Imperial March

[Hellgi 0]

Hmm... I did a search and couldn't find any post on that subject, even though it seems strange that is has never been discusses here before... but I'll try anyway.

I'm looking for the exact chord progression of the first 12 bars of the Imperial March (over the melody of course). Does something like that make any sense?

|| Gm / / E♭ | Gm E♭ Gm / | / / / Cm | F#⁰ E♭ Gm / |

Gm / / / | Cm / / B⁰ | A⁰ / / E♭|Gm / Dm / |

Gm / / / | Cm / / B⁰ | A⁰ / / E♭| Gm E♭Gm / ||

Thanks,

Hellgi

[David Coscina 3]

it's tough because of the appoggiaturas and non-key related passing tones he uses in the melody.

[Hellgi 0]

Yeah, I tried playing it at the piano, it sounds horrible!!!

[Henry B 49]

An easy piano book would give you something like this:

|| Gm / / Ebm | Gm Ebm Gm / | / / / Ebm | / / Gm / | Gm / / / | Dbm / / / | Ebm / / / | Gm Eb Gm / | Eb / Gm / | Dbm / / / | Ebm / / / | Gm Ebm Gm / ||

This chord progression is generally supported by most in-score statements of the Imperial March, especially those in the prequels. The concert version, however, is a different matter. Upon close listening, I've realized that there's much more Eb than Ebm, and the chord progression tends to follow the opening ostinato, rather than the melody; that is, three beats of Gm followed by either Eb or Ebm.

[ChrisAfonso 159]

Hm, that looks quite different then the actual harmonies... without checking the score, I think they go like this:

Gm / / Ebm | Gm Ebm Gm / | Gm / / Ebm | Ebm / Gm / |

Gm / / / | C#m / / / | Ebm / / / | Gm / / / |

Eb / Gm / | C#m / / / | Ebm / / / | Gm Ebm Gm / |

/edit: what the Buck said...

[Marcus 385]

Chris is basically right, except in the final bar, the cadence is Ebmin/C (so a Cmin7b5, if you will). The Ebmin chords are all built from A natural (A-Bb-Eb-Gb), so it should really read Ebmin#11.

The C#min are "pure", if I remember correctly.

I think it shows Williams' good sense of humor that the basic form is actually a I-IV-V, except they are #IV and #V (technically bVI).