Analysis - Battle of the Heroes

[Ludwig 1,120]

Here is part 6 of my Celebrating Star Wars series, this one on Revenge of the Sith.

 

http://www.filmmusicnotes.com/celebrating-star-wars-themes-part-6-of-6-battle-of-the-heroes/

 

Enjoy! Analysis of themes and leitmotifs in Episode VII coming soon as well...

[karelm 2,903]

As always, excellent thematic analysis.  I was surprised by the "love for Shmi" and "Anakin's Grief" resulting in Battle of the Heroes.  Are you going to continue this series with The Force Awakens?

[Ludwig 1,120]

You bet. Can't say when exactly, but not long from now.

[crumbs 14,301]

22 hours ago, Ludwig said:

You bet. Can't say when exactly, but not long from now.

 

I can't wait to see analysis of Rey's Theme. I'm convinced it's partly derived from Luke and the Emperor's Theme. In fact, I reckon the latter would work as a perfect counterpoint to the opening six notes of Rey's Theme.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Wasn't it based on The Force theme?

[Incanus 5,713]

Great analysis Mark! You found quite a few very interesting and fascinating connections to other thematic material throughout the Prequels for the Battle of the Heroes.

 

Btw I know you are doing the analysis based on the use of the music in the films themselves but I thought I would point out that what you call Anakin's Grief actually gains its thematic significance editorially as the first statement of the horn line on Naboo is tracked and not Williams' original intention. The only time that mournful idea occurs in Williams' original compositions is on Tatooine at Shmi's funeral.

 

21 hours ago, Stefancos said:

Wasn't it based on The Force theme?

I think Williams said something along those lines in one of the recent TFA interviews.

 

 

[Ludwig 1,120]

Thanks for everyone's thoughtful replies. It's always good to add these facts to work them into the complete picture.

 

That said, I think we have to make a distinction between compositional intent and audience interpretation, since they are not always the same thing. As you said, Inky, my analyses are indeed from the films themselves, so I have in that way absolved the analyses of dealing with how the music got there. All that matters here is what is there in the film regardless of its what was intended where. This is a more appropriate tact in film music than in concert music, since in film, decisions about what music goes where is a collaborative effort whereas in concert music it is generally done only by the composer. One thing that we're never privy to, for example, is what is said during spotting sessions, so we're never really sure who made what decision in the first place.

 

On 2015-12-26 at 6:24 AM, Stefancos said:

Wasn't it based on The Force theme?

 

So this question about compositional intent versus audience interpretation even affects a claim like this. It's one thing for a composer to say that, and entirely another to find evidence of it in the score. I actually considered linking Battle of the Heroes to the Force theme, with the former's opening three notes rising through the first three notes of a minor scale. But then, I looked through the Star Wars canon and found that a whole slew of themes do the very same thing - the instrumental melody in Duel of the Fates (not the ostinato or choral melody), the Trade Federation march, the Flag Parade, the Walkers on Hoth theme, even the Arena march (though that continues further up the scale), and of course the Force theme.

 

There really isn't anything else that could link it to the Force theme, so with only three notes in common with the Force theme that are indeed a part of so many other themes, it seemed unconvincing to connect the two, even with the appearance of the Force theme twice during the battle.

 

I'm not denying that Williams composed it with that theme in mind, only that what he wrote in the end leaves very little connection between the two themes and so makes it difficult to hear as based on that theme specifically, especially when there are other themes that it has more in common with.

[Oboejdub 22]

I really like your posts, and look forward to your thoughts on episode VII. I've been nerding out all over it and trying to do my own wannabe analysis.

[indy4 155]

On December 27, 2015 at 8:03 AM, Ludwig said:

Thanks for everyone's thoughtful replies. It's always good to add these facts to work them into the complete picture.

 

That said, I think we have to make a distinction between compositional intent and audience interpretation, since they are not always the same thing. As you said, Inky, my analyses are indeed from the films themselves, so I have in that way absolved the analyses of dealing with how the music got there. All that matters here is what is there in the film regardless of its what was intended where. This is a more appropriate tact in film music than in concert music, since in film, decisions about what music goes where is a collaborative effort whereas in concert music it is generally done only by the composer. One thing that we're never privy to, for example, is what is said during spotting sessions, so we're never really sure who made what decision in the first place.

 

 

So this question about compositional intent versus audience interpretation even affects a claim like this. It's one thing for a composer to say that, and entirely another to find evidence of it in the score. I actually considered linking Battle of the Heroes to the Force theme, with the former's opening three notes rising through the first three notes of a minor scale. But then, I looked through the Star Wars canon and found that a whole slew of themes do the very same thing - the instrumental melody in Duel of the Fates (not the ostinato or choral melody), the Trade Federation march, the Flag Parade, the Walkers on Hoth theme, even the Arena march (though that continues further up the scale), and of course the Force theme.

 

There really isn't anything else that could link it to the Force theme, so with only three notes in common with the Force theme that are indeed a part of so many other themes, it seemed unconvincing to connect the two, even with the appearance of the Force theme twice during the battle.

 

I'm not denying that Williams composed it with that theme in mind, only that what he wrote in the end leaves very little connection between the two themes and so makes it difficult to hear as based on that theme specifically, especially when there are other themes that it has more in common with.

Nice find on all those themes starting w the first three scale degrees.  Do you think that's jws way of indicating that the force permeates all aspects of the SW universe?

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

To quote Williams on what constitutes "Star Wars-ian" music from very recent interview:

 

“It would include, without being technical about it, a similarity in harmonic modalities, a similarity in stylistic intervallic choices for melodies, similarities in orchestral textural presentations and the like."

 

I think that's the simple reason why the opening phrase of these themes encompass a minor third. Through these films he's established a vocabulary, and while he pushes boundaries with each successive score, there's a constant through-line between them.

