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John Williams: A Composer's Life
The first biography of a great American composer of the cinema age
John Williams is one of the most important film composers of all time, having almost singlehandedly revived the Hollywood symphonic scoring tradition and helped restore the livelihood of American orchestras through the popularity of film music programming. His film music, in the words of director Oliver Stone, "came to stand for the American culture."
In John Williams: A Composer's Life, the first biography of the composer, author Tim Greiving offers an engaging account of a man whose body of work is well-known but whose personal life has consistently remained very private. Williams wrote the memorable scores and hummable themes for a staggering number of popular touchstones across multiple generations--among them Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, and the Harry Potter series--and earned more Oscar nominations than any individual artist in the history of the motion picture Academy. He also composed dozens of concerti, fanfares, and other concert works and was a national presence as music director of the Boston Pops for more than a decade. He inspired countless children to pursue a career in the orchestra and won the respect of the classical community worldwide. Seeking to understand what drove Williams's musical productivity and its effects on the lives of those close to him, Greiving delves deeply into the composer's decades-long career, uncovering countless new stories and revelations. Throughout, he analyzes and describes Williams' film scores, recalling them primarily in narrative and emotional terms rather than purely musicological ones, and in doing so emphasizes one of Williams's principle strengths: his musical storytelling.
With unprecedented interview access to Williams and those close to him, Greiving presents the definitive portrait of a beloved but famously private doyen of twentieth-century pop culture. Featuring 175 exclusive interviews--including with Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, George Miller, Mia Farrow, Hans Zimmer, Yo-Yo Ma, session musicians, family members, and friends--John Williams: A Composer's Life is the first and last word on the great court composer of the cinema age, the musical conductor of our collective memory.
John Williams is one of the most important film composers of all time, having almost singlehandedly revived the Hollywood symphonic scoring tradition and helped restore the livelihood of American orchestras through the popularity of film music programming. His film music, in the words of director Oliver Stone, "came to stand for the American culture."
In John Williams: A Composer's Life, the first biography of the composer, author Tim Greiving offers an engaging account of a man whose body of work is well-known but whose personal life has consistently remained very private. Williams wrote the memorable scores and hummable themes for a staggering number of popular touchstones across multiple generations--among them Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, and the Harry Potter series--and earned more Oscar nominations than any individual artist in the history of the motion picture Academy. He also composed dozens of concerti, fanfares, and other concert works and was a national presence as music director of the Boston Pops for more than a decade. He inspired countless children to pursue a career in the orchestra and won the respect of the classical community worldwide. Seeking to understand what drove Williams's musical productivity and its effects on the lives of those close to him, Greiving delves deeply into the composer's decades-long career, uncovering countless new stories and revelations. Throughout, he analyzes and describes Williams' film scores, recalling them primarily in narrative and emotional terms rather than purely musicological ones, and in doing so emphasizes one of Williams's principle strengths: his musical storytelling.
With unprecedented interview access to Williams and those close to him, Greiving presents the definitive portrait of a beloved but famously private doyen of twentieth-century pop culture. Featuring 175 exclusive interviews--including with Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, George Miller, Mia Farrow, Hans Zimmer, Yo-Yo Ma, session musicians, family members, and friends--John Williams: A Composer's Life is the first and last word on the great court composer of the cinema age, the musical conductor of our collective memory.
640 pages, Hardcover
First published September 2, 2025
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3139 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 14, 2025
What do the movies of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones sagas have in common with Jaws, Superman, E.T., Home Alone, SpaceCamp and Fiddler on the Roof? They, and many more movies, all have music scores that were composed by John Williams. And his story is wonderfully told in Tim Greiving's biography "John Williams: A Composer's Life."
This is not a biography filled with dirt and sordid tales, as by all accounts John Williams is a genuinely nice guy who is utterly devoted to music. Author Tim Greiving digs deep into the life of this man who admittedly at first did not want a biography to be written about him, but then eventually sat down for many interviews. These, along with interviews of many other people and news accounts help to document the life and career of John Williams in a very personal way.
Yes, I am a fan of the music of John Williams but, after having read this biography I am very much a fan of the man himself.
Note: I preordered this book and then won a copy of it on Goodreads.
