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

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 2 Ibid., 29.3 Jim Buhler, Hearing the Movies (Oxford University Press, 2010). 4 Julie Hubbert, Celluloid Symphonies (University of California Press, 2011).5 Jim Buhler, Caryl Flinn, and David Neumeyer, Music and Cinema (Wesleyan

University Press, 2000).

Figure 1: Siegfried's Leitmotif

2

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

begins on scale degree seven, but “resolves” to flat scale degree two before leaping down

a tri-tone to the dominant scale degree.

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 Stone8 P4 trichord, specifically

Figure 2: Hedwig's Theme, Part 1

3

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).

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 9 Members of the whole-tone scale based on C

Figure 3: The Arrival of Baby Harry

4

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

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).

10 This effect is very prominent in the scene in which Harry buys his wand from Olivander’s Wand Shop

Figure 4: Hedwig's Theme, Part 2

5

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

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, non-

diegetic music refers to music that occurs externally from the film. In other words, non-

11 Daniel Goldmark, Lawrence Kramer, and Richard Leppert, Beyond the Soundtrack (University of California Press, 2007), 4.

6

diegetic 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 three-

headed 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

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, 12 Goldmark refers to non-diegetic music as “extradiegetic”

7

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

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

13 Columbus, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrects, 2002.14 Alfonso Cuarón, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 2004.

8

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,

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

15 In Hedwig’s Theme, Williams uses the raised seventh scale tone instead

9

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.

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.

10

Buhler, James, David Neumeyer, and Rob Deemer. Hearing the Movies: Music and Sound In Film History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Callaway, Kutter. Scoring Transcendence: Contemporary Film Music as Religious Experience. Baylor University Press, 2012.

Columbus, Chris., David Yates, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, et al. Harry Potter: Complete 8-Film Collection. Widescreen [ed.]. Burbank, Calif.: Warner Home Video, 2011.

Cooke, Mervyn. A History of Film Music. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Cooke, Mervyn. The Hollywood Film Music Reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Darby, William, and Jack Du Bois. American Film Music: Major Composers, Techniques, Trends, 1915–1990. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1990.

Doyle, Patrick, and Maggie Rodford. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Burbank, CA: Warner Sunset/Warner Bros., 2005.

Doyle, Patrick, and Robert Sheldon. Symphonic Suite from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. City: Publisher, 2005.

Flinn, Caryl. “The Most Romantic Art of All: Music in the Classical Hollywood Cinema. Cinema Journal 29, no. 4 (Summer 1990): 35-50.

Goldmark, Daniel. ed., Lawrence Kramer ed., and Richard D Leppert ed. Beyond the Soundtrack: Representing Music In Cinema. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.

Halfyard, Janet K. 2012. The Music of Fantasy Cinema. Genre, music and sound; Genre, music and sound. Sheffield, South Yorkshire: Equinox Publishing, Year.

Holbrook, Morris B. Music, Movies, Meanings, and Markets: Cinemajazzamatazz. New York: Routledge, 2011.

Hubbert, Julia Bess. Celluloid Symphonies: Texts and Contexts In Film Music History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011.

Schelle, Michael. The Score: Interviews with Film Composers. Los Angeles: Silman-James Press, 1999.

11

Stoppe, Sebastian. Film In Concert: Film Scores and Their Relation to Classical Concert Music. Glückstadt: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch, 2014.

Williams, John. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Special 1st edition. New York: Warner Sunset/Nonesuch/Atlantic, 2001.

Williams, John, William Ross, and Terry Edwards. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. New York: Nonesuch, 2002.

Williams, John. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Milwaukee: H. Leonard, 2002.

12