The various film and theatre appearances of the Superman character have been accompanied by musical scores.
The score for the 1978 film Superman, composed and conducted by John Williams, was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, with John Georgiadis as concertmaster. Recording took place on July 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14; September 9–11; October 6 (Irvine Arditti, concertmaster), 15, 24, 31 (Richard Studt, concertmaster), and November 4, 1978, at the Anvil Studios in Denham, Bucks, England. Source music was recorded on July 17. The recording engineer was Eric Tomlinson, assisted by Alan Snelling. Orchestrations were conducted by Herbert Spencer, Arthur Morton, Angela Morley and John Williams. The music editor was Bob Hathaway, assisted by Ken Ross.
Williams's "Superman Theme", which is first heard during the opening credits to the film Superman, has been reused (with varying arrangements) as the opening music for every Superman film except for Superman III, in which Ken Thorne employed a lighthearted, somewhat comical cue to represent "the streets of Metropolis". It is also referenced in Jerry Goldsmith's score to the 1984 film Supergirl during a scene in which the title character sees a poster of Superman.[1]
In the 2017 film Justice League, Danny Elfman reused Williams's Superman theme, as well as his themes from Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns for the new incarnation of the character. Blake Neely, the composer for the Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths", incorporated the march theme and "Can You Read My Mind?" with Brandon Routh reprising his role as the Superman of Earth-96.[2]
In the 2022 film Black Adam, a rendition of Williams's Superman theme (composed by Lorne Balfe) was heard in the mid-credit scene. According to actor Henry Cavill (which this film later marks his final appearance as Superman), he chose this theme over Hans Zimmer's Man of Steel theme because it is more recognizable to audiences.
A selection of existing songs were featured in the 1978 film Superman, not included on any version of the soundtrack albums, but readily available elsewhere:
Source music written for the film: A Hawaiian-themed cue called "Luthor's Luau", heard in the background in Lex Luthor's secret hideaway the day after Superman's debut around the city was composed by John Williams, who also wrote additional pieces of source music that were not used in the film. In some cases these were replaced by the existing songs listed above. Some of Williams' versions were used in the extended television broadcast versions of the film in place of these.
These are regularly performed in symphony and pops concerts, including those by composer John Williams, and have also been featured in re-recordings for various CD compilations.
December 20, 1978: 2-LP set from Warner Bros. Records.
This album was released on CD in 1987[4] and is still in print, but it is missing the tracks "Growing Up" and "Lex Luthor's Lair". The Japanese issue, which was released in 1990, presents the full program, but is out of print and rare.
1998: 2-CD set from Varèse Sarabande Records.
This release is a re-recording of Williams' score, conducted by John Debney and performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, including the first release of additional music from the film in any form. As detailed in the liner notes, the project was hampered when it was discovered that the existing scores and parts for the Superman: The Movie score had been lost. When extensive efforts to locate them failed, a team of orchestrators reconstructed the music from John Williams' 8-12 stave composer sketches; thus there are subtle differences which may be noted in a number of the cues when compared to their original counterparts.
The tempo of the cues in this re-recording are generally rather slower than in the original recording, possibly because the recording was made in the highly resonant acoustic of Glasgow City Hall.
February 15, 2000: 2-CD set from Rhino Records.
This release combines the master for the original album with what were believed at the time to be the only surviving elements to reconstruct the full length of the original Williams recording. This release went out of print in 2005, but may still be available online through many internet music services.
February 29, 2008: part of Superman: The Music (1978-1988) 8-CD set from Film Score Monthly.
This release restores the complete score from newly discovered high quality original masters and includes previously unreleased material. Discs 1 and 2 of this 8 disc set present music from the film. Additional material is presented on disc 8.
February 22, 2019: 3-CD set from La-La Land Records.
For the 40th anniversary of the film's release, La-La Land Records released this 3-CD version of the complete score. In the intervening years between the release of the Film Score Monthly 8-CD set and this release, the original 24-track tapes from the recording sessions had been found, with La-La Land Records using these tapes as the source of the remaster. The result is increased dynamic range compared to previous releases. In addition, a new alternate version of "The Fortress of Solitude" was included on Disc 2 and a reconstructed and remastered version of the original album on Disc 3.
Unlike the prior Rhino Records release, this version of the soundtrack did not include any of the source music cues. Those cues were made available in La-La Land Records' 2018 combined release of Superman II and III, on Disc 2.
