Who composed the Star Wars music?
Quick answer
John Williams (94) composed the main musical score for Star Wars, starting with the original 1977 film, and wrote the music for all nine films in the main Skywalker saga. His Star Wars score won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and is one of the most famous pieces of film music ever written.
Famous Star Wars themes
| Theme | Associated with |
|---|---|
| Main Title | The opening crawl of every saga film |
| The Imperial March | Darth Vader and the Empire (first heard in The Empire Strikes Back, 1980) |
| Princess Leia’s Theme | Leia |
| The Force Theme | The Force and the Jedi |
| Duel of the Fates | The lightsaber battle in The Phantom Menace (1999) |
Williams used the leitmotif technique, borrowed from opera, where each character or idea has its own musical theme.
Other famous John Williams scores
- Jaws (1975): the two-note shark theme
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
- Superman (1978)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and the Indiana Jones films
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
- Jurassic Park (1993) and Schindler’s List (1993)
- The first three Harry Potter films, including “Hedwig’s Theme”
Many of these films were directed by Steven Spielberg, his partner on more than 25 films. See who directed Jurassic Park.
Awards and records
- 5 Academy Awards: Fiddler on the Roof (adaptation), Jaws, Star Wars, E.T. and Schindler’s List
- More than 50 Oscar nominations, the most of any living person
- Many Grammy Awards
- He also wrote music for four Olympic Games, including the 1984 Los Angeles “Olympic Fanfare and Theme”
Who was he before Star Wars?
Born in New York, Williams studied piano at Juilliard and worked as a jazz pianist and TV composer, writing music for shows like Lost in Space, before his film career took off.
For another iconic film question, see the Joker’s “Why so serious?”.
Still curious?
Jump to a random question from the archive.