AGiambra

The other day I was listening to The Mission, the NBC News theme, also written by Williams. At 2:29 into the theme, he ends a phrase with three fantastic chords. When I first heard these chords, my head split open because they are so incredibly rich. I just had to figure it out. The theme is written in Bb. If I were writing it, I'd probably use some boring old chords to return to Bb. Perhaps simply an F7 which would work but as I said would sound pretty boring. What does Williams play? He plays an Eb maj7 with the ninth and eleventh added, The melody is on the eleventh. This is followed by an Ab maj7 also with the ninth and eleventh added. Finally he ends on Bb. I've used this combination of chords before to return to the root chord, but with simpler versions of the chords. In C it would be F, Bb and C. But I never thought of using it the way Williams does, with the melody sitting on the eleventh of the chord. What genius!

Falstaft, thank you for Sinfonia Antartica. I will definitely listen to this several times. As I listen for the first time right now, I hear what you are talking about, the eerie textures and harmonic effects. And thanks to Jurassic Shark for explaining how the Db Maj7 chord can contain a C major within it. I am so glad I discovered this forum. There is so much to learn and I can tell that I am among friends with finely tuned ears. I look forward to future discussions.

First of all, thanks for the welcome. And thanks for the informative replies. I recently purchased the sheet music for the Star Wars Suite simply because I had to know what chord was playing in Measure 62. It is the strangest chord and yet it sounds so beautiful and otherwordly. It's basically a Db major seventh chord (Db, F,Ab and C) but then Williams has the flutes up on top playing C and E. It's that high E, clashing with the F being played by the lower instruments, that makes the chord sound so weird. I just love the sound of it. Thanks for your responses. It really helped me understand what is going on. Yes, I am familiar by the way with Holst's The Planets. I heard this many years ago when I was in my teens (actually way more than many years ago). And I am familiar with the passages in Star Wars that borrow from it. I've read that some people are upset because they feel Williams copied from Holst but I am pretty confident that this was actually a salute to Holst by Williams. There is nothing wrong with referencing another work; it makes sense since both Star Wars and The Planets share the same subject matter (space, the universe, the planets).

In Measure 62 of Star Wars Suite For Orchestra, the 1st and 2nd strings play an arpeggio using note from a C major chord. But the Cellos are playing an arpeggio using notes from a Db chord. Every note in a Db chord is one half step from the notes in a C major chord. How in the world did John Williams know that this would work? The chord that is playing by all the instruments in Measure 62 is a Db Maj7 with an augmented 9th. So the notes are Db, F, Ab, C and E. This makes me crazy and I hope there is someone who can make some sense out of this and explain it.