the score. Appropriately, we don't hear it during the Smallville sequences of the film until Clark discovers the green crystal. This theme most dramatically returns when Superman is conflicted over whether to follow the edit of Jor El or Pa Kent during the climax sequence of the film. 

During the Krypton part of the film, the composer chose wordless choir and electronics to evoke the other-worldiness of the setting.

*Smallville them*e- a warm, Americana piece that is more fixed to this chapter of the film. Williams changes its effect from the pastoral mid West simple life feel to a plaintive mournful one when Pa Kent dies. Instrumentation is all orchestra and warmer sonorities. The exception is the Train chase cue where brass ostinati mirror the sound of the train. 

*Metropolis*- Williams didn't really assign a theme to the city but changed the style of his music from the almost religious tone of Kypton and pandiatonic mode of Smallville to more a urban sounding orchestral sound. 
For much of this music, Williams chose suspended brass chords and some interesting bi-tonal settings, even contrasting his earlier themes against set piece music in two different keys. 

*March of the Villains/Otis' Theme*- a Prokofiev like piece that highlights some terrific tuba writing that evokes the bumbling oaf that is Otis. Mario Puzo's influence on this part of the screenplay was said to be responsible for the tone changing to a lighter, humorous one. Unlike the Main Theme, Williams did use the entire theme when Otis is followed by an undercover cop into Luthor's Lair. Williams later does a nice play on this theme by using muted brass lending a sneering type sound to it. 

*Helicopter Rescue*- A pivotal sequence both musically and narratively- remember, we haven't seen Superman fully yet. The composer introduced the lead up to the main theme exposition by putting forth the 12/8 rhythmic figure in pieces. As the events transpire on screen and we see Clark's shirt part to reveal the "S" Williams announces Superman's brass motif. There are some almost aleatoric frenzied violin figures as helicopter drops racing towards Superman and Lois. 

*Love Theme*- The first 5 notes are indeed the same notes that can be found in Richard Strauss' _Death and Transfiguration_. But what Williams does after those notes are really what distinguishes this piece especially the harmonic departure he makes. Lois' theme is used at various points but none so effectively as in the scene where her car is engulfed by an earthquake and she's trapped juxtaposed to Superman rescuing various other people in the wake of Luthor's dual atomic bombings. The harried, atonal setting and compacted presentation of her theme in the strings creates a significant impact as other presentations of her theme have been pleasant. By contrasting the main line with the dissonance, the music speaks to the urgency and gravity of the moment. 

**************
These are but a few observations I made while listening to this magnificent score. It hits all of the action but never feels like empty Micky-Mousing because of the thematic breadth at the composer's disposal. The music goes through a series of transformations that follow the journey of the title character. Even moreso than Star Wars, Williams reached a height that probably will never be achieved again for film. The music works incredibly well in context but has enough substantive material to work away from the film, acting almost like a tone poem (*again the Strauss reference). 

This is by far my favorite Williams score. It would be my Desert Island soundtrack as it has everything in it. Epic, humor, action, romance, sacred, even a bit of contemporary (for the '70s which is the score's only weakness as it dates it a little).

For Man Of Steel, I for one am glad Hans Zimmer decided to stray very far from this score. Samples from his upcoming score sound very good, heroic but decidedly different. Some people (mostly film score geeks on soundtrack forums) have already condemned Hans' music based on short samples (sigh) but I feel it's because they cannot make a break from Williams' original. Pity because I think they will be missing out on a new, exciting chapter in this character's film genesis.


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## jlb (May 6, 2013)

It is a wonderful score indeed, one of JW's finest

JLB


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## Alastair (May 6, 2013)

I can't disagree with you on the point that Superman is one of the greatest film scores of all time...the themes, the orchestration and the suitability in context are incredible. However I have to say that I think he outdid himself with E.T 4 years later. Interestingly, I watched an interview with John where he stated that he thought that E.T was his favourite of all his scores also. I just feel that the emotive aspect of E.T and the complete perfection achieved in the final 12 minutes of the film give it the edge over the other great JW scores.

It's a real pity that he doesn't go for similar big thematic films anymore, not since Harry Potter has he done anything that even compares to his work in the 70s and 80s.


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## Inductance (May 7, 2013)

Thank you for that thoughtful and insightful review! I'm going to have to re-watch this film, keeping the points you mentioned in mind. Also, I just realized that I don't own this soundtrack, for some reason! Time to fix that...



> Some people (mostly film score geeks on soundtrack forums) have already condemned Hans' music based on short samples (sigh) but I feel it's because they cannot make a break from Williams' original.



Yeah, unfortunately, I've spent more time than I'd like to admit reading reviews on some of these soundtrack review websites. Then I realized that these reviews were more about how clever the reviewer thinks he is (how many metaphors can he come up with to express how much he doesn't like this score?) than they are about the score itself. And they usually make their review more about the composer than the music.


