Page 284 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

with many others. Yet tying the Harry Potter films together is a main theme, Hed- wig’s Theme (see Listening Cue), usually altered in some way as the changing dramatic situation demands. Altering a theme across films hearkens back to Hector Berlioz’s invention of an idée fixe to unite the different movements of his Symphonie fantastique (see Chapter 12). The Williams musical style is best de- scribed as “Romantically modern.” Hedwig’s theme is traditional, indeed Clas- sical, in melodic structure—abcb’, just like Beethoven’s Ode to Joy—but Williams inserts bracing moments of unexpected dissonance to jerk us out of our Roman- tic comfort zone and into a land of musical magic and psychic bewilderment.
Listening Cue
reAD . . . a detailed Listening Guide of this selection online. LiSTeN TO . . . this selection streaming online.
WATCH . . . an Active Listening Guide of this selection online.
JohnWilliams,Hedwig’sThemefromHarryPotter(2001);concertversion Downlload2583 what to listen for: How two seemingly similar melodies (A and B; 0:00 and 1:35) continually return but always in
weirdly different guises—theme and variations form in the service of changing dramatic circumstances. Genre: Film score concert version
Form: Theme and variations
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Listening to Music with Craig Wright
do . . .
online multiple-choice and critical thinking quizzes that your instructor may assign for a grade.
practice . . .
your understanding of this chapter’s concepts by reviewing a Checklist of Musical Style for the Modern and Postmodern eras, and working once more with the chapter’s Active Listening Guides online.
262 chapter sixteen american modernism and postmodernism
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