Heroes and Villains

Perfect for music lovers of all ages! Come and hear themes from movies and Broadway featuring some of your favourite heroes who almost always win the day. Enjoy the memorable and well-loved music from: Star Wars, Superman, The Lord of the Rings, James Bond 007 and Pirates of the Caribbean. Also on this fun filled program are selections from Phantom of the Opera and Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld.

PROGRAM:

Henry Mancini Charade from “A Tribute to Henry Mancini”

John Williams Jaws

Hans Zimmer Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Andrew Lloyd Webber Phantom of the Opera

Intermission

Howard Shore The Lord of the Rings, “The Two Towers”

Hans Zimmer Batman “The Dark Knight”

Franz Waxman The Bride of Frankenstein

Calvin Custer Themes from 007; a medley for orchestra

John Williams “Vader’s March,” from Star Wars

Jacques Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld: Starting at the “Cancan”

PROGRAM NOTES:

The study and appreciation of film music has “arrived” in university curriculums in recent years. Many institutions are now teaching courses on film music, including Laurentian University. There was a pronounced European influence on the music of the Hollywood Golden Age, which lasted from the 1930s to the 1950s. Many film composers were émigrés from Hitler’s Germany. Franz Waxman, whose “expressionist” music for The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) is one of the classic scores of the period, was born and educated in Silesia, one of the eastern provinces of the German Empire.

The “Darth Vader” theme from the Star Wars series is one of the best known and most recognizable melodies of the past century. It reflects a Golden Age influence, since John Williams spent his formative years as a composer at MGM’s Music Department. Williams originally wrote the theme for The Empire Strikes Back (1980) the second movie produced in the series. The music starts out quietly in the background when the escort that carries Vader arrives at the imperial Star Destroyer spaceship. It then wells into the viewer’s consciousness with the first close-up of Vader on the Destroyer, which is to the back of his black helmet, thus emphasizing the Nazi storm trooper image.

There are features of the theme that make it compelling. Especially noteworthy is the falling interval of the tritone (a diminished fifth) in the harmony. The tritone was known as the “diabolus in musica” in the Renaissance, and composers through the ages have exploited its ambiguities and tensions. The tritone in the Darth Vader theme echoes the “Mars” movement of the orchestral suite, The Planets, which English composer Gustav Holst wrote during the First World War. The relentless, driving march rhythm also follows Holst.

Since the 1960s, pop music has also had a marked impact on film score writing. John Barry set the standard with his admired scores for the early James Bond films, such as Goldfinger. Henry Mancini also was a master craftsman of this genre, with melodies such as “The Days of Wine and Roses,” “Moon River” and “The Pink Panther.”