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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. 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