Movie composers create the indefinable in an evolving story | MARK HUGHES COBB

Along with frequent co-collaborator Steven Spielberg, John Williams practically birthed the summer movie:

Daaa-dum. Daaa-dum. Da-dum da-dum da ....

That ominous two-note ostinato wasn't Williams' first film work, nor even his first Academy Award-winner: That was for his 1971 score adaptation of "Fiddler on the Roof." But it's the one that made him a household name, much as any classical composer who dabbles in scoring performances can be well-known.

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When I asked folks on social media for their most evocative film music, Williams topped many lists.

I'd made a mistake, not clarifying I was not thinking of soundtracks, but scores, the difference being between a compilation of existing work, and original music created to underscore, emphasize action, or create mood. It's understandable in cases such as George Lucas' "American Graffiti," Lawrence Kasdan's "The Big Chill" and Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia," when songs are inextricably interwoven, and even become diegetic — fancy word for when characters hear the same sounds an audience experiences — that accumulated tunes can seem to be a whole. But nah. Like Charlie Brown sliding feet too soon, it's not a score.

Also technically, music without lyrics can't be a song, as it can't be sung, and that's what a song is: A composition intended to be performed by human voice. Though of course you could la-la-la the melody, but that would make the lyrics la-la .... Now we're foraging in the weeds, and even a linguistic nutcase like me will let you electric slide from less-punchy "composition" or "piece of music," should you aver your favorite song is Claude Debussy's "Clair de lune," or George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."

The Queens-born, L.A.-raised Williams had written for TV ("Gilligan's Island," "Lost in Space," "The Time Tunnel") and films "Valley of the Dolls," "Goodbye Mr. Chips," "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno" before teaming with then-wunderkind Spielberg, for his feature debut "The Sugarland Express" in '74. "Jaws" came out the next year, shooting millions out of water and into must-see thrills in the shade of someone else's air-conditioning.

Like most movie composers, Williams has an entire other creative life, creating numerous classical works, and serving as the Boston Pops' principal conductor from 1980 to 1993; he's won 25 Grammys, five Oscars, four Golden Globes, and seven British Academy Film Awards.

Even an average buff could hum a half-hour or so of Williams' music, including themes for the "Star Wars" franchise, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial," Richard Donner's "Superman" and its three sequels, the first two from "Jurassic Park," the first three from "Harry Potter," and all Indiana Jones movies.

Though he'd announced retirement from film composing after this summer's "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," Williams rescinded that, saying he had at least 10 years left. He turned 91 in February.

He'd be your Trivial Pursuit Hail Mary. If the answer's not Williams, it's probably a Newman — except Paul, unrelated to the music dynasty — or perhaps some of these.

• Bernard Herrman: "Vertigo," "Citizen Kane," "The Magnificent Ambersons," "The Birds," "Taxi Driver," "Psycho," "Fahrenheit 451," "Jason and the Argonauts," "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," "Jane Eyre."

• Ennio Morricone: "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly," "Cinema Paradiso," "La Cage aux Folles," "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!," "Days of Heaven," "Once Upon a Time in America," "The Mission," "The Untouchables," "Bugsy," "Malèna."

• Rachel Portman: "The Joy Luck Club," "Benny and Joon," "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar," "Emma," "Beloved," "The Cider House Rules," "Chocolat," "Hart's War," "Mona Lisa Smile," "Never Let Me Go," "Julia."

• Max Steiner: "Casablanca," "Now, Voyager," the 1933 "King Kong," "Little Women," "Gone With the Wind," "Life with Father," "The Big Sleep," "Mildred Pierce," "A Summer Place."

• James Horner: "Titanic," "Avatar," "Aliens," "An American Tail," "Field of Dreams," "Apollo 13," "Braveheart," "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn," "Willow," "A Beautiful Mind," "The Mask of Zorro," "The New World."

• Joe Hisaishi: "Spirited Away," "Howl's Moving Castle," "Porco Rosso," "Princess Mononoke," "My Neighbor Totoro," "Kiki's Delivery Service," "Ponyo," "Departures."

• Jerry Goldsmith: Five "Star Trek" movies and a couple of Trek series, "Logan's Run," the '68 "Planet of the Apes," "Tora! Tora! Tora!," "Patton," "Chinatown," "Alien," "Poltergeist," "Medicine Man," "Gremlins," "Hoosiers," "Total Recall," "Air Force One," "L.A. Confidential," "Mulan," "The Mummy," and logo and theme music for Paramount, Universal and other studios.

• Maurice Jarre: "Lawrence of Arabia," "A Passage to India," "Doctor Zhivago," "The Man Who Would Be King," "Dead Poets Society," "The Year of Living Dangerously," "Ryan's Daughter," "Gorillas in the Mist," "Ghost," "Witness," "The Mosquito Coast," "Fatal Attraction," "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome," "Prancer."