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## dcoscina (May 7, 2013)

To be honest most soundtrack fans know little about music (theory, its mechanics, application). They are ostensibly film fans who like to relive the movie experience by listening to their scores. Not saying all of them aren't musically blessed but the good majority wouldn't know a tritone from a triad. I actually left the FSM forum as it was just getting more and more frustrating trying to have a dialogue with some of those people. I've generally tried to limit posting on the web to allow more time to composing.


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## Dave Connor (May 7, 2013)

A favorite JW score to be sure. One of his 'perfect' scores. The way he imbued it with the American spirit as in the burial scene that shows the Midwestern expanse is just beautiful. He gets so many things right in that score.


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## skyy38 (Mar 6, 2016)

And for those of you who want to get deeper, try this:

http://scoresheet.tripod.com/ScoringStage/Superman/SupermanExpanded.html


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## Rodney Money (Mar 6, 2016)

The Krypton Theme (Fanfare) is one of those pieces that changed my life.


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## dcoscina (Mar 6, 2016)

This is only my opinion but I think it's Williams greatest score. There is so much thematic variety and stylistic breadth to this score. You have the quasi religious tone of krypton, the pandiatomicism of small vile and the urban sprawl of metropolis. The level of writing for this one movie is just astounding. I would easily compare it to any major orchestral work of the 20th century as far as technique and overall architecture is concerned.


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## Rodney Money (Mar 6, 2016)

dcoscina said:


> This is only my opinion but I think it's Williams greatest score. There is so much thematic variety and stylistic breadth to this score. You have the quasi religious tone of krypton.


Maybe that's why I like Krypton so much. I've always been kind of "spiritual."


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## dcoscina (Mar 6, 2016)

Dave Connor said:


> A favorite JW score to be sure. One of his 'perfect' scores. The way he imbued it with the American spirit as in the burial scene that shows the Midwestern expanse is just beautiful. He gets so many things right in that score.


Pa Kent Dies is one of my favourite cues of any film score I've heard. The music is so profound and emotive. I love the density in his string writing for that part where Pa collapses and Williams plays this thick alternating bi tonal chord progression. It's haunting. Then it cuts to that long shot underscored by the first appearance of Kent/small vile theme.


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## David Story (Mar 6, 2016)

Superman is a culmination of a certain kind of score - the romantic adventure. An American approach to tradition that also defined the emerging superhero genre. It's timeless thanks to the inspired melodies, brilliant orchestration, and dramaturgy. It's probably the best musical evocation of the sense of flying, I remember thousands cheering with joy from the opening titles.
For the modern superhero, who's less romantic and more troubled, I like Henry Jackman, Bear McCreary, and Alan Silvestri's scores. But this era doesn't have a culmination yet, and may never, until it becomes tuneful again.


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## AVaudio (Mar 7, 2016)

I have studied "Superman March" a lot because it contains such a ton of orchestration and composition lessons that were later copied and clixéed to the death. Amazing use of tuplets, divisi, doubling, high melodic percussion (glockenspiel) and of course, brass writting... so many orchestral devices! I agree with you, it's something to be listened to on its own with your full attention, it's one of this cases in which the music gives so much to the film, that you wonder wheter the soundtrack supports the movie or the movie supports the music!

I agree with Alastair, though, that he probably outdid himself with ET. That is just out of this world, at par with the great composers of the XIX century in my opinion.

Krypton is also my favourite piece, musically, one of the best brass pieces ever in film music, or just one of the best brass pieces ever, period.


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## ed buller (Mar 7, 2016)

It is a fabulous score but at times a little too sweet sounding for me .I miss the darkness he brings to Star Wars, Indy and Close Encounters. Even ET ( another very sweet sounding score ) has some dissonant moments. I think Close Encounters and The First Star Wars ( his best scores IMHO ) top it .

e


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## SillyMidOn (Mar 7, 2016)

AVaudio said:


> I have studied "Superman March" a lot because it contains such a ton of orchestration and composition lessons that were later copied and clixéed to the death. Amazing use of tuplets, divisi, doubling, high melodic percussion (glockenspiel) and of course, brass writting... so many orchestral devices! I agree with you, it's something to be listened to on its own with your full attention, it's one of this cases in which the music gives so much to the film, that you wonder wheter the soundtrack supports the movie or the movie supports the music!



Same here!


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## dcoscina (Mar 7, 2016)

ed buller said:


> It is a fabulous score but at times a little too sweet sounding for me .I miss the darkness he brings to Star Wars, Indy and Close Encounters. Even ET ( another very sweet sounding score ) has some dissonant moments. I think Close Encounters and The First Star Wars ( his best scores IMHO ) top it .
> 
> e


Have you heard the expanded release from Rhino or the FSM bluebox release? I find very little of superman sweet actually. The destruction of krypton has some very abrasive brass writing and once supes gets to Metropolis there are plenty of sequences where Williams scores more gritty. The original Warner release I would agree has more pleasant stuff from the score but the expanded editions definitely bring out ballsier writing.


