I know I am not the only person who picked up on the musical similarities between John Williams’ beautiful theme for the character of Rose Tico, and Beethoven’s magnum opus, the Ode to Joy from his Ninth Symphony.
The rhythm is different, with Rose’s Theme using sixteenth notes instead of 8th notes, but the melodic material is very reminiscent. Check it out: 2nd of the scale moving to 3rd, then 4th, back to 3rd and down a major 3rd leap. It struck me as a delightful little reference/ear worm, and it got me thinking about what this particular symphony represents in our culture, and what Rose represents for the larger narrative of the saga films.
“Sachs notes that while Beethoven was hammering out drafts of the symphony on his legless piano, other artists were toying with similar themes of individual striving—a strain of what eventually came to be identified as Romanticism. The works of Byron, Pushkin, and Beethoven, Sachs writes, were subtly linked by this “hidden thread” of expressing in art a “quest for freedom: political freedom, from the repressive conditions that then dominated Europe, and freedom of expression, certainly, but above all freedom of the mind and spirit.”
One thing that Rose and Paige Tico absolutely represent is this: the people Holdo mentions when she gives her inspirational speech after assuming command of the Raddus. “In every corner of the galaxy the downtrodden and oppressed know our symbol and they put their hope in it. We are the spark that will light the fire that will restore the Republic.” These two sisters believed in that symbol and that hope so strongly that they were willing to join the Resistance and put their lives on the line, and in Paige’s case, ultimately give that most final of sacrifices. They learned from the fate of their home system that the repressive conditions of the First Order had to be resisted, just as the repressive conditions of the Empire had to be rebelled against. They were both fully committed to restoring peace, justice, and freedom to the galaxy – and of course I can’t peer directly into the minds of John Williams and Rian Johnson, but I cannot see this connection being mere coincidence.
“More specifically, the prelude to the “Ode to Joy” from the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was adopted as the Anthem of Europe by the Council of Europe in 1972 (and subsequently the European Community and the European Union) in order to celebrate the shared values of the member states and express the ideals of a united Europe: freedom, peace, and solidarity.
Furthermore, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” has served as a musical backdrop to major socio-political developments both within and outside Europe over the years. It has been used as a protest anthem from demonstrators in Chile who sang a version of the famous tune called El Himno de la Alegria (“A Song of Joy”) during protests against the Pinochet dictatorship and Chinese student broadcasts at Tiananmen Square to the more recent Occupy Wall Street–driven gatherings in Madrid and elsewhere. During Christmas 1989, Leonard Bernstein conducted a version of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Brandenburg Gate to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall. In November 2014, the Berlin State Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim would again perform Beethoven’s Ninth in front of the Brandenburg Gate to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Rarely has a musical composition captured the imagination, hopes and aspirations of so many people, from such diverse and different backgrounds. It is exactly this that makes the “Ode to Joy” so special and indeed emblematic of the universal longing for happiness and brotherhood. From the Americas to Europe, Asia (the Ninth Symphony is traditionally performed throughout Japan at the end of each year), and the rest of the world, Beethoven’s music and Schiller’s words have been the carriers of a universal message that manages to transcend the boundaries of time and culture.”
How powerful it is that the musical leitmotif given to this character can really be extrapolated to represent the hopes and dreams of everyone in the galaxy! There’s also another layer of meaning when it comes to Rose’s personality – it’s obvious there is a deep wellspring of joy within her, a natural optimism and ability to see wonder in the world.
How powerful it is indeed, also, that Rose is one of the main catalysts to Finn’s growth. That her strong moral sense of what’s right and wrong, and her full commitment to restoring freedom and justice to the galaxy, help him find his way and his true place in the world.
One last note on this: another quote from The Atlantic article gave me the tingles in terms of The Last Jedi as a film and what it really means.
“All would perhaps agree with one thing: Taruskin’s assertion that the symphony means something, but that nobody can “claim to have arrived at a definitive interpretation.”
Which is at once a frightening and wonderful state of affairs. Unlike, say, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Beethoven’s masterpiece authentically can and perhaps should mean something personal and different to everyone who approaches it, standing for whatever we view as the best, strongest, and most exalted about humanity. As Wilhelm Furtwängler—one of the best conductors of the symphony—once said, trying to nail down Beethoven’s ideas any more precisely than that is like stabbing a butterfly to an entomologist’s wall.
Sachs himself admits this prior to his admirable, “highly personal” analysis of the Ninth: “there is one inescapable fact”: the symphony “belongs to each person who… attempts to listen to it attentively.” We may never agree what it means, but, as with an eclipse, all we can do is approach it indirectly with caution, humility, and wonder.”
This is why it’s hard for me to debate with people who didn’t like The Last Jedi, for whatever reasons they want to give. This is what TLJ means to me; it is a piece of art that held a profound mirror up to my innermost workings and made me gasp with recognition. The lessons we learn from it, to me, truly fit into those things that are the best, strongest and most exalted about humanity – the lessons of hope, forgiveness, connection, the commitments to justice and freedom, the acceptance and necessity of failure, the fact that you cannot banish the past completely, nor can you live in it forever. Beethoven’s 9th, to me, has always been a glorious declaration of the fortitude and resilience of the human spirit. I absolutely LOVE that this musical composition and everything it stands for is echoed in the theme given to Rose Tico, a strong female character with no special Force powers or lineage – just an unshaken belief in what’s right and a commitment to see it through. Just the wisdom to know that they’re gonna win, not by destroying what they hate – but saving what they love.