The score was composed, conducted and orchestrated by Ken Thorne (from original material composed by John Williams). Because of budget restrictions, the score was recorded by an orchestra of contract players rather than the London Symphony Orchestra. Recording took place on March 25–27, 29; April 17, 18, 25; and May 2, 1980, at CTS Studios (The Music Centre) in Wembley, Middlesex, England. The recording engineer was John Richards, assisted by Tim Pennington and James Abramson, and the music editor was Bob Hathaway.
Composer/arranger Ken Thorne was mandated to reuse the first film's themes for Superman II. He based the music for the Kryptonian villains on the Williams material associated with Krypton and the Fortress of Solitude. He also added a descending three-note motif for the villains and a briefly heard ominous melody associated with General Zod.
1980: Single LP from Warner Bros. Records.
This album and the original album for Superman III were combined for an out-of-print Japanese CD release.
February 29, 2008: part of Superman: The Music (1978-1988) 8-CD set from Film Score Monthly.
This release restores the complete score, which is presented on disc 3 of the 8 disc set, with additional music presented on disc 8.
October 30, 2018: 3-CD set from La-La Land Records.
This release is presented on discs 1 and 2 of this 3-disc set, with source music from Superman, Superman II and Superman III filling the rest of disc 2, and the score for Superman III on disc 3.
The score was composed, conducted and orchestrated by Ken Thorne (with original Superman themes by John Williams). Recording took place on February 14–16; March 7–9 and 18, 1983 at CTS Studios (The Music Centre) in Wembley, Middlesex, England. The recording engineer was John Richards and the music editor was Bob Hathaway.
Ken Thorne was given a freer hand in the scoring of Superman III in accordance with the series' change in direction and more comedic tone. His new thematic material consisted of related themes for Gus Gorman and a general theme for computers, plus an ominous "Supercomputer" theme heard in the latter part of the score. Thorne also supplied a love theme for Lana Lang and Clark Kent, based on a melody written for the film by Giorgio Moroder. Lois Lane's theme is not present in the score because she only appears in the film briefly.
1983: LP from Warner Bros. Records.
Superman III was the first of the films to have a score and song soundtrack combined on the same release, a common trend in the mid-1980s. Side A presented 19 minutes of Ken Thorne's score, while Side B contained music composed and produced by pop mogul Giorgio Moroder. These included three sung versions (with lyrics by Keith Forsey) of songs heard as source music in the film, plus Moroder's love theme for Clark Kent and Lana Lang (used by Thorne as the basis for his own theme), and ending with a completely synthesized version of the Superman II main title march.
This album and the original album for Superman II were combined for an out-of-print Japanese CD release.
February 29, 2008: part of Superman: The Music (1978-1988) 8-CD set from Film Score Monthly.
This release restores the complete score, which is presented on disc 4 of the 8 disc set, with additional music presented on disc 8.
October 30, 2018: 3-CD set from La-La Land Records.
This release is presented on disc 3 of this 3-disc set, with the score for Superman II on discs 1 and 2 and source music from Superman, Superman II and Superman III filling the rest of disc 2.
The score was adapted and conducted by Alexander Courage (from music by John Williams). Recording took place from May 11–18, 1987 at the Bavaria Studios in Munich, Germany, performed by Symphony-Orchestra Graunke. Recording engineer was Peter Kramper. Additional recording took place May 23 – June 2, 1987, at CTS Studios (The Music Centre) in Wembley, Middlesex, England, performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra. Recording engineer was Dick Lewzey, assisted by Steve Price and Jonathan Ruttley. Orchestrations were by Frank Barber and Harry Roberts, and the music editor was Bob Hathaway. Jack Fishman was musical advisor. Songs by Paul Fishman were recorded in September 1986 in Hampstead, London, England.
John Williams composed three new themes for , attaching to three new characters.
Alexander Courage adapted Williams' themes for the film, integrating the three new ones with all of the existing themes from Superman. He also supplied two new themes of his own: a "missile" motif for when nuclear arms are shown or discussed, and a "Russian" motif, a minor mode march used when Soviets and their weapons appear.
February 29, 2008: part of Superman: The Music (1978-1988) 8-CD set from Film Score Monthly.
Alexander Courage completed a 100-minute score for a version of that ran over two hours. As a result of negative audience response to the preview, the picture was cut down to a length of 89 minutes for U.S. release. At the urging of visual effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw, two action scenes were reinstated for the international version, which ran 92 minutes and was later shown on U.S. television. As a result of this cutting of running time, much of the music was not heard and "Jeremy's Theme" in particular was virtually undetectable in the final version.
