Jaws composer John Williams to receive honorary knighthood

Beautiful Blue Eyes Roy Scheider

Film score legend John Williams is being knighted as the king of composers in one of the final approvals by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

From Jaws to Star Wars, Indiana Jones to Superman and Harry Potter to Jurassic Park, John Williams is the greatest living film composer, and now his extraordinary work is set to be celebrated with him being made an honorary knight of the realm.

No, not a Jedi, but Williams works his baton like Yoda does his lightsaber.

He'll be amongst the final group of people to be awarded the honour that was approved by The Queen ahead of her death earlier this month.

Williams, who turned 90 earlier this year, is of course being given the award for services to film music and his name was included in a list of honorary awards for foreign nationals. A previous recipient being his good friend and fellow Jaws co-conspirator Steven Spielberg, although just like him he won't be able to use the title Sir.

Williams is the most Oscar-nominated living person, with an astounding 52 nominations under his baton. Not a bad record for this vicinity, and a record only bettered by Walt Disney with 59 nominations. 

Out of those nominations Williams has taken home an Oscar five times, starting with Fiddler on the Roof wins Best Score (Adaptation) (1972), Jaws for Best Original Score (1976), Star Wars for Best Original Score (1978), E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial for Best Original Score (1983) and Schindler’s List for Best Original Score (1994).

For his Jaws win John Williams didn’t need to have a bigger walk to collect his Oscar at the 1976 Academy Awards, as he was the Musical Director for that year’s show. Many of those playing in the orchestra pit that day had also played on Jaws. Making it an even more special occasion.

The composer made traditional symphonic movie music cool again, creating recurring themes that we know instantly as soon as we hear them.

And he doesn't create music and mood, but also greats music for characters, also known as leitmotifs, obvious examples being the Indiana Jones theme or Superman theme, but even characters like Marion and Lois Lane get their own themes, as do the villains. Talking of which, the Jaws theme IS the shark, without that rhythmic piano we wouldn't know if the shark was there or not, or how fast he was approaching.

And Steven Spielberg attributes 50% of the success of Jaws to the John Williams score.

Quite right too. It does for swimming pools and the sea what Bernard Herrmann's Psycho did for showers and people wielding knives.

Those two alternating notes - E and F or F and F sharp - represented something primal and relentless in the shark and our fear in Jaws.

It's a far cry from when John Williams first played the Jaws score for Spielberg, he laughed. That's right, the young director thought that Williams was pulling his leg, which is somewhat ironic as that is what the shark would end up doing to the estuary victim.

Spielberg thought he was going to get something other worldly and grandiose, and initially laughed at the repeated notes presented to him.

Of course, by the time it came to the finished film, Spielberg had a very different opinion of the seminal score that delivers thrills, chills and excitement to this day.

The beauty and longevity of the music of John Williams is that it is infectious, who hasn't hummed the Star Wars theme, whistled Superman or recreated the Jaws theme in the swimming pool? It also works outside the world of the movie it was originally designed to represent, so you can enjoy the Jaws, Empire of the Sun or Schindler's List scores on their own merits as musical tour de forces.

Everyone at The Daily Jaws congratulates John Williams on this honour, which is just his latest amazing achievement in an outstanding career and long may the musical force be with him.

 Words by Dean Newman

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