Final Thesis - John Williams - ScholarsArchive at Oregon State ...

technique, where a specific theme or motif represents recurring action or a specific
character (Costantini). This technique has been very prominent with many film
composers throughout the 20 th and 21 st centuries because it allows audiences to
relate more easily to the plot line and action on screen. Many have compared
Williams’ use of leitmotifs in several film scores such as Memoirs of a Geisha, and
especially Star Wars, to the classical composer Wagner’s use of leitmotifs in many of
his operas to denote differences in personality, motivation, and mood between
characters. Wagner also composed a piece called the “Ring Cycle” which represents
the archetypal hero cycle, where the music written both follows the events in the
story line, but also subtly metamorphoses so the listening audience can hear the
musical changes also taking place ("Der Ring Des Nibelungen"). In an interview,
Williams’ says that he took on the Star Wars project on a film by film basis, without
thinking or knowing that the storyline would eventually follow the mythological
“hero cycle” (Byrd). However, he does acknowledge that the music written for the
film was fluid enough that it naturally transformed between films, and that the
musical style allowed him to incorporate separate motifs and themes within the
score to create a broader musical impact.
Gustav Holst is a composer most famous for his composition “The Planets,”
written in 1915, which many consider one of both the loudest and the quietest
pieces of music ever written. The themes focus around the planets (pre-Pluto) and
the moods of the Roman gods they were named for. The lengthy performance of this
composition lasts almost an hour with a large orchestra, and addition of a women’s
chorus for the last piece (Mann). The relation between Holst and Williams is that
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