6. Star Wars by John Williams

Diagetic

Music in the film heard by the characters

Non-diagetic

Music characters cannot hear

Star Wars

1977 film directed by Steven Spielberg

Composer

John Williams (b.1932)

John Williams' style

1. brass fanfares

2. vigorous battle music

3. triumphant marches

4. soaring violin melodies

5. scoring for large symphony orchestra

6. Recurring musical motifs (leitmotifs)

Orchestrator

Herbert Spencer

Genre

Film music

Role of music in the film

1. create mood

2. suggest time or place

3. provide continuity

4. remind audience using leitmotifs (of characters, events, ideas)

5. dictate the pace of the action

Main title

music at the start of the film that accompanies the opening title

Rebel Blockade Runner

name of the rebel ship fleeing the Galactic Empire

Opening and theme 1A dynamics

FF

Theme 1B dynamics

MF crescendo to FF (as main theme returns)

Section 2 dynamics

Loud except for piccolo 'rebel' theme (b36-38), then remains FF from bar 42.

Ending dynamics

unexpected pp

Metre

4/4 military march style until bar 44, then 3/4 which emphasises the intensity of the ending

Main tempo

1. mostly fast (crotchet = 100)

2. few rallentandos/ritenutos before main ideas appear

3. massive slow down leading to pause in bar 50

Tempo in codetta

tempo increases to 160 bpm (very dramatic and highly charged)

Dominating rhythm

Triplets

Rhythmic features in opening fanfare

triplets and repeated notes

Section 1 rhythmic features

1A = syncopated block chord accompaniment, combining off-beat quavers and triplets with rests.

1B = triplets & dotted rhythms

Section 2 rhythmic features

- Violin triplet/sextuplet/demisemiquaver rhythms create sinister/unsettled effects.

- Pounding crotchets in bass line.

- Bars 42-end: triplets dominate for intensity, war-like.

Main texture

Mostly homophonic (melody & accompaniment)

Other textures

1. Few imitative points (e.g. trumpets & trombones in Fanfare

Melody often doubled in 8ves)

2. Homorhythmic block chords (bars 44-50)

3. Pedal points (bars 51-end) including a rhythmic ostinato on a C pedal

Structure overview

Intro - Section 1 "Main theme" (A B A1) - Section 2

Section 1 structure

ABA1 (ternary) structure:

A = 3-29

B = 8 bar contrasting theme on violin

A1 = repeat of A, more fully scored

Section 2 structure

Shortened fanfare, piccolo solo, orchestral outburst & codetta

Melody features (general)

- bold, clearly defined (features of JW's style)

- fanfare passages

- leitmotifs (Skywalker & Rebel Blockade)

- sequences

Fanfare melody

- rapid repeated notes

- triplet arpeggio-like figures

- 7th leaps

Melody theme A

- Skywalker leitmotif

- 4 bar idea on trumpet

- rising 5ths & emphasis on tonic & dominant (heroic)

- wide leaps of 7th, together with triplets & syncopation (energy)

Melody theme B

- 4 bar idea (again) but on violins

- elegant (less forceful)

- more conjunct (stepwise)

- still uses triplets

- repeat varied (ends descending Bbm scale)

Section 2 solo instrument

piccolo

Rebel blockade leitmotif interval

falling minor 3rd

Instrumentation (ensemble)

- Full symphony orchestra (almost 90 players)

- Much doubling of parts (thickly scored)

- No electronic effects or synths

Instrumentation details

10 woodwind

11 brass

6 percussion

harp

60 strings in 5 parts (1+2 violins, violas, cellos & double basses)

Intro + section 1 tonality

Bb major

Section 2 tonality

less clear:

Eb hinted (bar 30)

Becomes chromatic (bar 33)

Then hexatonic (bar 36)

Later ambiguous C major (bar 42)

Almost atonal in bar 44-60 with complex cluster chords

Coda is bitonal (C + Db)

Harmony (general)

- mostly tonal harmony with lots of major chords in root or 1st inversion.

- frequent complex chords and unusual progressions, partly due to the influence of quartal harmony.

Harmony - intro

Quartal harmony ( F Bb Eb Ab) used for opening fanfare

Harmony - section 1A

- quartal harmony (under leitmotif)

- imperfect cadences (at the end of each phrase, ending on chord V)

Harmony - section 1B

Added 6th chords (jazz influence)

Harmony - section 2

- doesn't confirm key of Eb major (F pedal and quartal harmony)

- unrelated chords emphasise tritone (Ab to E) & create unworldly character (b33)

- piccolo melody hexatonic (b36)

- 3 bar link atonal (b39)

- dissonant cluster chords b44 (C-Db-F-G)

- bitonal coda (C + Db)

11 woodwind

2 flutes

1 piccolo

2 oboes

2 clarinets

1 bass clarinet

2 bassoons

11 brass

4 horns

3 trumpets

2 trombones

1 bass trombone

1 tuba

6 percussion

timpani, triangle, cymbals, snare drum, large gong, vibraphone, celesta, glockenspiel, piano & harp

Luke Skywalker Leitmotif (trumpet)

Theme B (violins)

Celesta

small percussive keyboard instrument (using hammers to strike metal bars, thereby producing a bright, bell-like sound)

Vibraphone

percussion instrument with a double row of tuned metal bars (each above a tubular resonator with a motor-driven rotating vane, giving a vibrato effect)