Star Wars: John Williams Original Handwritten Music Manuscript for the Opening 'Star Wars Main Title' Theme

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By RR Auction

Feb 22, 2024

Set Reminder 2024-02-22 18:00:00 2024-02-22 18:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : RR Auction: Remarkable Rarities https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/rr-auction/rr-auction-remarkable-rarities-14685
RR Auction's first-ever February installment of its Remarkable Rarities series brings some 50+ pieces of history to the auction block, representing the most elusive and extraordinary items offered all year. RR Auction support@rrauction.com

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• Lot Description
  Spectacular original handwritten music manuscript by Oscar-winning composer John Williams, used during the post-production stage of George Lucas’ 1977 science fiction classic Star Wars and containing a partial musical score from the film’s famous opening ‘crawl’ sequence. The manuscript, which includes Williams’ arrangement for the film’s iconic ‘Star Wars (Main Title)’ theme, is annotated in pencil on an off-white 12 x 15.5 sheet of Pacific music paper, which Williams has signed and inscribed in black ink to Len Engel, his music supervisor, “To Len — In appreciation for a treasured friendship — John.”
  
  
  
  The sheet, which is headed and signed in the upper margin, “Star Wars,” “Reel 1 Part 2, ‘Star Wars,’” and “J. Williams,” is identified as “Reel 18,” with an arrow pointing down to the word “Crawl,” indicating the score as belonging to the film’s signature opening ‘crawl’ sequence, a device memorably employed by Lucas in every numbered film of the Star Wars series. The score is numbered in the upper margin as “19” and “18,” and contains what appears to be a total of 13 different arrangements, with the main theme starting in the fourth measure of the first system and continuing below. The sheet contains over 30 bars of original handwritten Star Wars music, with Williams adding instruments to the left border, “6 tpts,” “4 troms,” and “Stg,” and emphasizing “Maestoso” in the upper right, a suitable directive for the film’s soaring introduction. The toned tape to the vertical edges strongly suggests that this sheet was used as a rehearsal example and taped accordion-style within its completed score. In fine condition.
  
  
  
  Over seven decades, John Williams has composed music for many of the biggest, most successful movies in the history of cinema. The winner of five Academy Awards (his 53 nominations is second all-time to Walt Disney), Williams has worked with legendary filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Brian De Palma, Robert Altman, Chris Columbus, Oliver Stone, and, of course, and George Lucas. Transcending the theater of classical music, his body of work contains some of pop culture’s most recognizable earworms, with the themes from Jaws, Jurassic Park, Superman, Schindler’s List, and the Indiana Jones series amongst the most instantly identifiable in all of movie history. His music for Star Wars, however, its opening theme in particular, not only overlooks from the top of his impressive oeuvre, but it may, in actuality, represent the finest composition ever written for the silver screen.
  
  
  
  Accompanied by a letter of provenance from the stepgrandson of the original recipient: “Len Engel was Head of Music Supervising, working under the Head of the Music Department, Lionel Newman, for over 33 years until he died in 1988. Len built his home in the Bel Air hills in the 1960s and turned it into a state-of-the-art music studio complete with recording, re-recording, and mixing abilities. He was an ‘analog’ man, saying there is no purer sound, and he refused to go digital, to which John Williams (along with the likes of Jerry Goldsmith) heartily agreed. Len became a working partner with Williams on all of his movies, taking them from the composer sheets to the finished product ready for distribution. Len worked alongside Ken Wannberg, the music editor for John Williams, who followed him from 20th Century Fox to Dreamworks. After studio recording, every bit of Star Wars was mixed and perfected at Len's ‘home,’ then given over to Wannberg for final movie editing. This sheet music was gifted in appreciation of their working together on the Star Wars films.”
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