The following is a partial cue rundown of the first two imaginative Harry Potter feature films, music composed by John Williams.

HARRY POTTER
Music by JOHN WILLIAMS
The following is a partial cue rundown of the first two imaginative Harry Potter feature films, music composed by John Williams. Perhaps one can fancifully say it is Williams’ Nutcracker score for modern times. It seems to have the spirit of such Tchaikovsky at any rate The only other rundown I did of a John Williams score was for Superman, and I was limited to the sketch score in Williams’ rather poor (IMHO) handwriting (at least in comparison to, say, Bernard Herrmann) available for study at Eastman in Rochester, New York (close to my home town of Syracuse): http://sibley.esm.rochester.edu/specialc/findaids/courage1.htm#B27 Gaining access to Williams’ full scores is difficult, although I had success years ago to study a few of his Columbia Pictures full scores at Sony Studios (Hook and Close Encounters of the Third Kind). Recently I had the very rare opportunity to study the first two Harry Potter scores at Warner Bros. During my vacation, I had three days to study the music materials in four very large white boxes. However, I wanted to take an opportunity to peruse other scores (including Goldenthal’s Interview With A Vampire and Williams’ Artificial Intelligence) so I barely scratched the surface in my research! I am hoping to go back a few more times if I still have the luck (or magic!) to do so. Originally I went to Warner Bros. to see if I can study the full score to Superman (not Harry Potter) because I felt that it was one of Williams’ very best and memorable scores. Because I know somebody in the studio who knew me for 15 years (and knew I am a serious film music researcher), I was given the opportunity to come in. So Boxes 329B, 330A, 330B, and 331B were pulled for me–boxes that in their system claimed were the Superman music materials. Unfortunately, I found out there that these boxes only held the parts to the adapted music for Superman II. The Parts, full scores, and copy of the sketches of the original movie score are not there. Nobody seems to know exactly where they are, except that probably Williams has the autograph full score (but this is not verified, just a logical assumption). The only full score cues available in one of those boxes were the "source cues" of various parts of the movie: 4M1 "Kansas High School" orchestrated by Herb Spencer in yellow 35-stave paper. Inscribed with that title is "Heavy 50′s Rock." Instrumentation: tenor sax, trumpet, tambourine, electric guitar, rhythm guitar, fender, piano, and drums. 4M7 "Kansas Kids" (Heavy Bubble Gum Rock). 26 bars. 5M2 "Late Night Country Music." Instrumentation: Hawaiian steel guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, vibe, piano, and bass. 9M4 "Another Navy Grog, Please" (Tempo Di "Trader Vic"). 36 bars. Instrumentation: Ukelele, Hawaiian guitar, electric guitars, drums, vibe, piano, bass.

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