Star Wars scores stylistically parallel the history of music

In each film in the Star Wars saga, there seems to be a progressional development in the music that is used.

Let's take a look at this by example.

ANH: Wagner, all Wagner. Actually, all the music in Star Wars appears to be derived from the epic scale of Wagnerian opera, with stylistic variations here and there, such as the more "classical" feel of TPM. The main theme, the four-note rising Death Star motif, The celebration march in the end is closer to a classical symphony, though. So ANH is pretty much a spectrum from late Classical to early Romantic. Also, we have some good ol' big band music, which later evolves into electronic pop-rock in ROTJ.

ESB: Big neo-Romantic motif for Han and Leia, big neo-Romantic "march to the scaffold" so to speak. Most of the score, however, calls Stravinsky to mind. Listen to the Battle Of Hoth track and you'll know what I mean. The stylistic transition from Wagner to Stravinsky is something I know to be intentional - see the ESB:SE soundtrack notes.

ROTJ: A summation of everything before it. A neat fallback to Baroque music for the background underscoring in Jabba's Palace. Jabba's horn theme is more along the vein of Stravinsky yet again. The Ewok theme and source music represent the more recent "world-beat" exotic movement, but at the same time recalls the exoticism of Romantic composers such as Bizet. And of course, a continuation of the operatic style that runs throughout the entire saga. Plus the electronic pop-rock...

TPM: Anakin's Theme - The string melodies are distinctly reminiscent of Mozart. Duel Of The Fates - strict and consistent tempo, unified form, and chorale harmonies that are a combination of Baroque operatic consonance and excited, fortissimo-laden orchestration much like that of Beethoven. Most of the TPM score is certainly very 18th-century, preceding the musical styles of the OT. Not sure if this was intended or not.

So, what room does this leave John Williams to expand in Episodes II and III? Of course we'll see more of the Wagnerian vein that runs through all of Star Wars, but will we see further thematic development representative of the gap between Mozart and Wagner, such as the powerful later works of Beethoven?

Comments, please.

 

Heh, great, onto a subject which I can only appreciate but know little of. Your observations sound very interesting.

 

I agree with bs, very interesting observations. Unfortunately, my brain isn't working that well right now, so I can't come up with a good on-topic reply. Maybe later.

 

By the by IP, you sound somewhat most favorable to Beethoven out of the composers, care to comment? What would you say as to a heiarchy in classical music interpretation?

 

That's pretty interesting. I don't quite hear it the same way. It sounds to me like strains of Wagner and Stravinsky all throughout the movies so far. I also don't hear much classical style in TPM, except for DotF and maybe Anakin's theme as you mentioned. But, it is still an interesting idea, and something I'll think about next time I listen to them all.

PS I feel there is a conspiracy going to get me to listen to more Mozart. If Anakin's theme is Mozart-esque, then my bias against Mozart must be keeping me from some good music.

EDIT: I thought of something which may relate to this: It seems that in TPM, there are many little melodies which occur once or twice in a scene, and never return. They're not a theme or motif associated with a character. Is this something which is more "classical" as opposed to "romantic" or Wagnerian? That is, the use of melodies on their own, and not as themes/motives? Some examples of what I'm talking about: A horn melody when Qui-Gon is arguing for Jar Jar's freedom; trumpet melody when the bongo surfaces in Theed; a melody played R2 meets C-3PO; the fanfare when Anakin wins the race.

 

I'm not favourable to Beethoven as much as I'm pointing out the fact that he would fill the gap between a Classical and Mid-Romantic style...

As for all the movies being akin to Wagner and Stravinsky - well like I said, Wagner is indeed the foundation behind it all. The style of earlier Stravinsky shows up prominently in ESB, and also in ROTJ to some extent - but you don't get a whole lot of that dissonance in TPM. TPM has a very consonant, flowing score.

 

Sorry Iron Parrot, but I don't hear a great deal of Stravinsky in any of the scores. Sure there are moments, but the grander orchestral writing is far more reminiscent of Holst and Walton in its layering and textures. In all the films there is a great deal of atonal based music that nods its head towards Berg and Ives, including TPM.

The marching tunes are pretty derivative of Elgar and Sousa and there is very little traditional classical-structured music, mainly because the nature of the films don't allow for such contrived forms. Think more the tone poems of Liszt or grand Berlioz works.

In RTJ, jabba's theme is more early classical in style than baroque, with its early Haydn and CPE Bach simplistic accompaniment & structure.

In TPM, the music as with all the films is a mixture of 19th & 20th century styles. I can't think of anything that would come from the 18th century, especially not Anakin's theme, which is clearly mid-19th century in style (think Tchaik and Brahms).

 

First of all - yes, there are a lot of moments reminiscent of Holst. Plenty.

Second - I happen to find a great deal of the ESB score in particular is derived from Stravinsky's earlier works (i.e. the ballet scores) - recognizable themes and motifs over heavily layered polyharmonies...

Third - I find that Sousa's marches are of a fairly strict form as well. But I can see a definite connection to Sousa through, for example, the ANH celebration march.

 

Can you name me particular places in the ESB score that are "derived" (as opposed to influenced by) Stravinsky. I can only locate a couple myself. I think the term "derived" is the problem as this implies the music was directly obtained rather than influenced by Stravinsky. I can't hear many passages that sound like they were taken from Stravinsky.

Also, Stravinsky was not the only composer in history to use polyrhythms and polychords. Charles ives, Nancarrow, Messiaen etc all made extensive use of these devices.

The orchestration is possibly the main area where Stravinsky's influence can be heard, but here again, Stravinsky's first couple of ballet scores were heavily indebted to Rimsky-Korsakov, so the real source lies here.

The music is all heavily eclectic drawing on a huge range of past styles to achieve its dramatic ends, but as I've argued many times before, Williams music in Star Wars is very much his own and rarely ripped directly from anything else.

 

I am in agreement with that. And I did mean "influenced by".

I wouldn't be surprised if John Williams drew a lot of influence from Charles Ives and Aaron Copland, since he is quite an "American" composer himself, so to speak...

 

If I had known or listened to any of these composers beyond Beethoven then I might be able to comment a little further on the discussion that is developing.
However, I do seem to sense a progression, an epic feel that seems to twist and turn through the saga.

One thing I do agree with IP is that Beethoven is heavily influenced in TPM.
The music has an explosive, yet delicate touch to it much like his earlier works.
It seems to take Violin notes and use them in a weaving pattern that directs the booming horns.

 

Beethoven is a traceable influence only in so far that the music is grand and broadly symphonic. Beethoven was the first composer to write music on such a broad and expansive scale so there may be some truth in this. However, I cannot hear any directly Beethovian passages in the music, and the orchestra that Williams uses is three times the size of a classical orchestra, so the sound palette is very different.