PRESS RELEASE:
The University of Wisconsin Press is pleased to announce the publication of:
JOHN WILLIAMS’S FILM MUSIC
Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the Return of the Classical Hollywood Music Style
By Emilio Audissino
Publication Date: June 12, 2014
Paperback Original
346 pp. 6 x 9
Paper $29.95 ISBN 978-0-299-29734-3
e-book $24.95 ISBN 978-0-299-29733-6
“A much-needed work that captures the spirit and thinking of John Williams. Audissino is to be applauded for taking on such a large musical figure and for presenting him in the most wide-ranging manner. One gets the impression that he has tracked down every significant fact on Mr. Williams.”—Vincent LoBrutto, author of Sound-On-Film
John Williams is one of the most renowned film composers in history. He has penned unforgettable scores for Star Wars, the Indiana Jones series, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Superman, and countless other films. Fans flock to his many concerts, and with forty-nine Academy Award nominations as of 2014, he is the second-most Oscar-nominated person after Walt Disney. Yet despite such critical acclaim and prestige, this is the first book in English on Williams’s work and career.
Combining accessible writing with thorough scholarship, and rigorous historical accounts with insightful readings, John Williams’s Film Music explores why Williams is so important to the history of film music. Beginning with an overview of music from Hollywood’s Golden Age (1933–1958), Emilio Audissino traces the turning points of Williams’s career and articulates how he revived the classical Hollywood musical style. This book charts each landmark of this musical restoration, with special attention to the scores for Jaws and Star Wars, Williams’s work as conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, and a full film/music analysis of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The result is a precise, enlightening definition of Williams’s “neoclassicism” and a grounded demonstration of his lasting importance, for both his compositions and his historical role in restoring part of the Hollywood tradition.
“Emilio Audissino should be commended for his passion and research of such a stellar composer as John Williams.”—Larry Timm, author of The Soul of Cinema: An Appreciation of Film Music
Join Dr. Audissino at an event in Boston!
Monday, June 9, 2014 at 5:30 PM
Barnes & Noble Prudential Center
800 Boylston St., Suite 179
617-247-6959
Emilio Audissino is a researcher at the University of Southampton, UK. He holds a PhD from the University of Pisa and has published many articles on Hollywood cinema, film style, and film music. Both his MA and PhD theses treated John Williams’s film music.
For more information, please contact us at phone (608) 263-0734; fax (608) 263-1132; email: publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu. We would appreciate receiving a copy of any notice that may appear. Please send tear sheets, noting name and location of publication and date of issue, to the Publicity Department at the University of Wisconsin Press.
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