Duel of the Fates or The Imperial March?

Two iconic themes for the villains of the saga. Which do you prefer?

I'd honestly have to flip a coin.

 

The Imperial March, easily. Not only is the piece itself better but it receives far more extensive and interesting development across the films (as opposed to the one-note nature of DOTF)
And Duel of the Fates isn't technically a theme for Darth Maul or any of the villains, but for the duel itself (Darth Maul does have a brooding low-woodwind motif but it's one of the more obscure themes from the score)

 

It depends.... Sometimes I prefer the Imperial March, other time I prefer listening to Duel of the Fates....

 

DOF.

It has this thematic yet brutal nature to it. It rises to high vocals and intense emotion.

It's a musical masterpiece(Just like IM is also).

 

There can only be one........



The Imperial March

 

Both are tops, but the Imperial March can't be beaten.

 

Imperial March seems to have much more potential for interesting variations, as in the plucked strings when Vader died.

 

Hard to choose.

 

Imperial March by a yuuuuuuge margin!

 

That's the biggest thing that separates the two for me. The Imperial March is intelligently adapted into a plethora of different situations while Duel of the Fates is just "that epic duel theme" that shows up whenever the scene needs to feel more "epic". The piece itself is expertly written of course but aside from a couple of cool variations in TPM (including the awesome "The Tide Turns") its renderings are identical. The Imperial March just feels much more true to the leitmotivic nature of Star Wars music.

 

There is no wrong answer!

 

There's one.

 

Duel of the Fates
But its almost a tie for me.

 

Duel of Fate is an epic fight theme.
But the Imperial March is this great all around song.

 

The Imperial March.

 

Duel of the Fates is not the theme of any villain.

 

I can't help but think that this is because of how Lucas hacked up the film after it was scored, then they had to use whatever cues they could, including pieces of Dual of the Fates, to score the recut film. A full score release of what Williams COMPOSED for The Phantom Menace might reveal a lot more leit motif variation using Dual of the Fates. Who knows?

I still think an absolutely massive chance was missed for using the DotF material in a new way for the Anakin/Obi-Wan duel in ROTS, instead of just tracking in what was previously used and recorded. Something entirely new that wove in and danced between The Force Theme, the Emperor's theme, the Imperial March, Battle of the Heroes and Dual of the Fates for the entire sequence of Palpatine vs. Yoda and Anakin vs. Obi-Wan would have been an absolutely epic sequence of scoring, such as Star Wars has rarely seen. The repeated stuff from Empire Strikes Back for some of the Palpatine vs. Yoda stuff works but just seems half-assed and lazy rehash.

 

I've been to a Star Wars concert lately in Montreal. The music was orchestrated by a group of musicians (amateurs and professionals) being part of the OVMF (Orchestra of Winds and Film Music in english). They combined together Duel of the Fates and the Imperial March. And it gave a very interesting and beautiful result. You can listen to it on the following video:

 

Virtually all the music composed for the film is available, in one way or another. And there are not a lot of "leit motif variations" hidden anywhere. (and although you are partially right about the edits made to the movie after it was scored, the main reason to choose the concert version of Duel of the Fates over other cues using the very same theme is just that Lucas preferred one version over the other. Remember that Williams' job is to provide Lucas with material to choose for his film).

But the Duel of the Fates theme DOES appear in many developed (or shoudl i say under-developed) ways in the film! The theme itself is composed of several elements, most notably the five-note bass ostinato (which is used in many interesting ways during the whole battle sequence, including a dramatic statement when Qui-Gonn dies -and don't forget the music for the destruction of the battleship, in which the Force theme is mixed with the ostinato) and the nine-note brass line (which is used during the battle scenes as well).

On top of that, you have the choral element, which is only used for the duel itself. The thing is, due to its uniqueness and popularity (thanks to the concert version that is most well-known), people tend to think that the choral version is the actual theme/letimotif, when in reality, it's just an explosive concert version of the different motifs that are used during the battle (which don't use the choir).

Long story short, Duel of the Fates is the name of the concert version, based on a specific cue written for the duel, which includes the different motifs that are developed through the final battle of the film, with a choral element added to it to give a more epic feeling.

 

Duel of the Fates!

 

It's tough, but i think i'll go with Duel of the Fates.

 

Duel Of The Fates was great. No question. But it always bugged me that we'd heard it before. In another Lucasfilm movie too..

I am constantly surprised by how often they can use the Imperial march (at least in the OT) and the Force theme (original Binary Sunset) in Star Wars films and it still sounds great.

Particularly the Force theme.

 

Wait, what do you mean?