Reading Film Music

by Hal Jackson

For the most part, musicians interested in reading film scores are in for a lot of disappointment. Most published film scores are watered-down arrangements for piano, so that they are playable by the average instrumentalist. There are symphonic suites available, but many of these differ substantially from the original score used in the recording sessions for the various films. I thought I'd share some of my experiences in obtaining (and in some cases, not obtaining) copies of film music for perusal.

The late 1970s and early 1980s film scores of John Williams led me into the world of film music; as such, I enjoyed trying to "re-create" cues from certain scores of his onto music paper. After many phone calls to the West Coast, I found out to email Williams through his agent. Back then (1987) I foolishly asked to borrow a copy of his score to Star Wars. Not surprisingly, this request was denied, although it was interesting getting the actual letter from John Williams.

I began studying the film scores of the "Bible epic" films, notably Ben-Hur. After many phone calls, I located copies of the piano-conductor score at Turner Entertainment. After procuring permission from the score's publisher, I was granted permission to get copies made. For just over $100, they copied the entire score and mailed it to me. I imagine most of the pre-1965 MGM scores might be available this way.

As I became familiar with Bernard Herrmann, I went on a telephone quest for the score to Vertigo. I located the score at the University of California at Santa Barbara at the Bernard Herrmann archive. I was told by a Mr. Martin Silver that if I had permission from the studio, I could get a copy made. Using my videotape of Vertigo as a reference, I thought that Universal controlled the music rights. Universal gave me the go-ahead, and a copy was sent to me, sans the cues "The Window", "The Nighmare", and "Scene d'amour." About a month later, I was arguing with Paramount to get copies of Williams' Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The man with whom I was arguing assured me I could never get copies of film scores. I told him that I had Vertigo... and he hit the roof. It seems Paramount always controlled the music rights. The Herrmann archive curator called me and tersely asked me to return the score and not copy it. I complied.

Most of Bernard Herrmann's conductor scores to his film are at the Library of Congress, on Microfilm. Other material at the LOC includes: Planet of the Apes (full score), The Ten Commandments (Elmer Bernstein, 1956), The Buccaneer (Bernstein, 1958), Alien (1979) (full score), Aliens (1986) (full score), and a lot of older Williams scores (some comedy scores from the 1960s). Their collection is quite large, and includes some treasures like Erich Wolfgang Korngold's sketchbook for his Robin Hood score (in a large green manuscript book).

I've recently discovered the Korngold scores at the Warner Archives at USC, and Warner Bros. Music readily have me permission to have perusal copies made, but the reproduction is done at Vallee Music in Los Angeles, where the costs can be from around 75 cents to $1.50 per page. For a 600 page score like Robin Hood, this cost is not trivial.

I'm hoping to see a more "open" policy toward scholars and those who wish to study the scores. There are a million full scores of Beethoven, Schubert, and many others, available as either miniature scores or full scores. What film music enthusiast wouldn't relish reading the conductor's score to The Empire Strikes Back while listening to the 1997 2CD set? Even John Williams' own agent admitted to me, via telephone, that the demand for his material was deafening.

[Note from Lukas: Around the time of the 4CD box set I tried to interest Lucasfilm in publishing the Star Wars scores. Unfortunately, the publishing rights are not owned by Lucasfilm, but by Warner-Chappell, who declined to pursue such a project. Basically, the feel that if they publish this material, they will not be able to control public performances.]

About 7 years ago, the Library of Congress published George Gershwin's manuscripts to his famous music, like Rhapsody in Blue, American in Paris, Cuban Overture, etc. It would be thrilling to see photocopies made the manuscript full scores done like the Gershwin editions. Typesetting them would be horribly expensive, but even at a high price, I'm sure there are many (libraries included) who would purchase copies, and use them to study the many nuances and details that escape even the most discriminating listener. I stronly believe that the Williams score to Star Wars would probably make the best candidate for a production like this--its appeal would make it a likely successful business venture. This is assuming there are no legal hurdles to overcome.

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