> > John Williams' popularity (though i do not
> > doubt that he s an accomplished and intelligent
> > musician) seems mostly due to movie work which
> > is HARDLY original. He has, quite frankly,
> > ripped most of his recognizable themes (e.g.,
> > Superman & most of Star Wars) from the likes of
> > Gustavus von Holst (Mars, the Bringer of War =
> > Vader's March), Johannes Brahms, Antonin
> > Dvorak, and other great Romantic composers.

I must apologize for using the term "ripped off." That was in poor taste. Would "borrowed" be better? In certain periods of music history, some musicians have been hailed for their skill in borrowing past themes. Usually, such is done in a fashion which upgrades the source, such as using a folk song as basis for a symphony or as the theme for a set of variations (Mozart did a set of variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star").

Charles Ives' Concord Sonata is a tribute to several Transcendentalist philosophers, and every movement dwells on the opening motif from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (da-da-Da, Da--Da--DA). It's quite a long work based on such a short theme, but Ives shows tremendous creativity in developing the theme in a myriad of ways.

Yes, John Williams' scores, overall, set an effective emotional backdrop for their movies. I'd just, as a personal preference, like to hear him develop the motifs and larger works he draws inspiration from in a fashion that sounds more like Williams and separates me, as a continuing student of music history, more from the sources.

> Saying that Williams has "ripped" off other composer's works and used them as his own themes is not only unnecessarily harsh, but IMO an unfounded accusation. I don't know what other comparisons you might have to make, but I have recordings of both Holst's "Planets" and The Imperial March from TESB, and while I do notice similarities between the two compositions, I don't think there is any basis there for labeling Willia