Beautiful One-Off Melodies from Ep. 9 Appreciation Thread

[Falstaft 2,132]

To me, one of The Rise of Skywalker's most endearing qualities is the number of short, transient melodies and motifs that are heard just once or twice. These tend to be unrelated to the series's main catalogue of leitmotifs, and they aren't really set-piece themes either since they don't draw attention to themselves like "The Asteroid Field" or "Flag Parade" do. Nevertheless, I find these little one-offs quite essential to the overall warm, humane tone of this score as a whole.

 

Here's a sample of what I'm talking about:

 

• Leia Trains Rey. Two distinct statements, at 0:10:33 and 0:13:24, neither on OST.

 

 

 

 

• Luke Trains Leia. Two distinct statements, one on OST (Track 6, 1:28) but cut from film, one in film (1:33:18) but cut from OST.

 

 

 

 

• Children's School. One statement, at 0:22:56, not on OST.

 

 

• Zorii's Farewell. One statement, on OST (Track 8, 0:24) and in film at 0:55:01.

 

 

 

What do you all think? What other short, non-leitmotivic moments from Episode 9 caught your attention?

[SilverTrumpet 638]

I always thought that last one was a variation on the friendship theme.

[Falstaft 2,132]

18 minutes ago, SilverTrumpet said:

I always thought that last one was a variation on the friendship theme.

 

I think you're right about this, though it's a pretty subtle transformation. Cool!

 

I myself can't help but hear the B-section of the Men of Yorktown march in that little snippet: 

 

[SilverTrumpet 638]

2 minutes ago, Falstaft said:

 

I think you're right about this, though it's a pretty subtle transformation. Cool!

 

Now I am the master. 

[Ludwig 1,120]

For me, one thing I love about this score is the way Williams develops not just the themes but melodic snippets that aren't necessarily leitmotifs. "Farewell" is a great demonstration of this. There, he introduces this tiny little rising semitone figure at the end of Kylo/Ben's leitmotif:

 

1:10-1:13:

 

It seems like an unimportant detail at first, but then he uses it again and again (sometimes a rising whole tone instead of a semitone). I'd say it represents a kind of lamenting sound given we've just had the death of Rey and Ben coming over to grieve then try and revive her. It's one of these cues where Williams is sparing with the leitmotifs and instead relies on a musical motive that just sounds right for the scene - mournful, grieving, that sort of thing. I think it's better than it would have been to simply reiterate Rey and Ben's themes in various guises throughout this passage. Music as music rather than music as themes! Brilliant stuff.

 

I repost the link so you can just click on it to get to the right timestamp:

 

1:46-1:49

 

1:52-1:55:

 

1:55-1:59 (in the inner voice):

 

2:11-2:17 (in the horns):

 

2:18-2:21:

 

2:24-2:31 - three times in a row, the last time becoming an altered start to Rey's theme:

 

 

[PuerAzaelis 3]

V interesting thanks to all for this

[Falstaft 2,132]

2 hours ago, Ludwig said:

For me, one thing I love about this score is the way Williams develops not just the themes but melodic snippets that aren't necessarily leitmotifs. "Farewell" is a great demonstration of this. There, he introduces this tiny little rising semitone figure at the end of Kylo/Ben's leitmotif:

 

It seems like an unimportant detail at first, but then he uses it again and again (sometimes a rising whole tone instead of a semitone). I'd say it represents a kind of lamenting sound given we've just had the death of Rey and Ben coming over to grieve then try and revive her. It's one of these cues where Williams is sparing with the leitmotifs and instead relies on a musical motive that just sounds right for the scene - mournful, grieving, that sort of thing. I think it's better than it would have been to simply reiterate Rey and Ben's themes in various guises throughout this passage. Music as music rather than music as themes! Brilliant stuff.

 

I repost the link so you can just click on it to get to the right timestamp:

 

This is really remarkable, @Ludwig, and strengthens my feeling that "Farewell" is one of the cues Williams pored the most effort and attention to.

 

I'm also struck by how this semitonal figure is prefigured earlier in the score. I have to thank @BrotherSound for pointing out one particularly ingenious usage: as the counter-melody against Leia's theme during her elegy in "Healing Wounds" -- first following Kylo Ren's melodic contour, then inverting it, then combining both up and down forms at 2:10. Superb.

 

 

[BrotherSound 2,242]

2 hours ago, Falstaft said:

I'm also struck by how this semitonal figure is prefigured earlier in the score. I have to thank @BrotherSound for pointing out one particularly ingenious usage: as the counter-melody against Leia's theme during her elegy in "Healing Wounds" -- first following Kylo Ren's melodic contour, then inverting it, then combining both up and down forms at 2:10. Superb.

I made a simple transcription that may be useful. This is definitely quite unlike the usual accompaniment heard with Leia’s theme, which I think helps strengthen the likelihood this is an intentional allusion to Kylo’s theme:
 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

They were each the main theme of  TROS before JJ's re-edits.