This is not a biography filled with dirt and sordid tales, as by all accounts John Williams is a genuinely nice guy who is utterly devoted to music. Author Tim Greiving digs deep into the life of this man who admittedly at first did not want a biography to be written about him, but then eventually sat down for many interviews. These, along with interviews of many other people and news accounts help to document the life and career of John Williams in a very personal way.
Yes, I am a fan of the music of John Williams but, after having read this biography I am very much a fan of the man himself.
Note: I preordered this book and then won a copy of it on Goodreads.
November 6, 2025
The best biography I have ever read. I’ve listened to these scores a thousand times, and this book’s thoughtful insights and lovely commentary made me reconsider them and hear them with new perspective. Reading this book felt like meditation, like catching up with an old friend. And surprisingly accessible for someone not musically educated!
October 18, 2025
I really enjoyed this read - it was not only because John Williams is a personal hero of mine, but also because the book is well written and engaging. It doesn't just include material for the "Star Wars fanboy" but details about virtually every movie he wrote for, as well as his concert works. It delves deep into why he writes, his personal struggles and tragedies, as well as details of his close relationship with Steven Spielberg.
November 5, 2025
It’s rather amazing that this biography exists in the fashion it does — comprehensive, critical (while respectful) and exhaustive. I’ve read as much as anybody about John Williams and Spielberg and I doubt we will ever get a better account of their collaboration than we do here.
October 7, 2025
Truly exhaustive and unique. Greiving got unprecedented (and, due to Williams' age, probably unmatched) access to the famously private composer, and we get to benefit from it.
Over the past three weeks of reading, I've tried to listen to mostly Williams stuff (with breaks, oddly enough, for the polar opposite: Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails score for Tron: Ares), and have devoured over 1000 individual track plays.
The first 60% of the book was "easy" to keep up with, mostly because I couldn't find copies of those older scores. I was reduced to highlights from 1999 onwards, but not to worry. I'll continue to listen (I have listened to John Williams at least 22,374 times since 2008).
Greiving's book was simultaneously wonderful and frustrating.
Wonderful because it gave me so much context for my favorite musician of all time. His family origins, his jazz roots, his blue-collar mentality that he retained until present day, his humility...it's all masterfully researched and laid out. I always gathered that Williams was a profoundly humble and overall pleasant man, and this book has only solidified that suspicion.
Frustrating because of the last 30% or so. I would guess he's around 5-10 years older than I, so around 1990 or so, his opinions of each movie begin to leak through (much of that candor is warranted and welcome especially w/r/t unfounded criticism of John Williams' music). This ranges from passing comments to (especially in the era of the Star Wars sequel trilogy) tiresome internet retreads of subjective complaints. Especially when he throws other composers under the bus (he seems to genuinely dislike Michael Giacchino for some reason).
Oh well. He corrects the course quickly enough each time.
I greatly appreciated the features of Williams' concert music (and am currently enjoying the bassoon concerto). I loved the little asides and anecdotes from the maestro himself.
This is an absolutely invaluable piece of music history. John Williams has been my favorite musician for decades (when I'm listening to music, my kids will default by asking what movie the current track is from) and Greiving's access to the almost-hermit maestro is at times almost TOO revealing.
I think gratitude is how best to sum up my attitude for this biography.
I have WAAAAAY more John Williams to listen to, now.
Over the past three weeks of reading, I've tried to listen to mostly Williams stuff (with breaks, oddly enough, for the polar opposite: Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails score for Tron: Ares), and have devoured over 1000 individual track plays.
The first 60% of the book was "easy" to keep up with, mostly because I couldn't find copies of those older scores. I was reduced to highlights from 1999 onwards, but not to worry. I'll continue to listen (I have listened to John Williams at least 22,374 times since 2008).
Greiving's book was simultaneously wonderful and frustrating.
Wonderful because it gave me so much context for my favorite musician of all time. His family origins, his jazz roots, his blue-collar mentality that he retained until present day, his humility...it's all masterfully researched and laid out. I always gathered that Williams was a profoundly humble and overall pleasant man, and this book has only solidified that suspicion.