• Henry Mancini: "Moon River" and other music from "Breakfast at Tiffany's," themes for "Peter Gunn," "Newhart," and the "Pink Panther" franchise, "Love Theme from 'Romeo and Juliet'," "Touch of Evil," "Victor/Victoria," "Creature from the Black Lagoon," "Days of Wine and Roses," "Charade," "The Prisoner of Zenda," "Mommie Dearest."

• Erich Korngold: "The Adventures of Robin Hood," "Captain Blood," "Anthony Adverse," the 1935 "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Of Human Bondage," "Kings Row," "The Sea Hawk," "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex."

• Bill Conti: The "Rocky" films, including hit "Gonna Fly Now," "The Karate Kid," "For Your Eyes Only," "The Right Stuff," "Broadcast News," "The Adventures of Huck Finn," "An Unmarried Woman," the "North and South" miniseries.

• Aaron Copland: "The Red Pony," the 1940 "Our Town," the 1961 "Something Wild," "The Heiress," "Of Mice and Men." His classical and ballet works have been adapted for films from "Raging Bull" to "He Got Game" to "Drop Dead Gorgeous," and for TV from "Doctor Who" to "The Simpsons" to "She's Gotta Have It."

• Charlie Chaplin: "City Lights," "Modern Times," "The Great Dictator," "Limelight" and others. His songs "Smile," "Terry's Theme/Eternally" and "This is My Song" have all been covered numerous times, and included on hundreds of productions. Chaplin won his only competitive Oscar in composition, for his "Limelight" score.

The aforementioned Newman clan -- Alfred, Lionel, Emil, Thomas, David, Randy, Maria and Joey -- has composed several hundred films from 1931 to today, winning roughly a dozen Oscars from 50-plus nominations.

Alfred, first in the biz, earned 45 Oscar nominations, second only to Williams' 53 and Walt Disney's 59. He holds the record for most Oscar wins, with nine. His best-remembered would probably be "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," "The King and I" and "Camelot," from more than 500 film and TV credits.

His younger brother Lionel followed Alfred as music director at 20th Century Fox, earning 200 film credits over 46 years. Lionel won the Oscar for 1970's "Hello Dolly." Middle brother Emil worked early on as a musical director, but composed scores for 23 films from 1950 to 1965.

Alfred's son Thomas followed in those prolific footsteps, with nearly 300 film credits and counting. Though he's received 10 Oscar nominations, he's yet to win. Cousin Randy had him beat with 15 nominations, but broke that string with a win in 2002. Some of Thomas' best-loved scores are from "The Shawshank Redemption," "Meet Joe Black, "The Green Mile," "Erin Brokovich," "American Beauty," "Road to Perdition," "WALL-E," "Revolutionary Road," "Skyfall," "Spectre" and the HBO series "Six Feet Under." His work for "Elemental" is playing this summer.

Thomas' one-year-older brother David guest-conducted The Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra in 2007, leading the TSO in some of his and Alfred's works. He started in film relatively late, but over 25 years has scored more than 100, from "Serenity" to "Ice Age" to "Hoffa" to "The War of the Roses" to "Anastasia" to "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure." Maria, the younger sister, has focused more on classical work, but has scored several TV series and films. Joey Newman, grandson of Lionel, represents the third generation, with musical work on "Raised by Wolves," "Once and Again," "All Rise," "Despicable Me," "Seabiscuit," "West Wing" and others.

You've likely heard of Alfred, Lionel and Emil's nephew Randy, who carved his name in sardonic-sentimental and smart piano-driven pop. Hits such as "Short People," "You Can Leave Your Hat On," "I Love L.A.," "Mama Told Me Not to Come," "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" only scratch his songwriting surface. Though he wrote for TV early on, Randy didn't enter the feature business until Norman Lear's 1971 "Cold Turkey." It was another decade before he scored a film again, with Milos Forman's 1981 "Ragtime."

From that came one of finest scores of all my experience, and I'm counting "Vertigo," "The Right Stuff," his cousin Thomas' eerie and moving score for "Meet Joe Black," and most of the others above: "The Natural." Director Barry Levinson heard homages to Copland's heartland sound in Randy's "Ragtime" creations.

Remarkable on many levels, not least of which that Randy worked only from bits and pieces of film, as composers often do, and had to cut work to fit after final edits, but also for his evocations of Americana, pop songs, singalongs, circus music and the like, from a bold combination of percussion, brass, strings with electronic instruments. The meld of pastoral themes, hurdy-gurdy sentiment, horns trionfante — another fancy one, for triumphant, victorious — works magically, the warmth of woodwinds atop electric bass and unnaturally sustained, drawn-out synth support.

It's at times clear and direct, swinging — for the fences — and at others, haunting and lyrical. While it perfectly captures Levinson's aching elegy for a wounded Fisher King who wields a bat made of lightning-struck wood, it does what most scores, lyrics, or films without music cannot do: Stand alone.

Reach Tusk Editor Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Movie composers work miracles within constraints | MARK HUGHES COBB