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Borrowing
H
Carlos Tinoco
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Adventure Film Scores: The Art of Music
Borrowing
Since the 16th century, there have been countless productions such as
operas, musicals, and films that heavily rely on music. From the first opera
that was written in 1597 to Disney’s latest installment of Star Wars, music has
not only provided something for the audience to listen to and sing along to,
production. Up until the 1920’s, films were called “silent films” due to the lack
of audio. In October of 1927, The Jazz Singer, the first sound film, released
and ultimately changed the way films were produced. Music was beginning to
important if not more important than the actual film itself. Film score
In the adventure film genre, there have been countless composers who have
certainly made a name for themselves with their innovative film score ideas.
Composers such as: Hans Zimmer, James Horner, and John Williams are
amongst the few of the world-renowned film score composers who have
influenced how a lot of film scores are being produced today. In university-
level music education, we spend time analyzing the music and influences of
composers dating back to the first century and cover 2000 years of composers
of classical music, but never look at how the music created by film score
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composers are different from those of past composers. We spend time
studying the works and influences of composers such as: Josquin des Prez,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and John Cage but we never cover the influences
of film composers. Film score composers Hans Zimmer, James Horner, and
John Williams have all been influenced by many composers before them and
were so much so that they borrowed their music and compositional methods
century alone, there are many notable composers who based their music from
influences. Debussy made use of folk songs and was able to create pieces
using cultural influences from Asia. His piece Estampes (1903) is an example
hand, relates more closely to film score composers. Firebird (1915), one of
of Firebird, the main theme is derived from a folk tune which was found in a
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David Guion, Firebrd, by Igor Stravinsky, Musicology For Everyone, 2013.
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known today as “music borrowing”. As composers did before them, Hans
Zimmer, James Horner, and John Williams borrowed music from past
variety of genres. Zimmer, like a lot of early 20th century composers, excelled
for every film he’s had the opportunity to score. In the Quentin Tarantino
movie True Romance (1993), Hans Zimmer’s track entitled You’re So Cool is
written in 1973. Both of these pieces are scored for percussion ensemble.
integral character of the piece and then is able to expand on it as the piece
continues. Both pieces begin with a lone marimba playing a simple rhythmic
When all of the instruments are present, both pieces then break into a quick
triplet meter to develop the initial melody. It is very apparent that Zimmer
quoted Gassenhauer nach Hans Neusiedler (1536) by the use of the same
instrumentation, the same character, and the same musical structure. Both of
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borrowing. As aforementioned, Hans Zimmer used Carl Orff’s Gassenhauer
nach Hans Neusiedler (1536) as a template for the credits theme of True
Romance, You’re So Cool. Carl Orff’s composition was also in fact another
Inception (2010). Time, one of the pieces from Inception, is one of the most,
if not the most, iconic piece that came from this blockbuster. The slow piece
begins with a simple chord progression played by the piano, more and more
instruments begin to add in, a counter melody begins to emerge in the cellos
and the brass, until the piece reaches its climax. Not a lot of people know that
result of music borrowing. This piece was heavily influenced by the piece: The
(2002), directed by Doug Liman3. Both of these pieces begin, progress, and
end the same. Hans Zimmer utilized the same instrumentation and the same
2
Carl Orff, Shulwerk, Volume 1: Musica Poetica, Celestial Harmonies
3
David Chen, The Fine Line Between (soundtrack) homage an rip-off, davidchen.net, 2013.
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these two tracks is that they were both presented at nearly the same point in
the film. Both tracks were played near the end at a point in the movie where
reaching that point of “Okay, we made it”. Hans Zimmer certainly made it with
a clever borrowing of John Powell’s The Apartment. The way that Zimmer
utilized John Powell’s piece was similar to the way he used Carl Orff’s
the building blocks of the piece and essentially reinvented it. He took the same
chord progressions, the same instrumentation, the same tempos, and in the
case of Time, he even utilized the same dynamic contrasts presented in the
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In the 21st century, Hans Zimmer scored the adventure film Gladiator
one of the most well-known pieces of the 20th century, Gustav Holst’s The
Planets, Op. 32. As previously mentioned, Hans Zimmer was very adamant in
utilizing all aspects of a piece. Mars, the Bringer of War, the first movement
in The Planets, Op. 32, has become a popular piece in which composers use
greatly influenced by Mars (See Example 2). Beginning two measures after
eighth note figure which then spreads throughout the entire orchestra.