Frustrating because of the last 30% or so. I would guess he's around 5-10 years older than I, so around 1990 or so, his opinions of each movie begin to leak through (much of that candor is warranted and welcome especially w/r/t unfounded criticism of John Williams' music). This ranges from passing comments to (especially in the era of the Star Wars sequel trilogy) tiresome internet retreads of subjective complaints. Especially when he throws other composers under the bus (he seems to genuinely dislike Michael Giacchino for some reason).
Oh well. He corrects the course quickly enough each time.
I greatly appreciated the features of Williams' concert music (and am currently enjoying the bassoon concerto). I loved the little asides and anecdotes from the maestro himself.
This is an absolutely invaluable piece of music history. John Williams has been my favorite musician for decades (when I'm listening to music, my kids will default by asking what movie the current track is from) and Greiving's access to the almost-hermit maestro is at times almost TOO revealing.
I think gratitude is how best to sum up my attitude for this biography.
I have WAAAAAY more John Williams to listen to, now.
December 20, 2025
Quite fastidious biography of America's preeminent composer. Long, but very interesting to thsi former music major.
September 27, 2025
Starting with a couple of chapters setting the historical (familial and geographical) context for the subject's origins and then running chronologically through his formative jazz-group and air force years, into television, mostly trashy early films, and then the big break with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, conducting and concert work ... this is a long, respectful, and mostly pretty reverent summation of John Williams' life and career.
While covering each work in turn, describing the music, the circumstances of its creation, and its critical reception (for film, both that of the production as a whole and that of the score specifically), it also gives as much of an insight as possible into what has shaped the personality of this self-effacing man. Intensely passionate about music and constantly driven to improve, but also an intellectually curious reader in general, he comes across as having been probably inclined to introversion from the get-go, then turned more private and protective as a result of the circumstances and events befalling him. Events such as the tragic early loss of his wife Barbara, and the constant sniping of snobbish classical-music critics who dismissed film music out of hand as second rate.
One thread that runs through the decades is that of gradually winning those critics over (or at least outliving them, to see them superseded by younger generations more ready to admit to having been turned on to orchestral music in the first place by his scores to the blockbuster movies of their youth).
Another is that through an almost accidental second career as a conductor, he's had the opportunity both to deepen his own familiarity with the existing classical repertoire (whilst forging friendships and relationships with the greatest orchestras and soloists of the world) and to widen that repertoire to include the best of film music – his own, and that of others.
The book chronicles his lifelong deep friendships – first with older mentor figures like Alfred Newman, then with contemporary peers like André Previn (a running line throughout is Previn's constant prodding of John to quit playing around in the Hollywood world Previn saw as infra dig), and then with Spielberg.
A man who can come across as puritan through never raising his voice or being crude, and rarely scoring any particularly racy films, is shown not to be a complete prude but to have enjoyed the company of others whose personalities allowed them to be more loose-tongued and vulgar than he ever could himself.
As a reader, it felt a little odd at the start that the story of a still-living subject should be told in the past tense, but I got used to it fairly quickly, and the logic of doing so is reasonable enough.
There are a very small number of typos (in a book of this size it's inevitable) but the only one that trips you up as you read is when The Force Awakens is referred to as "Episode XII", instead of VII (an error that's compounded in the index, where The Last Jedi is listed as "Episode XIII", instead of VIII). The author, active on fan forums like jwfan.com, is apparently actively keeping a spreadsheet of feedback from readers on such matters, in preparation for any future editions, and no doubt will have already been apprised of this one!
Slightly odd typesetting choices from the OUP include some bizarre line-end hyphenation (like "eve-rybody" and "col-orful" – is that just American style? It looks weird to me) and the choice to sequence the footnote symbols by chapter instead of by page, which results in some footnotes being cued with cumbersome strings of multiple symbols, like ‡‡‡‡‡.
While covering each work in turn, describing the music, the circumstances of its creation, and its critical reception (for film, both that of the production as a whole and that of the score specifically), it also gives as much of an insight as possible into what has shaped the personality of this self-effacing man. Intensely passionate about music and constantly driven to improve, but also an intellectually curious reader in general, he comes across as having been probably inclined to introversion from the get-go, then turned more private and protective as a result of the circumstances and events befalling him. Events such as the tragic early loss of his wife Barbara, and the constant sniping of snobbish classical-music critics who dismissed film music out of hand as second rate.
