brass voicings

[tedfud 38]

Hi Groovers

Can someone with better ears help me here. At 8:46 in the " Battle of Yavin " cue we have a lovely set of very Rozsa chords with a variation of the rebel fanfare over the top. I'm fairly certain the first chord has a tritone in it which means it's possible a dim chord built on the Db....but the chord it resolves to has me stumped .....

also...if this is polytonality ...what key centre is the trumpet from ?

many thanks

t

[Ludwig 1,120]

They're the planed major triads we usually get with the Fanfare, but now pitted against the sustained Db major chord. So in the brass, C major to A major a few times, then C major up to Db major to blend with the others.

One interesting detail about this little passage is that the strings' "Rozsa chords", as you aptly dub them, are a slow version of the Fanfare's latter half (minus its last note), which is precisely what's missing from the Fanfare's statement in the brass. So the whole theme's essentially there even when it seems that it's not, but broken up among the parts and somewhat hidden with a slower tempo (notice also that the Rozsa chords are the same planed major chords we normally hear with the theme).

Guess you can have your cake and eat it too.

[tedfud 38]

Ahh Thank you Ludwig....Makes perfect sense, and very clever . I'm beginning to really appreciate how much of composing is recycling and adapting material . I have been taking the Eroica to bit's...amazing stuff .

t