Download Brett Latman 3/31/16 MUS-M402 Research Paper Music and the

Brett Latman
3/31/16
MUS-M402
Research Paper
Music and the Wizard: a Study of the Hedwig’s Theme from the Harry Potter Film
Series as a Developing Leitmotif
Throughout recent history, film music has often been considered a lesser art form
than classical music of the symphony orchestra. Despite containing many elements of the
same sophistication that causes people to hold orchestral music in such a high respect,
such as leitmotifs and thematic development, scholars seem to look down upon this
maturing genre of music.1 This study is designed to disprove the naysayers of film music
and to demonstrate that film music has become a sophisticated and mature art form.
Through the analytical and aural examination of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,
this study will trace the use of maturing themes throughout the film score. Throughout
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, composer John Williams uses Hedwig’s Theme
as a leitmotif in order to make implications about the film’s important characters and
impactful moments; this can be understood through the analysis of selected appearances
of Hedwig’s Theme.
In order to understand the complexity of the modern film score, one must first
understand the historical roots of film music. Throughout the nineteenth century, there
1
Sebastian Stoppe, Film in Concert (Verlag Werner Hülsbusch, 2014), 25.
1
was an ongoing debate among composers and musicians about the direction that new
music should take. On one end, those who believed in absolute music argued that new
music should take a very traditional approach; essentially, the value in music was that it
existed for its own sake, not that it was subservient to anything else.2 One such absolutist
composer was Johannes Brahms. On the other side of this debate, those who supported
the more modern approach of narrative music believed that music should be created to
serve text and drama. Programmatic music was first introduced to the musical world on a
large scale by Hector Berlioz in his Symphonie Fantastique. Berlioz based his symphony
around a narrative program that was actually provided to the audience, and the main
recurring theme in the piece was called the ideé fixe. Berlioz’s ideé fixe is considered by
many to be the first “leitmotif”: a constantly developing musical theme in a work that
refers to people, places, objects, or situations in that work.3 This leitmotif term was first
coined by arguably the most prolific narrative composer, Richard Wagner. Wagner wrote
many operas, including his famous Ring Cycle (see Figure 1) consisting of four episodic
operas, which many believe are the basis for John Williams’s three Star Wars film
scores.4
Figure 1: Siegfried's Leitmotif
2
Ibid., 29.
Jim Buhler, Hearing the Movies (Oxford University Press, 2010).
4
Julie Hubbert, Celluloid Symphonies (University of California Press, 2011).
3
2
Wagner’s idea of leitmotifs has a direct correlation with what is now called the
“symphonic or classical film score.”5 Within movies, certain characters tend to be given
certain themes; this comes from Wagner’s life motif. There are also many instances
where certain themes are played in certain situations in order to evoke certain emotions;
this is also due to the influence of Wagner. In fact, most of modern film music is
influenced in one way or another by the Romantic music nineteenth and twentieth
century composers such as Gustav Mahler, Piotr Tchaikovsky, Giacomo Puccini, Sergei
Rachmaninoff, and, of course, Richard Wagner.6
There is no better place to begin the examination of a maturing theme than at the
very beginning; in this case, we will begin with the main theme of the series, “Hedwig’s
Theme” and its first appearance in the very opening of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone.7 The theme, shown in Figure 2, is the very first sound that the audience hears,
even before the movie begins. This statement of the theme sets the sonic backdrop for
everything else the audience hears in the movie. Hedwig’s Theme, first played on horn,
is characterized by an opening leap of a perfect fourth followed by another leap of a
minor third, completing the first inversion E-minor triad. The theme then comes back
down to tonic via the E-minor scale, but quickly jumps up a perfect fifth before
completing the antecedent phrase with a pentatonic trichord.8 The consequent phrase
focuses on a serialist trichord that sees our first example of non-diatonicism; the chord
5
Jim Buhler, Caryl Flinn, and David Neumeyer, Music and Cinema (Wesleyan
University Press, 2000).
6
Stoppe, Film in Concert, 109.
