Description

A rich and informative look at the experiences of composers working under high pressure in the US film industry, The Hollywood Film Music Reader brings readers from film's earliest days to the modern blockbuster era. Beginning with the origins of movie music in the heyday of silent film, the book traces film music's progress through Hollywood's so-called Golden Age to changes in musical styles and working practices from the 1960s to the present. Also included are vivid first-hand accounts from composers such as George Antheil, Elmer Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Adolph Deutsch, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Henry Mancini, Thomas Newman, Andre Previn, David Raksin, Miklos Rozsa, Max Steiner, Dimitri Tiomkin, Franz Waxman, and John Williams, along with testimonies from composers working in animation and documentary film. The book concludes with a section of criticism and commentary, including an essay on film music by Sidney Lumet and Igor Stravinsky's provocative views on the subject.

Features

• Expert introductions contextualize writings within the history and theory of film music
• A fascinating compendium of both well-known and difficult to find or out-of-print texts from across the twentieth century
• Features first-hand accounts by leading composers along with writings of critics and commentators

Reviews

"The Hollywood Film Music Reader deserves a place on every music lover's bookshelf and makes the perfect holiday gift for anyone interested in music heard in movies, from the casual moviegoer to a rabid soundtrack fan. The Reader can be enjoyed by someone with no previous knowledge of the subject and yet would also serve well as supplementary reading and fodder for discussion for any college-level historical survey on film music." --DimitriTiomkin.com

"An invaluable resource...Anyone with an interest in film music, whether as general reader or serious scholar, should find it illuminating." --Times Literary Supplement

"Richly fulfills its mission to serve as a 'comprehensive collection of (often firsthand) accounts of working practices in the American film industry from the silent era to the modern blockbuster age '. [This book] offers a good overview of American film music under the banner of Hollywood not only through exemplary texts but above all through the insightful introductions by the volume editor." --Lied und populare Kultur [Song and Popular Culture]

"There is much good reading and valuable references in this 382-page book. I certainly recommend the Hollywood Film Music Reader to any and all who have an interest in the music of our time, and not simply the one corner of music covered so well in these pages." --Barry L. Cohen, New Music Connoisseur

"The Hollywood Film Music Reader is a wonderful cross section of articles by film music's most significant practitioners, both present and past. With many of these articles long since out of print, this volume is a valuable addition to the current literature on the subject."-Roy Prendergast, author of Film Music: A Neglected Art

"Cooke extracts essential flavors from a century of writing on music for films, and has served them up with lively and knowledgeable introductions. It is a pleasure to see these texts newly published and available, giving readers a history and theory of the art of film music written by those who created and debated it."-Claudia Gorbman, Professor of Film Studies, University of Washington Tacoma, and author of Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music

"An important addition to the shelf of any serious scholar or enthusiast of Hollywood film scoring. Cooke has gathered in one place previously out of print and difficult to access writings from film composers themselves, covering the period from silent film to the present. What a joy to get to know these composers through their own words. Sometimes witty and urbane, sometimes jaded and bitter, and always interesting, the composers represented here offer a range of insights into film composing as an art and as a business. Cooke's insightful introductions provide the launching pad for this fascinating collection."-Kathryn Kalinak, Rhode Island College

"[Mervyn Cooke] has done superlative work here collecting so much valuable written material and he has written succinct introductions to each entry in the collection...The Hollywood Film Music Reader is a highly recommended book for anyone who wishes to read an outstanding sampling of "lively and often entertaining" writings by some of the best composers and critics to ever work in or write about Hollywood film music." --Film Music Review

Product Details

392 pages; 17 film stills; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-533119-6ISBN10: 0-19-533119-2

About the Author(s)