Alexander Courage
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Alexander Courage
- Genres: Soundtrack
Biography
Philadelphia native Alexander Courage is famous for co-writing the theme for the original Star Trek TV series with the show's creator Gene Roddenberry. The mid-'60s NBC-TV series went on to become a phenomenon during it's run in rerun syndication and spawned several movie versions and successful TV spin-offs. Raised in New Jersey, he earned a bachelor's degree in 1941 from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. Courage served a five-year stint in the United States Army during World War II. After the war, he settled in Los Angeles and began working as a composer/arranger for radio shows The Camay Hour and Sam Spade.Around 1948 his film-scoring career began when he was hired by MGM to write orchestral arrangements. He worked extensively in film music, and his credits as a composer/arranger include Funny Face, Guys and Dolls, Showboat, The Americanization of Emily, The Pleasure Seekers, Yes, Giorgio, Doctor Dolittle (1967), My Fair Lady (1964), and Superman (1976). He had numerous Academy Awards nominations. A partial listing of the vast number of TV series scores he composed and/or arranged would include Wagon Train, Peyton Place, Daniel Boone, The Waltons, Land of the Giants, and Lost in Space, among others. Courage was an early member of the Composers and Lyricists Guild of America and various other organizations. Some of Courage's catalog is available on CDs from GNP Crescendo: Star Trek: Original Television Soundtrack (The Cage, Where No Man Has Gone Before) (1989), Star Trek: Original Television Soundtrack, Vol. 3 (Shore Leave, The Naked Time) (1992), and The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen (1995). Other CDs that feature Courage's music are Rhino's 1997 CDs Academy Award-Winning Music From M-G-M Classics and That's Entertainment: The Best of the M-G-M Musicals; the 1967 movie soundtrack to Doctor Dolittle issued as a 1997 UNI/Verve CD; Leonard Bernstein: Greatest Hits; Gershwin Fantasy; a 1998 Sony Classics CD featuring Joshua Bell, John Williams, and the London Symphony Orchestra; the Executive Decision movie soundtrack from UNI/Varese Sarabande; Muppets From Space; Jessye Norman Collection; John Williams/Boston Pops Salute to America; First Knight; and Inside Star Trek. For instrumentalists, there's the book Complete Star Trek Theme Music. ~ Ed Hogan, Rovi
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Alexander Courage
| Alexander "Sandy" Mair Courage Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Alexander Mair Courage Jr. |
| Also known as | "Sandy" |
| Born | December 10, 1919 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | May 15, 2008 (aged 88) Pacific Palisades, California |
| Genres | Soundtracks |
| Occupations | Arranger, Composer |
Alexander "Sandy" Mair Courage Jr. (December 10, 1919 – May 15, 2008) was an American orchestrator, arranger, and composer of music, primarily for television and film.
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Contents
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Early Life
Courage was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received a music degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, in 1941. He served in the United States Army Air Force in the western United States during the Second World War. During that period, he also found the time to compose music for the radio. His credits in this medium include the programs Broadway Is My Beat, Hollywood Soundstage, and Romance.
Career
Courage began as an orchestrator/arranger at MGM studios, which included work in such films as the 1951 Show Boat ("Life Upon the Wicked Stage" number), The Band Wagon ("I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan"), Gigi (the can-can for the entrance of patrons at Maxim's), and the barn-raising dance from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
He frequently served as an orchestrator on films scored by André Previn (My Fair Lady, the "The Circus is a Wacky World", and "You're Gonna Hear from Me" production numbers for Inside Daisy Clover), Adolph Deutsch (Funny Face, Some Like It Hot), John Williams (The Poseidon Adventure, Superman, Jurassic Park, and the Academy Award-nominated musical films Fiddler on the Roof and Tom Sawyer), and Jerry Goldsmith (Rudy, Mulan, The Mummy, et al.). Courage succeeded Arthur Morton as primary orchestrator for Goldsmith in the 1990s.[1] Ironically, with Star Trek: The Motion Picture he was orchestrating Goldsmith's adaptation of his own original theme.
Apart from his work as a respected orchestrator, Courage also contributed original dramatic scores to films, including two 1950s westerns, Arthur Penn's The Left Handed Gun and André de Toth's Day of the Outlaw. He continued writing music for movies throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, including the score for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace which incorporated three new musical themes by John Williams, in addition to Courage's adapted and original cues for the film. Courage's score for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was released on CD in early 2008 by the Film Music Monthly company as part of its boxed set Superman - The Music.
Courage is probably best known for writing the theme music for Star Trek, and some other music for the series, but he also worked as a composer on such TV shows as Daniel Boone, The Brothers Brannagan, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Judd, for the Defense (this was the only TV series besides Star Trek for which he composed the main theme), and Daniel Boone.
Courage reportedly became alienated from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry over the latter's claim for half of the music royalties. (Roddenberry wrote words for Courage's Star Trek theme song, not because he expected the lyrics to be sung on TV, but so that by claiming credit as the song's co-writer, Roddenberry could receive half of the royalties from the song.)[2]
The composer Jerry Goldsmith and Courage teamed on the long-running TV show The Waltons in which Goldsmith composed the theme and Courage the Aaron Copland-influenced incidental music. In 1988 Courage won an Emmy Award for his music direction on the special Julie Andrews: The Sound of Christmas.
Courage frequently collaborated with John Williams during the latter's tenure with the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Death
Courage had been in declining health for several years before he died on May 15, 2008 at the "Sunrise" assisted-living facility in Pacific Palisades, California.[3] He had suffered a series of strokes prior to his death.[4] His mausoleum is in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
References
- ^ "Alexander Courage, Composer of the Original 'Star Trek' Theme, Dies". WCBS Newsradio 880. 2008-05-30. http://www.wcbs880.com/-Star-Trek--Theme-Writer-Alexander-Courage-Dies/2278526. Retrieved 2008-05-30.[dead link]
- ^ "Unthemely Behavior". Urban Legends Reference Pages. 1999-03-10. http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/trek1.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-20.
- ^ Obituary
- ^ Bernstein, Adam (May 31, 1008). "Alexander Courage; Composed Theme to TV Show 'Star Trek'". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053003013.html. Retrieved May 31, 2008. Obituary, Washington Post print and online editions, May 31, 2008, page B06
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Mentioned in
Star Trek [Original Television Soundtrack], Vol. 3: "Shore Leave"/The Naked Time
(1966 Album by Original Television Soundtrack)
Star Trek, Vol. 1: The Cage/Where No Man Has Gone Before
(1985 Album by Alexander Courage)
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Encounter at Farpoint
(1988 Album by Dennis McCarthy)
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Original TV Soundtrack)
(Classical Album)
Star Trek: The Next Generation, Vols. 1-3
(1987 Album by Star Trek)
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