7
In England, the title of the movie matches the original, British title of the book, Harry
Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
8
P4 trichord, specifically
3
begins on scale degree seven, but “resolves” to flat scale degree two before leaping down
a tri-tone to the dominant scale degree.
Figure 2: Hedwig's Theme, Part 1
While Williams dubs the theme as Hedwig’s (Harry Potter’s pet owl), this can again be
considered Harry’s leitmotif as well as the central musical theme for the movie. The use
of flat scale degree two and scale degree five to create a tri-tone suggests an aura of
mystery to the listener; we hear the obviously tonal half cadence, but the fact that is
approached via tri-tone is quite unsettling. This makes sense for Harry because not only
has the audience not yet met this mysterious title character, but at the beginning of the
movie, Harry does not yet know that he is a wizard; not only is Harry a mystery to the
audience, but he is also a mystery to himself!
Williams does not wait long to rework his main theme. As the movie scene opens
on Privet Drive, the street on which Harry’s aunt and uncle, the Dursleys, live, the theme
moves to the celesta. This high-pitched, piano-like instrument begins playing a variation
on “Hedwig’s Theme” which Williams calls “The Arrival of Baby Harry” (Figure 3).
Figure 3: The Arrival of Baby Harry
4
Both Hedwig’s Theme and “The Arrival of Baby Harry” share the opening leap of
a perfect fifth as well as the distinct use of a tritone (in C-minor: flat scale degree six to
sharp scale degree four to scale degree two) to retain the aura of mystery.9 However, the
biggest difference in these figures is the use of the celesta as the melodic instrument. The
use of this instrument evokes a child-like nature, but the tonic drone in the background
suggests that something more sinister has just occurred. In addition the string and
woodwind ascending and descending chromatic runs suggest magic as Albus
Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, appears.
After Dumbledore uses his “deluminator” to remove the lights from the street
lamps, a distant-sounding horn can be heard playing the beginning of “Hedwig’s Theme”.
The use of the horn again as opposed to the celesta suggests that the wizard who has just
performed such extraordinary magic is much more mature and wise than Baby Harry. As
Rubeus Hagrid, Dumbledore’s trusted friend, arrives with the boy, the theme begins to
play again, signaling Harry’s arrival and the importance of Hagrid’s role in the film. It is
important to note the subtlety with which these themes are played; they are background to
the dialogue happening on screen. As Harry’s face and signature lightning bolt scar are
revealed to the viewers for the first time, in addition to the first statement of his name, the
music begins to use a mix of strings and choir that encircle the first three notes of the
natural minor scale, creating a “swirling effect” that Williams often uses to lead into a big
movie or musical moment.10 Suddenly, the music opens up to play the second part of the
9
Members of the whole-tone scale based on C
This effect is very prominent in the scene in which Harry buys his wand from
Olivander’s Wand Shop
10
5
theme, stated fully in the horn and accompanied by the entire orchestra in order to
indicate the passage of eleven years of Harry’s life (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Hedwig's Theme, Part 2
Even throughout one scene, John Williams develops Hedwig’s Theme in order to
demonstrate differences between important characters as well as allude to the
significance of the dramatic change in Harry’s age and maturity over the next eleven
years.
While we hear snippets of Hedwig’s Theme throughout most of the background
music, it is not until Harry arrives at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that
Williams fully orchestrates the second part of the theme (see Figure 4 above). Leaving
the Hogwarts Express, the students are accompanied by light underscoring in the strings
as Hagrid greets them. As they begin to file into boats in order to travel to the castle, the
“swirling” effect using the first three notes of the natural minor scale reoccurs and opens
up to the full orchestral statement of Hedwig’s Theme upon receiving the first look at the
castle. This use of Hedwig’s Theme recalls the wonder and mystery established at the
beginning of the movie. The theme then transitions into what Williams calls, “Entry into
the Great Hall”, which is full of energy and excitement, a stark contrast to what was just
6
previously played. In essence, Williams is using Hedwig’s Theme in order to impact the
biggest and most emotionally thrilling moments of the film.
