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Is this 'Theme' heard in Harry Potter


Lockdown

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I swear that this Prokofiev theme was referenced in Harry Potter or something. I just can't think of what the heck it is. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does someone else here it?

 

 

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30 minutes ago, Incanus said:

Care to be more specific. Time stamps maybe?

The main theme, it's the first thing you hear in the violin solo.

 

1:10

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Hmmm doesn't ring a bell conjunction with Williams' Harry Potter scores.

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Funnily enough, I just saw an orchestra perform Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 in February. It was the Richmond Symphony orchestra with guest conductor Victor Yampolsky. Wonderful music. That central melody you referenced is at its most powerful when played on the double basses IMO.  There's nothing quite like the rumble of double basses in a live performance :)

 

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38 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Funnily enough, I just saw an orchestra perform Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 in February. It was the Richmond Symphony orchestra with guest conductor Victor Yampolsky. Wonderful music. That central melody you referenced is at its most powerful when played on the double basses IMO.  There's nothing quite like the rumble of double basses in a live performance :)

 

 

What about triple basses?

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Yeah, I can't think of anything on the Potter scores that's reminiscent of that melody. POA features some motivic material that revolves around three chromatic neighbors, much like the end of the first phrase of this melody...maybe that's what you're thinking of? And as loert pointed out, the first five notes are shared with the Unicorn theme from Tintin, albeit with a different rhythm...

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On ‎14‎/‎04‎/‎2016 at 8:15 AM, TheGreyPilgrim said:

See also Sibelius' violin concerto for the origin of that one really sweet tune from the Potter scores.

 

I always thought the main theme of the Sibelius Violin Concerto sounded like the "City in the Clouds" melody in TESB :)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-P183jzdfw

 

 

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On Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 9:02 AM, Disco Stu said:

Funnily enough, I just saw an orchestra perform Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 in February.

 

And I just saw it a couple of weeks ago!  On a bill with Tchaikovsky's "The Tempest" and Mendelssohn's 3rd symphony.

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I can hear it perfectly.  It was used in one of the first two scores, and I really want to say it was in a scene involving Dumbledore.  It's been far too long since I've listened to any of the scores to remember exactly where it was used.

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4 hours ago, Gnome in Plaid said:

I can hear it perfectly.  It was used in one of the first two scores, and I really want to say it was in a scene involving Dumbledore.  It's been far too long since I've listened to any of the scores to remember exactly where it was used.

That doesn't cut it my good man! We want timestamps! Specifics to support your claim!

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On 4/19/2016 at 2:25 PM, nightscape94 said:

 

And I just saw it a couple of weeks ago!  On a bill with Tchaikovsky's "The Tempest" and Mendelssohn's 3rd symphony.

 

Ha, when I saw it it was performed alongside Tchaikovsky's "Manfred" symphony.  I have to say I greatly preferred the Prokofiev concerto.  It had a real sense of being "alive" and dynamic compared to the Tchaikovsky symphony which could be quite plodding in places for me...

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  • 1 year later...
On 14/04/2016 at 8:02 AM, Lockdown said:

I swear that this Prokofiev theme was referenced in Harry Potter or something. I just can't think of what the heck it is. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does someone else here it?

 

 

 

I think I know what you're talking about. After the students arrive at Hogwarts for the first time in PS, John Williams utilities a solo violin to express the witch-like and somehow frightening character of Mcgonnagall. 

 

This short passage may have been inspired by Prokofiev, though the melody is not the same or even similar at all. Just the mood, or tone, is similar.

 

2:40 in this track:

 

 

 

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The theme of Prokofiev's g minor Concerto is not literally quoted in the scores, but it is based on a sequence of notes that appear in some permutations in Voldemort's theme (also in the same key).

 

Prokofiev's theme: G Bb D Eb C# D

 

Voldemort's theme (the excerpt posted by Blanche Hudson above): D C# Eb C# D G

 

in another instance of Voldemort's theme: Bb D G Bb C# D Eb D Bb G F# Bb G D 

 

Probably these are the examples you are thinking about.

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