Here is Part 1. I promise I am getting to the original question 🙂 @corseque & @superkeenstarwarsbean thank you for your patience!
We’ve talked a lot already about how across the saga films, the Force theme has two main iterations in terms of orchestration, tempo, emotional feel, etc. The first is the more meditative, mystical form, and the second is the more militaristic, adventure/heroic form.
We’ve also established that the Force theme is often used to foreshadow events, specifically events that the cosmic will of the Force is intending to bring into being, shaping the fate of the galaxy.
And finally, we’ve seen that the Force theme can apply to many different characters & situations because of the innate flexibility and expansiveness in how the melody is constructed, as well as the rhythm and underlying harmony, and the different ways that JW chooses to orchestrate. It’s built to represent a struggle and striving toward an ultimate climax and resolution. And I believe the Theme is playing out this struggle across all 9 films, as the Force itself is trying to achieve balance.
Let’s get in to the Prequels now. Note: I have mad prequel love. I saw them at a very impressionable age – 16, 19 & 21. It’s very real for me that the OT represents childhood, the PT represents adolescence, and now the ST represents adulthood in all its messy, complicated glory. So I fully acknowledge the flaws inherent in the prequels, I just choose to focus on the good.
@corseque is someone in the fandom that I have mad respect for, as I’m sure all of you do as well! She made a video with every instance of The Force Theme/Binary Sunset musical leitmotif composed by John Williams, as it used across all 8 saga films. It’s 30 dang minutes long and a thing of glory – and she sent it to me with a request for some meta. I’m using this video as my main reference point. Here is her original request:
“I put together 99% of the times the Force Theme (Binary Sunset)* plays in all the Star Wars movies, including The Last Jedi. Since this music is used in interesting ways during Rey and Ben’s scenes together (the fight on Starkiller, the hand touch, the decision in Snoke’s Throne Room, etc), I wanted to edit all of them in one place for easier comparison reference, mostly so I could tempt tumblr users @enjoyallneednothing-blog and @reylo-musings (and anyone else who has more musical knowledge than me) to look through this and answer this questionasked me by @superkeenstarwarsbean:
“I heard something interesting in the scene where Ben and Rey touch hands. The three notes played with the left hand in Across the Stars plays softly and lowly under the force theme. Or at least something very similar. It’s hidden and hard to hear but there is definitely three notes played in much the same way its played in the prequel love theme.”
In this video, the hand touch is @25:31. As far as I can hear, this playing of the Force Theme sounds different than any other time the Force Theme is used in all the movies (I put them all together here just so people could easily check my work and correct me if I’m wrong).
interesting – the Force Theme seems to be used sometimes as romantic music during a few of Anakin and Padme’s scenes in the prequels, even when the Force is not being referenced or used. also interesting – how many, many times this theme appears in TLJ, especially compared to TFA.”
I want to answer the question of @superkeenstarwarsbean AND properly celebrate the awesome power of this theme, and I’m so sorry, but I really don’t think I can do it justice in one meta. So I’m breaking it up into three parts! The Force Theme in the Original Trilogy. The Force Theme in the Prequel Trilogy. And the The Force Theme in the Sequel Trilogy. I will get to the original question in the Sequel Trilogy segment – and I plan on having them all done by the end of this week, so not a huge wait I hope! 🙂
It’s entirely possible that this is John Williams’ most well known and beloved piece of music – and that’s saying a lot. Can you remember the first time you saw the scene in Ep IV: A New Hope, where young Luke gazes out at the binary sunset, and the questioning french horn swells with strings and harp into a mystical theme of longing and struggle? I know you do. Cuz I do. I remember that shit like it was yesterday.
In his comprehensive catalog of John Williams Star Wars Leitmotifs, Frank Lehman labels this theme “Force/Obi-Wan/All Purpose.” We’ll get in to why the Force Theme is sometimes used in an “All Purpose” manner, but I really hate when I see it described as being used “like wallpaper.” That’s a common theme in criticism of The Last Jedi score and essentially, I think it’s hogwash. Balderdash. Poppycock. You get my drift.
This scene above is actually the second time we hear the Force Theme – the first time is a brief statement as Leia gives the Death Star plans to R2-D2. The music segues into Princess Leia’s theme as we get the wide shot of the Princess and Artoo in the hallway. As New Yorker Music Critic Alex Ross notes:
“Something more substantial happens in the celebrated scene in which young Luke Skywalker looks longingly toward a horizon lit by twin setting suns, dreaming of a life beyond the desert planet Tatooine. Williams writes a melancholy, expansive G-minor theme for solo horn, which is soon taken up by full strings. Akin to the noble C-minor melody that Wagner writes for Siegfried, this leitmotif represents not only Luke but also the mystical medium known as the Force. Buhler points out that the music is heard before the Force has been explained; thus, in classic Wagnerian fashion, it foreshadows the not-yet-known. This may be the point at which “Star Wars” steps out of the adolescent-adventure arena and into the realm of modern myth.”
But what’s actually happening with this iconic theme? Why can it be used in so many different scenarios and work SO WELL for what’s happening onscreen, and in our character’s inner worlds of emotion? Or as Richards says, “Emotionally, the theme ranges from the gentle poignancy of cues like this that can bring a tear to one’s eye to a brash militarism that can rouse the spirits and make us root for the good guys. So what is it that gives this theme its emotional qualities and makes it such a perfect fit for what we see onscreen?”
I’m putting the rest behind a cut because it got way, way long 🙂
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