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1 (2013) 49-74
doi:10.1558/jfm.v6i1.49
ARTICLE
Copyright the International Film Music Society, published by Equinox Publishing Ltd 2015, Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX.
51
Modal Interchange
As several recent psychomusicological reception
tests involving both musically trained and untrained
subjects have confirmed, the communication of
musical emotion is closely related to modenot
only in regard to majorminor tonality but also
to the diatonic modes (Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian,
etc.).18 According to a study by Temperley and
Tan, listeners respond quite consistently to the
emotional connotations of diatonic modes.19 Not
surprisingly, the three major modes (Lydian, Ionian,
and Mixolydian) were more strongly associated with
17 In neo-Riemannian theory (NRT), triads are related directly to each
other through a system of transformations, rather than through reference to
a tonic-centered functional hierarchy. This flexible, contextually determined
analytical approach to harmonic progression makes NRT especially useful
in passages of highly chromatic, roving harmony that resist functional
interpretation (as is the case in many of Williams restlessly modulating
action cues). Themes, on the other hand, tend to be tonally self-contained,
and thus respond better to more conventional analytical approaches (see
Lehman, Reading Tonality Through Film, 23).
18 The idea that particular modes can affect the emotional state and even
behavior of the listener can already be found in Antiquity (see Platos
Republic [398d-399c] and Aristotles Politics [Book VIII, chapters 5 and 7]).
19 David Temperley and Daphne Tan, Emotional Connotations of Diatonic
Modes, Music Perception 30, no. 3 (2013), 255.
53
Americana
Example 3: Copland, Fanfare for the Common Man (1942). 1944 The Aaron Copland Fund for Music. Copyright Renewed.
Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.
Example 4: Copland, Corral Nocturne from Rodeo, ms. 1315. 1946 The Aaron
Copland Fund for Music. Copyright Renewed. Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.
Example 5: Hugo Friedhofer, Main Title, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Reproduced in Roger Manvell and John Huntley, The Technique of Film Music (Hastings House:
Communication Arts Books, 1975), 166.
modal sequence of chords that occurs in connection
with pictures showing or words describing wide
open spaces, especially those of the North American
West. Tagg notes that the most common big-country
modalism is the VIIV change, which he refers to as
a cowboy half-cadence because it recurs in numerous
Westernsmost famously in Elmer Bernsteins theme
from The Magnificent Seven.28 According to Mervyn
Cooke, the score that established VIIV as a Western
sound in film music is Jerome Moross The Big Country
(1958).29 As it happens, Williams performed as pianist
28 Tagg and Clarida, Ten Little Title Tunes, 357.
29 Mervyn Cooke, A History of Film Music (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2008), 129. Moross had been a member of Coplands Young
Composers Group in the early 1930s, and later orchestrated Coplands
score for Our Town (1942), so his adoption in The Big Country of the blend
of diatonic and modal elements that characterizes Coplands style is not
surprising. Despite this biographical and aesthetic connection, Lehman
cautions against reflexively attributing the origin of the cowboy half-cadence
to Copland. He notes that, while Moross used the cadence throughout
55
VIII
One of Williams earliest prestige pictures after his
apprenticeship years in television was Frank Sinatras
directorial debut, the 1964 World War II drama None
but the Brave, in which two platoons, one American,
the other Japanese, square off on a remote island in
the Pacific. The score is based on two contrasting
soundworlds: a theme for the Japanese (based on
the Hirajoshi scale),39 and an American theme
which alternates between tonic and VII (Example
10). The shift between two major chords separated
by wholestep is one of the most characteristic
progressions in Williams music (more on this
below).
In the scores for the 1973 Western The Man Who
Loved Cat Dancing and the 1974 drama Conrack (set in
rural South Carolina), the Mixolydian cadence VIII
helps to convey a suitably folksy mood (Example 11,
38 John Williams, interview by Jo Reed, A Conversation with John
Williams, NEA Podcasts, March 3, 2011, accessed December 14, 2014,
www.prx.org/pieces/66474/transcripts/155614.
39 The oldest and most frequently used tuning scale for the Japanese koto
(DEGAB).
