How STAR WARS composer John Williams mixed major and minor melodies to set the tone for good and evil

John Williams he composed some of the greatest film scores ever, and one of his most famous works is the work for which he made Star Wars. There is so much that goes into composing this extraordinary music and I have a video here for you to watch, made by musician Howard Ho, which offers some fascinating insights 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 Rebel Fanfare themes to represent the good guys and bad guys in the Star Wars universe. But musically, each theme does and does not do what we expect, because John Williams played with our expectations in major and minor. Here’s why it works!

It is pointed out that the “Imperial March” is actually based on the final passage of Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony”, which is a happy-sounding musical phrase. But when played in the melody’s minor key, it becomes much more sinister:

“The chords are important but they act as a background but in addition to the background there is also a musical foreground which means a melody that is above the chords…the Imperial Melody…It is threatening. 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 kind of melody that could be written, and yet here it is used in a minor key.”

Ho goes on to talk about the “Rebel Fanfare” and how it is exactly the opposite as it is 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, the major key melody at the top signifies their military prowess and strength… while the rebels’ shortened melody is exactly that. They are always on the run, poorly funded… their resources are literally diminished by the Empire and so, while their heroism deserves a prominent background, the foreground is their daily reality of being under the constant threat of being wiped out.

There are a lot of great things explained in the video that I had never thought much about, so if you want some interesting, informative insights into Williams’ Star Wars score, you’ll want to watch it!