Example 2: Gustav Holst, The Planets, Op. 32 (1914), “Mars, The Bringer of
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This figure, as shown above, is exactly the same passage found in
Zimmer’s The Battle. Whereas some composers would use the pre-existing
template, Zimmer essentially “copy and pasted” Mars into his composition and
called it his own. Just as a side note, Hans Zimmer’s The Battle was so close
to Holst’s piece that Zimmer was presented with a lawsuit from the Gustav
Gustav Holst was on Hans Zimmer for his scores for the movie Gladiator, more
so than the examples from True Romance and Inception. In one of the later
films that he scored, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
(2003), the main theme is a spin-off of The Battle from Gladiator. As the
theme from Mars starts to slowly fade throughout the piece, Zimmer then
presents a very fanfare-like melody which is used to intensify the scene when
Colosseum to earn his freedom. Hans Zimmer then uses this epic and robust
theme to create the main theme to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the
Black Pearl. When Hans Zimmer is composing film scores and borrows music,
more often than not he copies from past composers. On the other hand, James
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Mikael Carlsson, Zimmer sued over “Gladiator” music, Film Music Magazine, filmmusicmag.com, 2006.
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James Horner is most known for his work in Star Trek II: The Wrath of
Khan (1982), Braveheart (1995), Field of Dreams (1989), and Titanic (1997).
His career in the 80’s and 90’s consisted of a variety of space-themed movies
including Star Trek II and III, and Battle Beyond the Stars (1980). As
compose something, and the quote himself in later compositions. For example,
in the Battle Beyond the Stars, Horner’s piece entitled Shad’s Pursuit,
accompanied by a small repeating gesture in the low register by the tubas and
trombones. This particular tense “groove” that was established in this piece
actually made several appearances in later movies that Horner wrote for. In
between writing the scores for Battle Beyond the Stars and Wrath of Khan,
Horner wrote the music to the movie Wolfen (1981). Wolfen was a drama-
horror movie which was in a sense, a palate cleanser for Horner after only
ostinato pattern like the one found in Battle Beyond the Stars. This time, he
utilized tuba’s and trombone’s notes in the low register to bring a little bit
more tension and even gave it a “werewolf-like character”. This wasn’t the
only time that James Horner copied this figure, he also used it in Star Trek
III: The Search for Spock (1984). Battle Beyond the Stars, Star Trek II: Wrath
of Khan, Wolfen, and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock can be considered
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“sister” movies when talking about the soundtracks because of all of the
recycled material James Horner used in them. These four movies are just early
music.
Horner said: “You write a film score and you develop interesting ideas and you
think you’d love to explore that more in your next score or in a serious piece…
more recently, it’s harder and harder to be completely fresh”5. Even 20 years
before he did this interview, Horner was already building on this idea of
career, Horner was sure to follow in his footsteps. Now, you may pose the
question: “How does Sergei Prokofiev influence James Horner to borrow music
and Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (1938) both showcase examples of music
French dance which was popular in the 18th century. Both the Gavotte from
5
Christian Clemmensen, Titanic (James Horner), Film Score Monthly, Lukas Kendal, 1997.
6
Michael W. Harris, Borrowing Beyond the Stars: James Horner’s Music for Star Trek II and III, TheTempTrack.com,
2016.
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the Classical Symphony and the Gavotte from Romeo and Juliet are examples
case, both compositions are identical to each other (See Example 3.1 and
ideas for his other scores as was evident in what he said in his interview with
Film Score Monthly. Compare the score from the Classic Symphony to that of
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Example 3.2: Sergei Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (1938), “Gavotte”,
mm. 1-5. Beginning in the pickup to the third measure, you can see practically
the exact same piece. See how the same movement in the notes occur in both
pieces, they are both in the same key, and even have the buildup towards the
fourth measure.
somber, very magisterial piece. It contains rolling minor arpeggios from the
strings and is reinforced by the brass and the percussion. In Star Trek III: The
Search for Spock, James Horner used this exact formula7. Like in Prokofiev’s
example from the Classical Symphony and Romeo and Juliet where he just
used the same music in both gavottes, James Horner used the same music in
the Destruction of the Enterprise from Star Trek III (See Example 4).
