American Movie Classics
PROGRAM NOTES
February 21, 2026
John Williams (b. 1932)
Flight to Neverland from Hook (1991)
John Williams’s score for Hook stands out as one of his most lively and heartfelt explorations of fantasy. Created for Steven Spielberg’s reimagining of the Peter Pan story, the music captures the thrill of flight, the romance of adventure, and the deeper emotional journey of rediscovering imagination, memory, and family.
From its opening measures, Flight to Neverland creates a musical world full of bold, instantly memorable melodies and radiant orchestration. Bright brass fanfares and lively woodwinds capture the excitement of soaring through the sky, while the strings add warmth and emotional depth. Beneath the spectacle, there is a feeling of longing and nostalgia, reflecting Peter Pan’s struggle between growing up and the innocence of childhood.
Like many of Williams’s most memorable scores, “Hook” is built around leitmotifs, distinct themes linked to characters and ideas. Williams gives recognizable musical identities to Peter Pan, Neverland, Captain Hook, and the Lost Boys, letting these themes develop as the story progresses. The music doesn’t just accompany the action; it helps shape the story, guiding the listener through moments of excitement, humor, and emotional insight.
Although composed later in Williams’s career, “Hook” is deeply rooted in the symphonic tradition. More than almost any other of his scores, it serves as a heartfelt tribute to the golden age of Hollywood film music. The sweeping string melodies and heroic brass gestures evoke the operatic Romanticism of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, especially “The Adventures of Robin Hood”. Williams’s harmonic style, while clearly his own, embraces tonal warmth and emotional clarity, prioritizing expressive melodies over abstraction. In “Hook,” Williams isn’t reinventing film music; he’s honoring its legacy, reaffirming the lasting power of the symphonic orchestra to tell timeless stories.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Old England
Robin Hood and His Merry Men
Love Scene
The Fight, Victory and Epilogue
Erich Wolfgang Korngold plays a significant role in 20th-century music, connecting the late-Romantic concert tradition with the emergence of Hollywood film scores. A Viennese prodigy once praised by Gustav Mahler as a “musical genius,” Korngold gained early fame in Europe with operas like Die tote Stadt (1920), which is still regarded as his masterpiece. His rich musical style, characterized by lush harmonies, soaring melodies, and dramatic flair, reflects influences from Wagner, Strauss, and Puccini.
Korngold arrived in Hollywood in the mid-1930s to work on film adaptations, initially viewing the move as a temporary artistic detour. History changed when the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938 made his return impossible. “We thought of Hollywood as a temporary refuge; it became our salvation,” Korngold later reflected. Film scoring not only saved his life but also revolutionized the future of cinematic music.
Approaching film with the seriousness of opera, Korngold famously declared, “I do not write film music; I write operas for the screen.” His score for The Adventures of Robin Hood exemplifies this philosophy. Instead of serving as background, the music actively drives the drama, shaping characters, action, and emotional development through sweeping melodies and brilliantly colored orchestration.
At the core of the score is Korngold’s use of leitmotifs, distinct musical themes linked to characters and ideas. Robin Hood himself is introduced with bold brass fanfares and lively rhythms that convey heroism, confidence, and athletic energy. In contrast, the noble love theme for Robin and Marian develops through broad, lyrical melodies, expressing tenderness and romantic idealism. Throughout the score, Korngold’s orchestration vividly captures the romance and adventure of medieval legend.
Awarded the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1938, The Adventures of Robin Hood became a milestone in film music history. Its fully symphonic approach set the standard for the “swashbuckling” adventure sound and had a lasting influence on future composers, most notably John Williams, whose scores for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Hook and Superman clearly reflect Korngold’s musical style.
Although Korngold struggled to gain recognition in the postwar concert scene as musical modernism became dominant, his reputation has been fully restored in recent decades. Today, he is celebrated as a key link between 19th-century Romanticism and modern film music, reminding us that cinema did not replace the symphonic tradition; it provided it with a powerful new stage.
Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)
Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront (1954)
Leonard Bernstein’s score for On the Waterfront is among the most serious and emotionally complex works ever created for film. Composed for Elia Kazan’s landmark 1954 movie starring Marlon Brando, the music echoes a world of moral conflict, personal conscience, and social injustice, set against the gritty backdrop of New York’s working waterfront.