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## ed buller (Mar 7, 2016)

Yes I have both. Don't get me wrong there are wonderful bits . I am particularly fond of the "journey to earth " and " Fortress cues " . The Main Title is definitely one of his finest. I guess I am just a fan of his moodier stuff. 

e


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## wbacer (Mar 8, 2016)

Inspired by what I read in this thread, I ordered the Rhino, "Superman the Movie" double CD from Amazon.
I have a 2013 Mac Pro with an Apple USB Superdrive plugged directly into my Mac Pro. I'm running the latest version of El Capitan.

Although the CD mounts on the desktop as usual, the problem is that I can't import any of the AIFF-C files directly into iTunes. All I get is an error message and it spits out the CD. I can't even drag and drop any of the audio files from the CD on to the desktop. It just spits out the CD. I can't play any of the files directly off the CD, again it just spits out the CD. I tried playing the AIFF files in Amazing Slow Downer, Quicktime, all with the same result.

I called Apple and they said it should work and that the CD was bad but both of the CD's do the same thing and both of the CDs play fine in the CD player in my car. I can play, import, drag and drop any other MP3 CDs using the Apple Superdrive without a problem. Very strange. Anyone have any idea on what the problem may be?

The only other thing I can think of is to send the CD's back to Amazon and purchase their MP3 download version.


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## RiffWraith (Mar 8, 2016)

skyy38 said:


> And for those of you who want to get deeper, try this:
> 
> http://scoresheet.tripod.com/ScoringStage/Superman/SupermanExpanded.html




*VIRUS / MALWARE ALERT

*
If you open that page, DO NOT click on it, nor on any links on that page.


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## wbacer (Mar 8, 2016)

Oh great, I checked out this site and clicked on some of the links. I wonder if this may be causing the CD problem that I just outlined. I sure hope not. :-(


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## wbacer (Mar 8, 2016)

RiffWraith said:


> *VIRUS / MALWARE ALERT
> 
> *
> If you open that page, DO NOT click on it, nor on any links on that page.



Is anyone else who may of visited this site experiencing any virus / malware issues?


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## RiffWraith (Mar 8, 2016)

So, you went to the site, and clicked on something? Did you get a window that opened underneath your browser, claiming you need to update your flash? And then when you tried to close it, you can't?


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## wbacer (Mar 8, 2016)

No, I don't remember experiencing anything like that but thanks for asking.

Also the problem I'm having with the Superman CD doesn't appear to be caused by a virus or malware. I tried to import the CD into iTunes on my MacBook Pro and ran into the same problem. Looks like something is wrong with the CD so back to Amazon it goes.


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## skyy38 (Mar 9, 2016)

wbacer said:


> No, I don't remember experiencing anything like that but thanks for asking.
> 
> Also the problem I'm having with the Superman CD doesn't appear to be caused by a virus or malware. I tried to import the CD into iTunes on my MacBook Pro and ran into the same problem. Looks like something is wrong with the CD so back to Amazon it goes.



Stupid question asked once, but isn't it usual to upload the CD into your computer first before doing anything else with it, like importing into iTunes?


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## wbacer (Mar 9, 2016)

skyy38 said:


> Stupid question asked once, but isn't it usual to upload the CD into your computer first before doing anything else with it, like importing into iTunes?


Yes, I never directly upload a CD to my computer that's what iTunes does. All I wanted to do was import the CD into iTunes. Since that wouldn't work, just to test the integrity of the files on the CD, I tried to drag and drop a file from the CD to the desktop. That wouldn't work either. Both the import into iTunes and the drag and drop should have not been an issue. I've been working with Mac's since day one. I know what they should do. I can import other CD's into iTunes and drop and drop files from other CD's all day long without a problem. I just drives me crazy when something as simple as this doesn't work.


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## Zedcars (Jan 14, 2019)

dcoscina said:


> *Love Theme*- The first 5 notes are indeed the same notes that can be found in Richard Strauss' _Death and Transfiguration_.


They aren’t the same notes.
Strauss uses C4, D4, E4, E5, D5.
Williams uses C4, E4, G4, E5, D5.

Similar, but not the same.

I enjoyed your excellent analysis of his score though. Sorry for resurrecting an old thread.


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## ed buller (Jan 14, 2019)

Zedcars said:


> They aren’t the same notes.
> Strauss uses C4, D4, E4, E5, D5.
> Williams uses C4, E4, G4, E5, D5.
> 
> ...


ahh.....didn't spot that !...still a chord tone none the less. The rhythm and lydian Harmony are identical though...

e


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