Preface

The second edition of The Invisible Art of Film Music is an attempt to update the first edition, which covered the history of film and film music from their humble beginnings through 1997. In this new book the material of the first edition has been corrected and reworked, but with much of the original content intact. In addition, year-by-year materials have been added to reflect the years 1998 through 2012. One major difference between the two editions is the change in the way composer biographical materials are presented. In the updated text, biographical sketches are found as sidebar articles. It is hoped that with this manner of presentation the feature articles in the body of the text will feel more streamlined.

A few of the feature articles in the first edition have been expanded, due to further research. Thus the Citizen Kane material is considerably expanded. There has also been some additional commentary added to the articles on such films as the original 1968 version of Planet of the Apes. As with the first edition, the choice of feature articles for each film year has been the author’s selection and in no way reflects preferences of the editor or any other persons associated with the preparation of this book. The content of the new edition preserves the original intention of this project, which is to “sing the praises” of the creative individuals who wrote the music of the films featured in the pages of this text. Among the highlights of this edition are feature articles about the entire Star Wars saga and a collective article about Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Although this book attempts to be comprehensive, there is no way for a single volume to enclose comments about every significant film score. For that matter, there are many worthy composers, such as Roy Webb, Adolph Deutsch, and Frederick Hollander, whose work has been largely overlooked for space considerations. This hopefully will not be perceived as a slight against any of these composers or any others who are not profiled in the book. Perhaps another volume can be created that will feature some of the many other unsung heroes of film music.