Bernstein’s On the Waterfront reveals a darker and more introspective side of the composer. With a symphonic scope and psychological depth, the score features bold themes, tense rhythms, and stark orchestral colors to portray corruption, violence, and inner conflict.
At the core of the music is a haunting solo trumpet theme, closely linked to the character of Terry Malloy. Noble yet wounded, the theme represents a man torn between loyalty and integrity. Throughout the score, Bernstein contrasts moments of intense energy with sections of deep lyricism, allowing the orchestra to express the moral weight of the drama as powerfully as the dialogue on screen.
Bernstein later adapted the film score into a Symphonic Suite, enhancing and expanding the music for concert performance. In this version, On the Waterfront ranks among his most important orchestral works, blurring the line between film music and concert symphony.
Bernstein approached On the Waterfront not just as entertainment but as a musical drama. Drawing on techniques from his symphonies, he embraced the immediacy of cinema while exploring themes that remained central throughout his career: moral responsibility, social justice, and the dignity of the individual. These themes are reflected in the music’s restless energy and lyricism.
On the Waterfront was Bernstein’s only original score for a film, and he later called it one of his most significant works. The score has inspired many composers aiming for emotional authenticity instead of spectacle, and its trumpet theme remains one of the most recognizable motifs in film music history.
Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Adagio for Strings, Op. 11
Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings is one of the most recognizable and emotionally direct works in American classical music. Composed in 1936 as the slow movement of his String Quartet in B minor, Barber later arranged the piece for string orchestra at the suggestion of Arturo Toscanini, who conducted the premiere of the orchestral version in 1938.
Compared to much mid-20th-century music, Barber’s Adagio speaks in a deeply lyrical and tonal language. The piece unfolds as a single, continuous musical idea, built on a long, arching melodic line that gradually builds in intensity before reaching a passionate climax and fading into silence. Its emotional strength lies in restraint: there are no obvious dramatic gestures, only a careful buildup of tension and release.
Over time, Adagio for Strings has become closely associated with collective mourning and reflection. It has been performed at memorials for presidents, victims of national tragedies, and moments of public grief. Yet Barber never attached a specific narrative or program to the music. Its emotional openness allows each listener to find personal meaning within its spare and eloquent lines.
The Adagio gained renewed popularity among modern audiences through its use in Oliver Stone’s 1986 film Platoon. Set during the Vietnam War, the film uses Barber’s music not as a traditional score but as a moral and emotional centerpiece. The Adagio plays during scenes of loss and disillusionment, creating a stark contrast with the violence and chaos on screen. Since the music was not originally written for the film, its somber, timeless quality elevates the story beyond a specific conflict, turning individual tragedy into a universal reflection on sacrifice and sorrow.
While composers like Erich Wolfgang Korngold and John Williams embody the grand, storytelling side of film music, conveying tales through bold themes and orchestral textures, Barber’s Adagio exposes a different cinematic reality. Here, music encourages reflection, offering silence, simplicity, and emotional space as language. Ironically, this concert piece has become one of the most widely used works in film history, appearing in Platoon, The Elephant Man, Lorenzo’s Oil, and many others. Its popularity highlights a key idea: film music does not need to explain emotion; it can simply provide space for it.
Hans Zimmer (b. 1957)
Pirates of the Caribbean Suite
(from The Curse of the Black Pearl, 2003)
Hans Zimmer is one of the most influential film composers of the 21st century, widely recognized for redefining the sound of modern cinema. His music features bold rhythmic energy, hybrid orchestration combining acoustic and electronic elements, and a streamlined approach to thematic composition. Zimmer’s score for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl revitalized the swashbuckling adventure genre for a new generation by reimagining it through a contemporary cinematic lens.
At its core, the score features an instantly recognizable theme driven by lively rhythms and strong harmonic movement. The music conveys momentum, swagger, and rebellious heroism, qualities that reflect the charm of Captain Jack Sparrow. Instead of the noble romanticism typical of earlier adventure scores, Zimmer’s music takes on a playful tone, capturing a world as dangerous and mischievous.
Hans Zimmer’s Pirates of the Caribbean score demonstrates how film music continues to evolve while remaining connected to its orchestral roots. While Korngold romanticized heroism and Barber explored loss, Zimmer emphasizes motion itself: the thrill of the chase, the rhythm of the sea, and the pure joy of adventure. These works together cover nearly a century of cinematic music, revealing not only changing musical styles but also evolving storytelling techniques through sound.