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Ibid
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Example 4: Sergei Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (1938), “Juliet’s
Funeral”, mm. 356-363. These eight measures show the rolling arpeggios
Unlike his more popular counterpart, John Williams, James Horner had
more of a subtle taste when it came to scoring movies. Star Wars, one of the
biggest movie franchises, is known for its big “Hollywood” fanfare-like scores
in which the main theme is an example of. On the other hand, James Horner
In his Symphony No. 9 (1824), Ludwig van Beethoven begins the piece ever
so softly. The strings and the brass begin by holding a note, while the higher
voices start interjecting. As the piece continues, the intensity starts to grow
until the first big impact from the orchestra. In Symphony No. 7 (1812),
Beethoven begins with what is probably his most recognizable motif. This first
movement is considered organic because of the way that it starts to build off
of the motif presented in the beginning of the movement. Both Symphony No.
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7 and Symphony No. 9 combined showcase the compositional technique that
Horner used to write the main themes for a lot of his movies. In contrast to
movies like Star Wars, Horner’s movies would begin very softly with nothing
but a hint of some sort of harmonic grounding, and then would begin to
introduce melodies and develop them. This idea was first found in The Battle
Beyond the Stars, then in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and was more
recently presented in Dean Wright’s Greater Glory (2012). This once again
reinforces the idea that Horner liked to build on his past compositions and use
them for other scores. Some people at first were a little skeptical about the
notion that Horner would simply copy and paste musical ideas from one score
to the next, but he clarified that in an earlier interview with Film Score Monthly
in 1997. The focus of this interview was on the film score for the blockbuster
Titanic (1997), but afterwards Film Score Monthly concluded the interview
with: “Horner was also skilled in the adaptation of existing music into films
with just enough variation to avoid legal troubles”. In the words of Igor
Horner’s film score career was definitely an interesting one. His music
borrowing began quite early in his career starting in the 1980’s and continued
with Battle Beyond the Stars where he created this ongoing ostinato pattern
which would later return in Wolfen, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star
8
Georg Predota, “Good composers borrow, Great ones steal!”, Interlude.hk, 2016.
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Trek III: The Search for Spock. He then emphasized his love for Sergei
Romeo and Juliet. Finally, Horner further demonstrated his use of previous
Zimmer, is exceptionally well known for his adventure-film film scores. His
scores are so highly-regarded that one may say that the film score industry is
his empire. His empire of course is alluding to The Galactic Empire from the
hit movie series Star Wars by Lucas Film Ltd. John’s Williams’ first Star Wars
film, Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) is older than James Horner’s film Battle
Beyond the Stars by three years, which means that music borrowing in this
genre of films can be dated back even earlier than 1980. Even in Star Wars:
A New Hope, or Episode IV, there are multiple examples of John Williams
quoting other composers. Moving back a couple of years, John Williams took
part in probably one of the most iconic movies in the 70’s, other than the
Spielberg in 1975, has arguably the most well-known theme in the film
industry. Though this movie came out in 1975, the famous two-note theme
that we all know and love has interestingly enough, been around since 1893.
minor “From the New World”, Op. 95, B. 178 (1893), or more commonly
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known as the New World Symphony. The main theme that John Williams wrote
for Jaws was taken from the New World Symphony9. Both of these pieces
begin with an isolated ascending semitones pattern in the low strings, and
also share similar rhythm and articulations (See Example whatever number
this will end up being). Like some of the previous examples from Hans Zimmer
and James Horner, both the theme from Jaws and the New World Symphony
only share a couple of measures in common, until they both explore other
Example 5.1: John Williams, Jaws (1975), “Main Theme”, mm. 1-4.
Example 5.2: Antonín Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor “From the New
9
Jeremy Orosz, John Williams: Paraphraser or Plagarist?, Journal of Musicologist Research, 34:4, pg. 306, 2015.
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John William’s example of music borrowing from the New World
and more complex rhythms. A Better example can be found in Rebel Fanfare,
a theme that is found throughout the Star Wars saga10. Rebel Fanfare is
comprised of epic brassy major triads that are intertwined with minor triads.
flat Major Op. 30, W45 (1930). The following examples will display John
trumpets to present the theme, which takes after Symphony No. 2, though he
does slightly alter the rhythm towards the end (See Example 6.1, 6.2, and
6.3).
10
Ibid
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Example 6.3: Hanson, Symphony No. 2, Mvt. III, Rehearsal K.
filled to the brim with many different compositions. In Star Wars: A New Hope
(1977) and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), John Williams first
presented the famous Imperial March which occurs whenever the Empire is
flying off to catch one of the main characters or when Darth Vader makes an
appearance. This piece has sparked a lot of interest, not only because it’s
considered one of the best pieces every to emerge from the saga, but instead
because of the amount of other compositions can be heard in this one piece.