One thread that runs through the decades is that of gradually winning those critics over (or at least outliving them, to see them superseded by younger generations more ready to admit to having been turned on to orchestral music in the first place by his scores to the blockbuster movies of their youth).
Another is that through an almost accidental second career as a conductor, he's had the opportunity both to deepen his own familiarity with the existing classical repertoire (whilst forging friendships and relationships with the greatest orchestras and soloists of the world) and to widen that repertoire to include the best of film music – his own, and that of others.
The book chronicles his lifelong deep friendships – first with older mentor figures like Alfred Newman, then with contemporary peers like André Previn (a running line throughout is Previn's constant prodding of John to quit playing around in the Hollywood world Previn saw as infra dig), and then with Spielberg.
A man who can come across as puritan through never raising his voice or being crude, and rarely scoring any particularly racy films, is shown not to be a complete prude but to have enjoyed the company of others whose personalities allowed them to be more loose-tongued and vulgar than he ever could himself.
As a reader, it felt a little odd at the start that the story of a still-living subject should be told in the past tense, but I got used to it fairly quickly, and the logic of doing so is reasonable enough.
There are a very small number of typos (in a book of this size it's inevitable) but the only one that trips you up as you read is when The Force Awakens is referred to as "Episode XII", instead of VII (an error that's compounded in the index, where The Last Jedi is listed as "Episode XIII", instead of VIII). The author, active on fan forums like jwfan.com, is apparently actively keeping a spreadsheet of feedback from readers on such matters, in preparation for any future editions, and no doubt will have already been apprised of this one!
Slightly odd typesetting choices from the OUP include some bizarre line-end hyphenation (like "eve-rybody" and "col-orful" – is that just American style? It looks weird to me) and the choice to sequence the footnote symbols by chapter instead of by page, which results in some footnotes being cued with cumbersome strings of multiple symbols, like ‡‡‡‡‡.
December 18, 2025
I had expectations through the roof for this, and it at least matched them if not more! John Williams is the most famous film composer of all time, and suffers from a lifetime of self-depreciation. That is to say, he did not want a biography of his life for the longest time until he finally did reach out in 2022 to Tim Grieving, and it's great to get his story in as full detail as could be given his privacy. Tim covers from his grandparents to childhood through his entire career with every film and every concert piece up to the 5th Indiana Jones film. Grieving is eloquent, offers well-reasoned analysis and opinions of the works. It is FULL of quotes from others on just about every scene or situation.
I'm not a professional book blogger, so I'm not going to go on for days. Other than highly recommending this to all fans of JW or film music in general, I will just list the things that I (a lifelong huge fan) did not know before I read this:
- The majority of John's compositional training was self-taught. He had a few private teachers, but never got a college degree.
- He never got over his first wife, who passed away in 1974. It affected his work in powerful ways but even haunted his second marriage and relationships with his children.
- He was devoted friends with people like Lionel Newman and Andre Previn who were polar opposites in either personality or even opinions. I really respect how he was always able to find common things to bond over with people who were otherwise hard to get along with, like Bernard Herrmann.
- John Williams may be the highest regarded film composer among the general public, but his whole career has been filled with music critics and outspoken other elite composers doing their best to belittle his accomplishments. I love how Grieving both addresses this and defends the composer.
There's certainly more, but once again, I highly recommend this one!
I'm not a professional book blogger, so I'm not going to go on for days. Other than highly recommending this to all fans of JW or film music in general, I will just list the things that I (a lifelong huge fan) did not know before I read this:
- The majority of John's compositional training was self-taught. He had a few private teachers, but never got a college degree.
- He never got over his first wife, who passed away in 1974. It affected his work in powerful ways but even haunted his second marriage and relationships with his children.
- He was devoted friends with people like Lionel Newman and Andre Previn who were polar opposites in either personality or even opinions. I really respect how he was always able to find common things to bond over with people who were otherwise hard to get along with, like Bernard Herrmann.
