How STAR WARS Composer John Williams Mixed Major and Minor Melodies to Set the Tone For Good and Evil
John Williams has composed some of the greatest musical scores ever for film, and one of his most well-known is the work he did for Star Wars. There’s so much that goes into composing this stunning music and I’ve got a video here for you to watch from musician Howard Ho, who offers some fascinating insight into Willaims’ ingenious compositional strategy that set the musical tone for good and evil in the franchise. Ho explains:
John Williams composed the Imperial March and the Rebel Fanfare Themes to represent the good guys and bad guys in the Star Wars universe. But musically, each theme both does and doesn’t do what we expect, because John Williams played with our expectations of major and minor. This is why that works!
It’s pointed out that the “Imperial March” is actually based upon the final passage of Beethoven‘s “Pastoral Symphony,” which is a happy-sounding musical phrase. But, when it’s played in the minor melody key, it becomes much more sinister:
“Chords are important but they are the background but in addition to the background there is also a musical foreground which means a melody that sits on top of the chords …the Imperial Melody…It’s menacing. Well, taken out of context this is actually the outline of a major chord in this case E flat major. The Imperial March has the happiest type of Melody you can write and yet here it’s being used in the minor key.”
Ho goes on to talk about the “Rebel Fanfare” and how it’s just the opposite as it’s a minor phrase played as a major melody. He explains:
The Imperial March is played for the bad guys, but every time we see the bad guys they are full of military might…they are so well funded and oppressively well organized. So in a way that major key melody on top signifies their military prowess and strength …meanwhile the diminished Melody of the Rebels is exactly that. They are always on the run poorly funded …their resources are literally diminished by the Empire and so even though their heroism deserves a major chord background, the foreground is their daily reality of being under the constant threat of being wiped out.
There’s a lot of great stuff explained in the video that I’ve never really given much thought to, so if you want some cool informative insight on Williams’ Star Wars musical score, you’re gonna want to watch this!