Although an album release for was produced in 1987, it was aborted when the film was shortened. As with Superman III, it was to contain several songs (by Paul Fishman of Re-Flex) and a small sampling of the score by Alexander Courage (adapting John Williams' themes). In 2008, the 8-CD box set Superman: The Music (1978-1988) premiered the entire score for as composed for the long version of the film. Also included were all of Paul Fishman's songs created for the deleted Metro Club disco and other scenes in the film. Tracks in italics were intended to be released on the cancelled soundtrack album (Jerry Lee Lewis's "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On", heard in the film, would also have been included).
La-La Land Records re-released the complete soundtrack, with identical track listing, in 2018 as a stand-alone 2-CD set.
See main article: Superman Returns (soundtrack). The score was composed by John Ottman. Director Bryan Singer originally wanted John Williams to score the film, but Williams declined due to working on at the time; he had also turned down an offer to score Richard Donner's version of Superman II for the same reason.
The tracks appear out of order compared to how they appear in the movie. This was done by Ottman for listening purposes.
See main article: Man of Steel (soundtrack). Director Zack Snyder's 2013 reboot of the series, Man of Steel, is scored by Hans Zimmer, and is the first Superman film not to use any of Williams' themes.
June 11, 2013: on CD from WaterTower Music.
The deluxe edition includes all the tracks in the standard edition, as well as the tracks shown here. The digital version of the deluxe edition lists the track "What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?" as the first track of the second disc rather than the last track of the first disc.
| Title | Performer(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Ring of Fire" | Allison Crowe | |
| 2 | "Seasons" | Chris Cornell | |
| 3 | "The Long Walk" | Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders |
See main article: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (soundtrack).
March 18, 2016: on CD from WaterTower Music.
The deluxe edition includes all the tracks in the standard edition, as well as the tracks shown here. Many tracks featured in the film were not released with the official soundtrack in March 2016. These tracks were later released in the film's complete score nearly two years later, on March 6, 2018.
| Title | Performer(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Night and Day" | Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine | |
| 2 | "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" | Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine | |
| 3 | "Shostakovich: Waltz II" | Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly |
All of the above (as well as some TV and film themes) were recorded by a modern orchestra and released on a 1999 CD called Superman: The Ultimate Collection, released by Varèse Sarabande Records.
The TV theme for the 1950s series Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves, had the unusual lead-in of a harp playing a kind of stringed "drumroll" as the camera moved through space, segueing into a dramatic brass triad accompanied by cymbals, drums, etc., at the moment when a shooting star explodes on the screen and the title card appears. A variation on the classic "Faster than a speeding bullet..." was rendered by deep-voiced actor Bill Kennedy. Three of the main characters from the show utter the famous lines "Look, up in the sky!", "It's a bird!", "It's a plane!". They are actors Robert Shayne, who played Inspector Henderson, George Reeves himself and Phyllis Coates who played the first Lois Lane. The actors just happened to be in the studio when the recording was being made.
The opening and closing theme, as well as a number of recurring underscore themes from the first season (the "Phyllis Coates episodes"), were released in 2000 on the CD Adventures of Superman: The Original 1950s TV Series from Varèse Sarabande Records. The liner notes make the point that although series musical arranger Leon Klatzkin is conventionally credited with composing the theme, that credit is in some doubt. The use of the Superman theme in the show became ingrained in viewers' minds because the same section of music was played nearly every time the scene cut to Superman flying. The episodes themselves were tracked with existing "library music". One particularly notable instance was a cue called "Tumult and Commotion", extracted from Miklos Rozsa's "Theme, Variations, and Finale", Op. 13, from 1933. Rozsa was one of Hollywood's leading composers during the 1950s, but he had no involvement in this repurposing of his music.
The 1988 animated series from Ruby-Spears was scored by Ron Jones. Its main titles opened with the John Williams theme from the Christopher Reeve films, then segueing into a similarly-styled original theme by Jones which was used as the primary Superman leitmotif in the episodes' underscores. This short-lived series (13 episodes) was distinctive for its "Superman's Family Album" vignettes, which each presented an event from some point during Clark Kent's Smallville upbringing. For these mini episodes, Jones continued to follow Williams' lead by employing a Coplandesque Americana sound.
Jones' music for this series was released in its entirety on its own CD as part of the 8-disc collection Superman: The Music (1978-1988), issued by Film Score Monthly in 2008.