57
Example 8: Comparison of Main Themes from JFK and Star Wars. Suite from JFK, 1992
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., printed by Hal Leonard, John Williams Signature
Edition, 04490121. Star Wars: Suite for Orchestra, 1977 Warner-Tamerlane Publishing
Corp., printed by Hal Leonard, John Williams Signature Edition, 04490057.
Example 11: Use of VIII in themes for American characters. Raiders March, 1981
by Bantha Music and Ensign Music Corporation, printed by Hal Leonard, John Williams Signature Edition, 04490015.
a and b). Over a tonic pedal, it appears in the themes
for all-American characters like Indiana Jones or
Dorinda, the feisty firefighting pilot from Always
(Example 11, c and d).
In Straehley and Loebachs study of the emotional
connotations of diatonic modes, the Mixolydian mode
was most frequently associated by test subjects with
joy, admiration, and serenity.40 It is also a harmonic
feature of the shared musical vernacular of American
cultureas Robert Walser has pointed out, most pop
songs are either major (Ionian) or Mixolydian.41 Thus,
it is not surprising that, in the music of Williams, the
Mixolydian shift VIII is often linked with the idea
of home in both a patriotic and a private sense. The
former is evident in Williams anthem America, The
Dream Goes On, composed in 1982 in collaboration
with lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman for the
Boston Pops. As the American Dream is compared
59
Example 12: VIII in America, The Dream Goes On and two fanfares. America, The
Dream Goes On, 1982, 1984 Threesome Music Co. (ASCAP); Liberty Fanfare 1986
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. and Marjer Publishing Co. (BMI); Olympic Fanfare
and Theme 1984 Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. and Marjer Publishing Co.
(BMI), printed in John Williams: Fanfares and Themes, 1989 Warner Bros. Publications
Inc.
[p]art of our conceptual systems, whether we are
liberals, conservatives, or neither, is a common
metaphorical conception of the Nation as Family,
with the government, or head of state representing
the government, seen as an older authority figure,
typically, a father. We talk about our founding fathers
[] The U.S. government has long been referred to
as Uncle Sam. [] When our country goes to war,
it sends its sons (and now its daughters) into battle.
A patriot (from the Latin pater, father) loves his
fatherland.43
of Righteous Euphoria
61
Example 14: Major triads ascending by wholestep in The Cowboys (1972). The Cowboys
Overture. 1972 Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., printed by Hal Leonard, John
Williams Signature Edition, 00490061.
cultural affect which elicits hope, righteousness,
and euphoria45 connotations that may in part derive
from its prominent use in the influential Hollywood
epics Ben Hur and Exodus.46 More recently, it has
become associated with both movie studio logos
(the Universal themes by James Horner and Jerry
Goldsmith) and video game music (Super Mario Bros,
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time). Since the mid1960s, the progression has also been a mainstay of
rock: With a Little Help from my Friends (The
Beatles), Lola (The Kinks), Crazy Little Thing
Called Love (Queen), to name a few.
In the context of Williams music, VIVIII often
assumes an implicitly or explicitly patriotic character.
In the Superman Fanfare, the progression is linked,
through an archetypal figure of pop mythology,
with Truth, Justice, and the American Way; in
the Ewok Celebration that follows the defeat of
the evil Empire in Return of the Jedi, it punctuates the
fist-pumping celebration song of the victorious rebels
(Freedom! Power!);47 and in Oliver Stones Nixon,
it spotlights a subcurrent of patriotic idealism beneath
the Machiavellian machinations of the main character
(Example 15, ac).48
The apotheosis of VIVIII in Williams work is
the anthem America, The Dream Goes On (Example 15d).
45 Ron Sadoff, Composition by Corporate Committee: Recipe for Clich,
American Music 22 (Spring 2004): 68.
46 The progression also appears in earlier Hollywood scores, including
Max Steiners Key Largo (1948) and Elmer Bernsteins Battles of Chief Pontiac
(1952). Thanks to Frank Lehman for pointing me to these examples.
47 I am referring to the original 1983 version of the film, not the 1997
release, which features different music for the Ewok Celebration.
48 Example 15c (from Nixon) presents a variant of the progression, in which
I is the initiator, rather than the goal, of the phrase (IVIVII instead of
VIVIII).