 

Even with the original film, you have both the Imperial Motif and the Rebel Fanfare derived from an ascending and descending minor third respectively (the inversion possibly representing dark vs. light). And then you have the original trilogy's two key romantic themes, Princess Leia's Theme and Han Solo and the Princess, with an opening interval of a major sixth--the minor third's inversion. Most of these opening intervals are anacruses but a few also arrive on the downbeat (or on the first offbeat of the bear). Generally these downbeat themes are the more active or bellicose (such as Battle of the Heroes, the Imperial March, Kylo Ren's A Motif). The anacrus-ic (to coin a new word) themes tend to be if not passive, definitely reactive in nature. These are usually associated with the good guys--The Rebel Fanfare, The Force Theme). There are a few exceptions to that, such as the Battle of Endor B Theme (below), which starts after a quaver rest but is associated with the Rebel Alliance.

 

 

[Ludwig 1,120]

On 1/8/2016 at 7:49 PM, indy4 said:

Nice find on all those themes starting w the first three scale degrees.  Do you think that's jws way of indicating that the force permeates all aspects of the SW universe?

 

Sharky's quote of Williams implies what I was going to respond with, which is that I think these resemblances have to do with linking the themes together generally rather than to the Force theme specifically. Put another way, there's no reason to hear the Force theme as being the reference behind all these similarities. That might be true if there were more features linking these other themes to it, in the way that Rey's theme is clearly modelled on it, but there just aren't. So what we're left with is a subconscious sense that these themes all belong together like the members of a large family.

 

On the other hand, I think it is too tempting to suggest that every prominent theme has some meaningful connection to another theme that explains some aspect of the narrative. I'm of the opinion that a relationship has to be exceptionally clear to be believable - not necessarily obvious, but with several points of intersection to make the case convincing, and not just, say, a single interval (e.g., the supposed Vader cadence in Rey's theme).

[gkgyver 1,645]

With all due respect, I think except for the Vader reference, you are reaching very hard. Not least of all because you are picking single random notes out of themes and motifs that are simply from a scale.

It's like saying every theme in a film or series is related to each other because it's written in a minor scale.

 

But I guess it's good to ease your mind off the suspicion that Williams was audably done with Lucas' fiasco at that point.

[Ludwig 1,120]

26 minutes ago, gkgyver said:

With all due respect, I think except for the Vader reference, you are reaching very hard. Not least of all because you are picking single random notes out of themes and motifs that are simply from a scale.

It's like saying every theme in a film or series is related to each other because it's written in a minor scale.

 

It may be that I didn't justify enough why I hear these relationships. Far from being merely random, the similar notes I point out actually have much in common:

 

1) They are all in the same key (which is especially significant in Williams, where keys of themes tend not to be consistent).

2) They all outline a descent through the same scale degrees, from 3 down to 7, with stepwise motion filling in most or all the gaps.

3) These scale degrees 3 and 7 form the high and low boundaries within their respective spans, making those notes more prominent than they would otherwise be.

 

And perhaps most importantly,

4) They all involve the flat 7 scale degree rather than the generally more typical raised 7, giving these themes the distinctive sound of the Aeolian mode rather than the more common sound of the harmonic minor.

 

These things considered together with the associations the various themes have only strengthens these connections. Now of course the connections I'm arguing for here are more difficult to hear than the others in these analyses, and that's primarily because they involve similarities in pitch structure rather than in rhythm or harmony, which are more common for film music themes. But just because a relationship may be hard to hear does not mean that we should dismiss it as not being there at all. After all, looser relationships do exist elsewhere in the Star Wars scores. Take the snippet after the Death Star explodes in ANH, from 8:38-8:45 below:

 

 

I would call this a transformed reference to the end of the Rebel Fanfare, the beginning of which then enters on its heels in its normal form. Or how about that theme that enters after Vader has frozen Han on Cloud City, what I've called "Vader Succeeding"? I'd call that a transformed reference to the Imperial March:

 

 

Or how about the similarities between Luke's theme and Across the Stars I point out in the part 5 of these analyses?:

 

http://www.filmmusicnotes.com/celebrating-star-wars-themes-part-5-of-6-across-the-stars/

 

What I'm advocating for is getting at a kind of subconscious connection between various themes rather than a more obvious leitmotivic kind of referencing.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

They played this at the Film Music of John Williams concert here in Little Rock. It was well played. I had forgotten the piece entirely.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

I know I've asked this question before so I don't mean to bore anyone to death, but what is the lineage of this stark, modal sound? Neo-classical Stravinsky? Debussy? Poulenc? It seems to reference the parallel sonorities of early organum and French fauxbourdon but with a 20thC twist. 

[Ludwig 1,120]

I suppose I don't feel that a passage has to have a single, linear precedent, especially with techniques that do not derive from a single composer the way, say, twelve-tone music does from Schoenberg. Probably better to go more broadly by types of music in particular historical periods, and even then, it's hard to say. So all those composers you name certainly had an impact in making the modal sound a part of early 20th-century concert music, which is what I mean by types in historical periods. But then, Williams' background in jazz may also be part of the answer since modes are a huge part of a jazz musician's musical materials. I know you're looking for the overall "sound" and BotH isn't jazz, but I think we must also leave a heap of room for Williams' own creativity. Parsing his music into segments that all derive from a general precedent does not allow for the distinctiveness and recognizability of Williams' style. What's fascinating to me is not from where his techniques derive but how he manages to make them sound fresh and new despite their prior use.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

What makes BoH distinctive to me is the A section's uniqueness within Williams's canon--there's no clear precedent in any score. It also seems to tap into a broader film music language associated with the medieval, arcane and pagan. The omnipresence of Orff's Carmina Burana is probably a significant factor, but I believe there's more.