Firstly, the Imperial March is based around the interval of a minor third, which
third interval and the manner in which it is presented has come from the
Mars by Gustav Holst. Moreover, Mars also had an influence on the creation
of the Rebel Blockade Runner which is found in Star Wars: A New Hope. The
ending of Rebel Blockade Runner is based off of the ending from Holst’s Mars.
11
Wendy Parker, Composer John Williams Embodies The Art Of Musical Borrowing, WABE.org, 2015.
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Both pieces share the same chord structure, the same buildup with the strings
ascending in register and hitting the bridge with their bows, and also the way
the attacks happen with the dissonant chords (See Example 7.1 and 7.2). It
is no secret that John Williams had been heavily influenced by Gustav Holst,
Example 7.1: Gustav Holst, The Planets, Op. 32 (1914), “Mars, The Bringer
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Example 7.2: John Williams, Star Wars, “Rebel Blockade Runner”, mm. 81-
87.
The Jawa Theme, presented in Star Wars: A New Hope is yet another
pieces feature dotted rhythms, and chromatic triads in the high brass. In John
William’s rendition, he had the trumpets play with mutes and it is in 4/4 as
opposed to the 5/4 found in Mars (See Example 8.1 and 8.2). To paraphrase
Jeremy Orosz, the change in meter and the change in timbre with the trumpets
being muted is perhaps a way for Williams to hide the fact that he was coming
12
Orosz, Williams: Plagiarist?, pp. 315.
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Example 8.1: Gustav Holst, The Planets, Op. 32 (1914), “Mars, The Bringer
(1897-1957). The Binary Sunset theme was derived from the scores of The
Adventures of Robin Hood Symphonic Suite (1938) and The Sea Hawk (1940).
The main title from Star Wars which is also known as Luke’s Theme, was taken
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from Korngold’s score for King’s Row (1942)13. Both of these pieces share the
same the exact same rhythms and the exact same intervals between the
notes. The only thing separating these pieces is the key in which they’re
John Williams has had a lot to do with music borrowing in his film scores.
As shown above, Williams has made good use of the music of Antonín Dvořák,
Howard Hanson, and Gustav Holst. Williams’ career of borrowing doesn’t just
stop at music. Williams took after Richard Wagner (1813-1883) and his notion
situation14. Williams had a number of different themes which made its way
through all 8 films he was a part of, including the aforementioned Luke’s
13
Ibid
14
Orosz, Williams: Plagarist?, pp. 312.
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The film industry has been a home to not only many actors and
directors, but also to composers as well. In the genre of adventure films, there
are three film score composers who stand out above the rest of them. Hans
Zimmer, James Horner, and John Williams, are amongst the “all-time greats”
when it came to the scores that they have produced. The art of music
borrowing, is one of the things that makes these composers special. Hans
Zimmer used music from the likes of Carl Orff, John Powell, and Gustav Holst.
Though when you look the general overview of Zimmer’s scores, one may
conclude that Zimmer simply copied and pasted from the original scores,
James Horner, like Hans Zimmer, had a variety of ways he would utilize the
Prokofiev, he was also influenced by himself. Horner, more than any of the
composers listed above, would borrow from himself and explore his previous
ideas. Lastly, John Williams is as most people would say, the epitome of music
borrowing in film scores. Like Hans Zimmer, Holst was one of Williams’ main
influences throughout his early career as a composer. His scores from Star
Wars: a New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back demonstrate a
variety of ways in which Williams utilized Mars, The Bringer of War. Williams
also borrowed from Erich Korngold, Antonín Dvořák, and Richard Wagner.
Through the research done on these three composers, it has become apparent
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that even though a score has one name attached to it at the top of the score,
that doesn’t mean that there isn’t an underlying message throughout the
piece. The Adventure film genre has such a variety in it that it gives composers
the opportunity to explore new ideas and to write multiple scores. Since the
1970’s, Hans Zimmer, James Horner, and John Williams time and time again,
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Bibliography
Presentations of Film Music: The Case of John Williams and the Boston
Bazelon, Irwin. Knowing The Score: Notes on Film Music. New York: Van
davidchen.net, 2013.
Harris, Michael. Borrowing Beyond the Stars: James Horner’s Music for
Interlude.hk, 2016.
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Powrie, Phil, and Robynn Stilwell, eds. Changing Tunes: The Use of Pre-
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