Example 15: Examples of VIVIII. Superman March, 1978 Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., printed by Hal Leonard, John Williams Signature Edition, 04490228.
America, The Dream Goes On, 1982, 1984 Threesome Music Co. (ASCAP).
Example 16: Mikls Rzsa, Love Theme from Ben Hur, VIVIII cadence
associated with the protagonists private, domestic
existence, an existence which, like Benjamin Martins,
is threatened by an overbearing imperial power. Ben
Hur, like Martin, is at first reluctant to be drawn
into conflict, but once the security of his private
domain is shattered, he thirsts for revenge against the
oppressor. His rejection of Rome, as Jonathan Stubbs
argues, can be seen in the context of contemporary
Jewish nationalism and the support for it in 1950s
The International Film Music Society 2015.
63
Example 17: Ernest Gold, The Exodus Song. 1960 & 1961 by Carlyle-Alpina
S.A., printed by Hal Leonard, 150 of the Most Beautiful Songs Ever, Hal Leonard
00360735.
In his Oscar-winning score for Exodus, released
the year after Ben Hur, Ernest Gold draws on a similar
modal vocabulary to lend a biblical sweep to the
film version of Leon Uris novel about the founding of
the state of Israel. As shown in Example 17, the main
theme from Exodus resembles the love theme from Ben
Hur, both in its melodic outline and its conspicuous
use of the ascending wholestep progression (both as
VIVIIi and as IIIIVV). The similarity between
the two themes was sufficiently pronounced for
Robbins Music Corporation, the publisher of the Ben
Hur music, to consult with an outside expert (Vincent
Persichetti) to determine if a plagiarism case could
be made. Persichetti decided that the two pieces,
while related in their use of modal harmony, exist as
independent and separate creations. 51
Nonetheless, the resemblance suggests an
intertextual link between the Jewish heroes of the
two epics. The biblical flavor of the music was made
explicit after the fundamentalist evangelical singer Pat
Boone added lyrics to Golds theme (God gave this
land to me...). Boones version of The Exodus Song
(This Land is Mine) became a hit in the early 1960s,
and has remained the most famous melody associated
with Israel in American popular culturean icon of
musical Zionism. The image of Gods chosen people
laying claim to the Promised Land resonates deeply
51 Vincent Persichetti, letter to Joseph Levin, November 7, 1960. Mikls
Rzsa Papers, Syracuse University Special Collections.
65
Example 18: Love themes from Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and
Raiders of the Lost Ark (transposed to G major for comparison). Star Wars: Suite for
Orchestra, 1977 Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., printed by Hal Leonard, John
Williams Signature Edition, 04490057. Luke and Leia, 1983 Bantha Music,
printed in John Williams: Fanfares and Themes, 1987 Warner Bros. Publications Inc.
Raiders March, 1981 by Bantha Music and Ensign Music Corporation, printed by Hal
Leonard, John Williams Signature Edition, 04490015.
Example 20: Love themes from The Lost Weekend, Spellbound, and Notorious
Example 21: Love themes from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and The
Terminal (2004)
The International Film Music Society 2015.
67
Example 22: March of the Slave Children from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(1984)
Example 23: Comparison of Augurs and Jaws chords. Suite from Jaws, 1975 USI B
Music Publishing, printed by Hal Leonard, John Williams Signature Edition, 04490414.
69
Example 26: The Lydian supertonic in Superman, The Empire Strikes Back, and E.T.
(transposed to G major for comparison). Star Wars: Suite for Orchestra, 1977 WarnerTamerlane Publishing Corp., printed by Hal Leonard, John Williams Signature Edition,
04490057. Adventures on Earth: From the Universal Picture E.T. (The Extra-Terrestrial),
1982 MCA., printed by Hal Leonard, John Williams Signature Edition, 04490009.
Example 28: Anakins Theme from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999). Star Wars:
The Phantom Menace, Suite for Orchestra, 1999 Bantha Music (BMI), printed by Hal
Leonard, John Williams Signature Edition, 04490125.
The International Film Music Society 2015.
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Example 29: Transposition of Lydian supertonic. Theme from The Lost World, 1997
MCA, Inc., printed by Hal Leonard, John Williams Signature Edition, 04490069.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Frank Lehman for his incisive
comments on a draft of this article.
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