"Star Wars"? No. "Kings Row" From 1942

Eric Wolfgang Korngold's film score for the 1942 movie "Kings Row" has a "familiar ring". The movie starred Ann Sheridan, Bob Cummings and Ronald Reagan.

While many people can hear in John Williams "Star Wars" score elements of Holst's "The Planets", the main theme and indeed the orchestral arrangement (minus the piano) was 'borrowed' from the great composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score for "Kings Row".

If you are a Baby Boomer who grew up with "The Adventures of Superman" television series starring George Reeves, you will hear elements of this score in Leon Klatzkin's underrated score for that series.

This stereo recording was produced in 1961 by Warner Brothers Records and so obviously has superior sonics to the original 1942 soundtrack recording.

The source here is the 1996 DCC Compact Classics Steve Hoffman mastered reissue (LPZ-2017) using the original 1961 master tape. Lacquer cutting was by Kevin Gray.

COMMENTS
TheBottomline's picture

I hear elements of the great Superman theme from John williams. We all know artists of all ilk borrow from others.

HalSF's picture

The New Yorker’s classical music critic explores these issues of borrowing in a fun piece, “Listening to Star Wars”:

'It has long been fashionable to dismiss Williams as a mere pasticheur, who assembles scores from classical spare parts. Some have gone as far as to call him a plagiarist. A widely viewed YouTube video pairs the “Star Wars” main title with Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s music for “Kings Row,” a 1942 picture starring Ronald Reagan. Indeed, both share a fundamental pattern: a triplet figure, a rising fifth, a stepwise three-note descent. Also Korngoldesque are the glinting dissonances that affirm rather than undermine the diatonic harmony, as if putting floodlights on the chords.

'To accuse Williams of plagiarism, however, brings to mind the famous retort made by Brahms when it was pointed out that the big tune in the finale of his First Symphony resembled Beethoven’s Ode to Joy: “Any ass can hear that.” Williams takes material from Korngold and uses it to forge something new. After the initial rising statement, the melodies go in quite different directions: Korngold’s winds downward to the tonic note, while Williams’s insists on the triplet rhythm and leaps up a minor seventh. I used to think that the latter gesture was taken from a passage in Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, but the theme can’t have been stolen from two places simultaneously.

'Although it’s fun to play tune detective, what makes these ideas indelible is the way they’re fleshed out, in harmony, rhythm, and orchestration...’

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/listening-to-star-wars

tames's picture

I just listened to the original Superman movie soundtrack a few days ago and King's Row reminded me of that. J Williams might lift some themes from others, but he does it very well :)

Catcher10's picture

Now this is amazing!

Auric G's picture

Sorry, I meant reel (to-reel) analog music. lol.

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