Music within a film can be put into two broad categories; it is necessary to have
an understanding of these two categories in order to determine how to analyze a film
score. First, diegetic film music refers to music within the film that the characters can
hear and/or interact with; the audience can also hear this music.11 In contrast to that, nondiegetic music refers to music that occurs externally from the film. In other words, nondiegetic music is only audible to the audience, and it often comes in the form of
background music/underscoring.12
So far in this study, we have only studied non-diegetic music; in fact, in Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, there are only two instances where the music is diegetic.
One is the music played by the enchanted harp in order to put Fluffy, Hogwarts’s threeheaded dog that guards the entrance to the chamber containing the Sorcerer’s Stone; this
theme is used one time and bears no musical influence on a character or impactful
moment. The other instance of diegetic music in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
involves Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts. After Hagrid tells Harry and his
two best friends, Ron and Hermione, that he was given a dragon egg while in a London
pub, the students realize that something is not right. They go to see Hagrid to find out if
he was accidently fraternizing with the enemy, and while walking to Hagrid’s hut, they
hear the half-giant playing a flute-like instrument. If one listens to the music Hagrid is
playing, it is Hedwig’s Theme performed almost in its entirety. While one could easily
11
Daniel Goldmark, Lawrence Kramer, and Richard Leppert, Beyond the Soundtrack
(University of California Press, 2007), 4.
12
Goldmark refers to non-diegetic music as “extradiegetic”
7
write this off as a simple, musical “Easter Egg” within the movie, the fact that John
Williams blurs the line between diegetic and non-diegetic music means something more.
A character producing a non-diegetic musical theme in the movie may indicate that the
character has become aware that they are in a film.
Throughout the entirety of the Harry Potter book and film series, Rubeus Hagrid,
besides Albus Dumbledore, is the only character that seems to have an extensive
knowledge of everything that goes on at Hogwarts. Despite being expelled from
Hogwarts as a student, Hagrid has remained on the castle grounds and, by extension,
knows the most about the school. He often tells Harry, Ron, and Hermione information,
such as how to get past Fluffy, the school’s three-headed dog, and follows it with, “I
shouldn’t have said that.” Harry, Ron, and Hermione go to Hagrid for advice before
anyone else because he has been at the castle so long and knows about its inner workings;
for example, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Hagrid is one of the only
faculty members to have extensive knowledge about the last time the Chamber of Secrets
was opened.13 All of this information points to the idea that Hagrid may be more than
just a character. By having Hagrid play Hedwig’s Theme, a musical idea previously only
heard by the audience, Williams is essentially allowing Hagrid to break the fourth wall
and communicate directly to the viewership.
Under John Williams’s reign as the Harry Potter film composer, he only used
diegetic music one other time besides in Hagrid’s flute scene. In Harry Potter and the
Prisoner of Azkaban, the Hogwarts School Choir performs in the Great Hall for all of the
13
Columbus, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrects, 2002.
8
other students.14 The piece they perform is a tune loosely based on the third part of
Hedwig’s Theme (see Figure 5) and is entitled “Double Trouble” (see Figure 6).
Figure 5: Hedwig's Theme, Part 3
Figure 6: Double Trouble
“Double Trouble”, like the third part of Hedwig’s Theme, is based around three scale
degrees, specifically (of the minor scale), one, flat seven, and flat two.15 Additionally,
14
Alfonso Cuarón, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 2004.
9
like Hedwig’s Theme, this variant melody in order to reference an impactful plot point.
The final part of the chorus contains the lyrics, “something wicked this way comes”,
which is an obvious foreshadowing of the evil that Harry later experiences. While the
audience is meant to think that this evil is Sirius Black, the escaped prisoner from
Azkaban, a plot twist reveals that Peter Pettigrew is the true traitor. Essentially, the
diegetic “Double Trouble” theme is used as a musical vehicle to foreshadow Pettigrew’s
wickedness.
