soundtrack

[irbohlen]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., "norsecode" <norsecode at y...> wrote:

Dawn said:
> So, do you think the normal Mirror of Erised music will be used in 
> future whenever we see Harry's parents together???  Like a (Lily 
and 
> James) Potter theme?

hmmmmm... That's a good question. Musical themes..how to put 
this..Years ago I was quite the Wagnerian and read up on that master 
of themes [inventor of themes, many would say]. His themes 
[leitmotiven] in the Ring Cycle are so much more complex, by the 
nature of the beast--in opera, the music does everything..so there 
are lots and lots of themes that support the action, that contradict 
the action, that comment on the action, or that have to combine, 
when characters are in the same scene.

Themes in a movie, on the other hand, can I think get too literal. 
The music doesn't need to be explicit because we have larger-than-
life action on the screen, most of the time. I think a rote pasting-
in of a character's "theme" into every scene in which that character 
appears is overkill. Subtlety is the key, for me. However Williams 
decides to use it, I hope we hear more of the Mirror music!

> So.. is the main theme (da dah da-da-dah da dah dah, dah da-da-dah 
da 
> dah.....) just simply the movie (HPPS/SS) theme, or is it Harry's 
> (character) theme, or is it a wizarding world theme??


That's where I think we get into difficulty assigning bits of music 
as themes. That one is actually called Hedwig's theme, but it could 
just as easily be Harry's theme, the "magic" theme, the wizarding 
world theme...

I'm happy thinking of it as a beautifully realized bit of music that 
John Williams found some great things to do with--turning it into a 
huge sort of macabre waltz, for example, or just playing it on the 
celesta.. The odd thing about that bit is that, on the soundtrack 
you could almost get tired of it, but in the film it doesn't seem as 
overworked, or at least it didn't to me.

Ivis the elderly
[currently alternating between the HP soundtrack and the LOTR 
soundtrack--last year's soundtrack? Gladiator!]