Star Wars - John Williams

Context

• 1977

• Main Title / Rebel Blockade Runner (VI A New Hope)

• late Romantic style

• uses leitmotifs

• Herbert Spencer wrote whole score

John Williams

• scoring for large orchestra

• leitmotifs

• 1932

• American, composer, conductor, pianist

• brass fanfares

• soaring violin melodies

• triumphant marches

• vigours battle music

Performing Forces

• full symphony orchestra

• percussion - timpani

• strings - violins

• brass - horns, trumpets

• woodwind - piccolo, flute

• avoids electronic effects and synthesisors

Fanfares

• use of arpeggios

• short

• brass

• dotted rhythms

• use of harmonic series

• loud

Structure

• first 29 bars - intro fanfare, ternary, for all Star Wars

• second part for specific film

• intro - fanfare

• A - 4 bar theme on trumpets, immediately repeated with different accompaniment

• B - 8 bar contrasting theme on violins

• repeat of A

• Specific Film - shortened fanfare

• piccolo solo - mysterious harmony

• sodden orchestral outburst

• Rebel Blockade Runner leitmotif

Texture

• dominated pedal

• ostinato textures

• homophonic

• inverted tonic pedal in intro and during Main Title theme

• bar 4 onwards - melody dominate homophony

Tonality

• Bb major for Star Wars theme

• from then on less clear

• 41-60 feels atonal (no key) due to complex chords and dissonance

• 51-60 elements of bitonal (two keys)

Harmony

• tritone (interval of aug 4th of dim 5th)

• opening fanfare to b7 - quartal harmony (chords built on 4ths)

Melody - Main Theme A

• 4 bar idea

• conjunct and leaps

• rising perfect 5th to sound heroic

• triplets, quavers, minims

Melody - Main Theme B

• 4 bar idea

• less forceful

• anacrusis

• conjunct with rising 6th

• outer parts move in contrary motion

Metre

• 4/4

• until b44 - 3/4

Tempo

• fast tempo

• b33 - pulse less obvious

• b51 - very fast

• homorhythmic (same rhythm) chords slows tempo

Rhythm

• fanfare rhythm

• use of triplets

• syncopated

• block chords