- John Williams may be the highest regarded film composer among the general public, but his whole career has been filled with music critics and outspoken other elite composers doing their best to belittle his accomplishments. I love how Grieving both addresses this and defends the composer.
There's certainly more, but once again, I highly recommend this one!
October 29, 2025
I have listened to over 16 hours of the audiobook and I am still only halfway through! I'm sorry but I cannot continue. I picked this up eager to learn more about the man and what I got was a very detailed account of the composer. Since the author said in the introduction that Mr. Williams, who is known to be a very private individual, agreed to cooperate with this biography, I expected that the book would contain more of his personal thoughts and feelings. Instead, the book quoted heavily from articles and other published works. The book is really more of an examination of Mr. Williams's body of work rather than a biography of the man. I almost felt that I got to know the famous directors of the movies better than I did Mr. Williams. I am more of a casual fan of his work and the movies that he worked on. I have seen his well-known movies but I am not one who can recite lines from them by heart, although the music is pretty much universally recognized. The history of music and the movies from the earlier chapters was probably my favorite part and I was surprised to learn how much work he did before the big blockbusters but once it started discussing his famous movie scores it got way too in the weeds for me, the casual fan. Also it read like a textbook for a music theory class too frequently for my taste. This is a very dense book that is probably better suited to superfans of the movies and music professionals than someone like me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 27, 2025
That was exhausting. I was reading this book on and off for two weeks and at time it was grueling.
So obviously I knew of John Williams before reading this, but I never really thought of who he is and how much music he's written.
I recently created a goodreads list for 100 Authors With Highest Average Rating and I was surprised to see John Williams on that list - 4th in fact (Average rating 4.65 · 422,451 ratings · 313 reviews · shelved 474,178 times) - really a remarkable achievement - even if the bulk of those ratings are from 4 Harry Potter film scores.
Now I can say I know more. And I can see the argument for putting John Williams at the same level as the named popular composers of all time (Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and so on).
John Williams is the Man is one of my favorite youtube bits - but really it doesn't even scratch the surface on his work.
This book. Too detailed. Too dependent on music knowledge and movie knowledge. And really would work better as a series with movie and performance clips. And not a short series. Like a web series with at least a 100 episodes.
There are so many movies to watch and re-watch. There are so many to chase down. But there's always wikipedia - List_of_compositions_by_John_Williams.
3.5 of 5 - at times this bordered on unreadable. at other times it was brilliant.
So obviously I knew of John Williams before reading this, but I never really thought of who he is and how much music he's written.
I recently created a goodreads list for 100 Authors With Highest Average Rating and I was surprised to see John Williams on that list - 4th in fact (Average rating 4.65 · 422,451 ratings · 313 reviews · shelved 474,178 times) - really a remarkable achievement - even if the bulk of those ratings are from 4 Harry Potter film scores.
Now I can say I know more. And I can see the argument for putting John Williams at the same level as the named popular composers of all time (Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and so on).
John Williams is the Man is one of my favorite youtube bits - but really it doesn't even scratch the surface on his work.
This book. Too detailed. Too dependent on music knowledge and movie knowledge. And really would work better as a series with movie and performance clips. And not a short series. Like a web series with at least a 100 episodes.
There are so many movies to watch and re-watch. There are so many to chase down. But there's always wikipedia - List_of_compositions_by_John_Williams.
3.5 of 5 - at times this bordered on unreadable. at other times it was brilliant.
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December 18, 2025I’m not going to give this a rating because what I got through, which is about 25%, was well written and well- researched but I’m not the audience. I thought it was way too much information and I’ve always been a John Williams fan and was a music major so you would think I would be the targeted audience but perhaps not. I might try again later.
November 29, 2025
Great read, albeit extremely long. It's insanely detailed, and any John Williams fan will love it. Dragged on in some parts that could probably have been cut down a bit, but overall it's an amazing read.
October 21, 2025
Kevin’s writing feels conversational and straightforward. It’s easy to read and gives context to moments that were once just headlines.
December 2, 2025
Essential reading for any Williams fan. Such humility and grace despite enormous success.
December 24, 2025
Awesome!!! It was a hard read but very informative and a book that I would definitely recommend to any Williams or music lovers.
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