This same concept applies to the diegetic music that Hagrid plays on his flute in
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. While Chris Columbus or J.K. Rowling may not
have meant Rubeus Hagrid to be a character that not only breaks the fourth wall but also
is aware that he is in a film, Williams is certainly giving his opinion of the character.
Through this simple statement of Hedwig’s Theme, Williams is giving his commentary
on the importance of Hagrid to the plot and to Rowling’s world.
Just as J.K. Rowling made the literary world of Harry Potter and its characters
complex, John Williams expresses his own ideas about the complicated characters as well
as the impactful, cinematic moments through his music for Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone. Williams develops Hedwig’s Theme throughout the course of the film
as his own version of a leitmotif, making the theme impactful in order to show the
importance of characters or scenes. This use of a movie theme as a leitmotif indicates the
legitimacy of film music as a fine art form. However, Williams does not simply take the
Wagnerian leitmotif and copy the composer’s strategy; Williams truly makes Hedwig’s
Theme his own and even imposes his own views on influential characters and situations.
15
In Hedwig’s Theme, Williams uses the raised seventh scale tone instead
10
Arguably the world’s leading film composer, John Williams uses Hedwig’s Theme and
its development in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to make film music a
sophisticated and mature art form, to be judged on the same musical plane as Wagner and
his operatic leitmotifs.
Bibliography
Brown, Noel. The Hollywood Family Film : A History, from Shirley Temple to Harry
Potter. Cinema and society series; Cinema and society. London: I.B. Tauris, 2012.
Buhler, James, ed., Caryl Flinn ed., and David Neumeyer ed. Music and Cinema.
Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2000.
Buhler, James, David Neumeyer, and Rob Deemer. Hearing the Movies: Music and
Sound In Film History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Callaway, Kutter. Scoring Transcendence: Contemporary Film Music as Religious
Experience. Baylor University Press, 2012.
Columbus, Chris., David Yates, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert
Grint, Emma Watson, et al. Harry Potter: Complete 8-Film Collection.
Widescreen [ed.]. Burbank, Calif.: Warner Home Video, 2011.
Cooke, Mervyn. A History of Film Music. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press,
2008.
Cooke, Mervyn. The Hollywood Film Music Reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2010.
Darby, William, and Jack Du Bois. American Film Music: Major Composers,
Techniques, Trends, 1915–1990. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1990.
Doyle, Patrick, and Maggie Rodford. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Original
Motion Picture Soundtrack. Burbank, CA: Warner Sunset/Warner Bros., 2005.
Doyle, Patrick, and Robert Sheldon. Symphonic Suite from Harry Potter and the Goblet
of Fire. City: Publisher, 2005.
11
Flinn, Caryl. “The Most Romantic Art of All: Music in the Classical Hollywood Cinema.
Cinema Journal 29, no. 4 (Summer 1990): 35-50.
Goldmark, Daniel. ed., Lawrence Kramer ed., and Richard D Leppert ed. Beyond the
Soundtrack: Representing Music In Cinema. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2007.
Halfyard, Janet K. 2012. The Music of Fantasy Cinema. Genre, music and sound; Genre,
music and sound. Sheffield, South Yorkshire: Equinox Publishing, Year.
Holbrook, Morris B. Music, Movies, Meanings, and Markets: Cinemajazzamatazz. New
York: Routledge, 2011.
Hubbert, Julia Bess. Celluloid Symphonies: Texts and Contexts In Film Music History.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011.
Schelle, Michael. The Score: Interviews with Film Composers. Los Angeles: SilmanJames Press, 1999.
Stoppe, Sebastian. Film In Concert: Film Scores and Their Relation to Classical Concert
Music. Glückstadt: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch, 2014.
Williams, John. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack. Special 1st edition. New York: Warner Sunset/Nonesuch/Atlantic,
2001.
Williams, John, William Ross, and Terry Edwards. Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. New York: Nonesuch, 2002.
Williams, John. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Milwaukee: H. Leonard, 2002.
12