Music to fly a man: the power of the theme of John Williams to “Superman” | Features

“I owe a huge debt of gratitude to John Williams; Without his music, Superman’s powers are considerably reduced. Believe me, if you try to fly without this theme, you are not going anywhere. ” —Christopher Reeve

The statement above, said during a 1993 celebration in honor of the composer, applies not only to the actor who played him but also to the character of Superman. Since Reeve flew to screens in 1978, the theme of John Williams was synonymous with the most famous hero of the DC Comics team, and he continued this heritage in “Superman”, which opens this week. So maybe it’s time to ask us: what is this theme that goes beyond the film that generated it?

“One of the essential things about the film for me,” said Williams in the 2001 documentary “Making Superman: Filming The Legend”, “It was that it was fun and did not take too seriously. The way Richard [Donner] had led her, and in particular the way in which Chris and Margot [Kidder] Played the games, there was almost this kind of theatrical camp which did not take too seriously, and if one could strike a level of theater and sleight of hand and ironic in the creation of themes, that it could be the good idea. »»

Williams wrote seven different themes for “Superman: The Movie”, including a beautiful love theme and a nostalgic theme of Aaron Copland for the Smallville sequences. But it is the theme of Superman which is dominant in an appropriate way. It is made up of two sections: a powerful fanfare acting as a precursor of action and a call for arms, and a large and brilliant main theme which uses a phrasing with three notes that sounds as if he says “sup-er-man”.

So when Clark Kent must become Superman to prevent Lane Lois from becoming a Jackson Pollock sidewalk, Williams plays a great interpretation of the fanfare when he opens his shirt to reveal this great “S”, creating a truly emblematic moment. Subsequently, the main theme plays with exuberance and vigor while Superman catches the falling helicopter, with the crowd under doing the same thing as the public does: encourage. And it is not only the disinterested heroic act to which we react, it is the triumphant music of the point.

“Like all the main themes of John Williams,” explains Tim Greiving, author of the coming book John Williams: the life of a composer“Superman’s theme has the impression of having existed since the Dawn of Time, and has the impression that he came here with Kal -El from Krypton. A big theme of a fictitious character, like a great pop song, feels inevitable and predetermined while rejoicing about our ears with a feeling of surprise – and the theme of Superman makes that in periods.”

Williams’ theme continued to climb through the three “Superman” images of Reeve and beyond. “Supergirl” came to screens in 1984, with the same producers behind him: the infamous Ilya and Alexander Salkind. Jerry Goldsmith marked the film and mainly wrote new material for the image, but he also found the space to include a brief but respectful quote from the theme of Williams, in a scene where the main character sees a dorm poster of the steel man from Reeve. This continued live and animation, with the excellent theme of Shirley Walker at the 1996 cartoon “Superman: The Animated Series”, which also uses the “Sup-Er-Er-Man” device. Although, to be fair, this phrasing was used for the first time by Sammy Timberg in the “Superman” caricatures of 1941, as produced by Max and Dave Fleischer, so it is not particularly a new thing – Williams just gave that added what added punch.

2006 saw the theme of Williams return to the cinema in a significant way, gracked with “Superman Returns” by Bryan Singer. A pseudo-sequence to the first two photos of Reeve, and presented a certain number of tributes to the films, in particular the adaptation of Williams’ themes by the regular notation partner of Singer, John Ottman, who reintroduced the theme in a major main title sequence very similar to the original 1978. Even Zack Snyder was initially interested in using Williams music for “Man of Steel ”in 2013. In 2022, Storyboard artist Jay Oliva posted on Twitter that Snyder wanted to use the theme, but Warner Bros. preferred a new approach, finally hiring Hans Zimmer. “Zack and I loved this theme,” said Oliva, “but the studio wouldn’t let us use it because they wanted something new for this superman. It turned out to be a good thing because Hanz [sic] The theme was perfect. The theme of Williams appeared briefly in “Justice League”, according to Danny Elfman, but it was reversed in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”, which featured the music of Tom Holkenborg.

Zimmer’s approach to Superman was admirable, but he was condemned to fail in a film that did not seem interested in taking the character seriously. The dark and grainy tone that many fans admire are poorly suited for Superman, and as much as they tell us that his “S” is the symbol of “Hope”, there seems to be very little in the real image. As a result, Zimmer’s music is much more pleasant away from the film.

Gunn, however, did not hesitate to bring back the theme of John Williams. “This soundtrack,” he told Gizmodo in 2024, “was one of my favorites of all time. When I was a child, what I liked most in the film was music. This is the thing with which I brought back more than anyone.” For “Superman”, Gunn recruited the English composer John Murphy, who had marked “The Suicide Squad” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.”. But at the time, Gunn had not even finished writing. “He was one of the first people to whom I gave the script, with Peter Safran and a few others, so that he could start writing music. And I said:” I want to use a version of the Williams theme, but I want to make it our own version. “”

Murphy’s version of the theme made its debut with the first trailer in December – a more concise version of the melody initially played on the electric guitar before being resumed with an orchestra and a chorus. It seems fresh and unique, but still definitely John Williams, a superman for a new generation, but who respects where he comes from.

“What is really incredible is how it leads to many other pieces,” said Gunn. “Some of which come back to the theme of Williams, but some of which are purely John Murphy. It comes back in this, comes back, and he is beautifully used throughout the film. And John has worked almost constantly for almost two years, assembling the score.”

It seems that John Williams’ Superman theme does not disappear soon. Perhaps this is suitable for a world in so many troubles, where the public always requires escape and symbolism that his heroic acts bring, as his comics did during the great depression. As George Lucas likes to say so much, it’s like poetry. He rhymes.

“The Superman theme”, explains Greiving, “has become permanently stuck to the character, not only because the film was so popular or even because the melody was so catchy, but because it corresponded to Superman as a custom blue costume. Williams has so much forged the good melody for this character, the perfect melody, that we cannot imagine without that.”