DEFYING GRAVITY

FROM THE MUSICAL ‘WICKED’

Stephen Schwartz (1948- )

 What do you know about Wicked?
Can you name any other musicals?

Listen to ‘Defying Gravity’ and write down anything you

hear under these headings:
(These colours will be used to annotate your score)

Context
Structure
Rhythm, Metre and Tempo
Melody
Performing forces
Texture
Harmony and Tonality
 CONTEXT-STEPHEN
SCHWARTZ
● Stephen Schwartz is an American music theatre composer and lyricist.
● Born in 1948 in New York, he studied piano and composition at the
Julliard School of Music and graduated in drama from Carnegie Mellon
University.
● In 1972 he had his first success with the musical Godspell. In the 1990s
he collaborated with the composer Alan Menkin on the scores of many
Disney films such as Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
● In 2003 he worked on Wicked, a musical based on the novel. This is an
alternative version of the Wizard of Oz and tells the story from the
point of view of the witches, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West)
and Glinda, the Good Witch. Schwartz won a Grammy Award for his
work as composer, lyricist and producer of Wicked.
 CONTEXT
● ‘Defying Gravity’ appears at the end of the 1st act when
Elphaba discovers that the Wizard of Oz is not the heroic
figure she had originally believed him to be. She vows to do
everything in her power to fight him and his sinister plans.
● She sings of how she wants to live without limits, going
against the rules that others have set for her.
● Music theatre integrates songs, spoken dialogue, acting and
dance within a popular idiom. Musicals are an extended piece
of music theatre.
 PERFORMING FORCES (1 / 2)
● ‘Defying Gravity’ is a duet for the characters Elphaba and
Glinda. They either speak, half sing/speak (with music
notated on the stave with crosses instead of note heads) or
entirely sing.
● Large vocal range of nearly 2 octaves, from G below middle
C to F.
● Large orchestra: woodwind, brass and string sections with
harp and 3 keyboards.
● Wide variety of percussion: drum kit, tubular bells and
timpani.
● Electric guitars with overdrive, a distortion effect.
● The score is an orchestral reduction and the main
instruments with solos are labelled.
 PERFORMING FORCES (2 / 2)
● Brass: Homophonic chordal music in an almost
fanfare-like manner (bar 20).
● Strings: Tremolo effect adds tension (bar 34).
● hi-hat: crotchet rhythms in bar 51 to add rhythmic
momentum.
● Cymbal roll adds excitement as key changes (bar 122).
● The full band plays at the climax of the song at bar 135.
● Synthesisers and glockenspiel play high magical-
sounding repeated quaver accompaniment to the
chorus.
● Tubular bells give an ethereal sonority at bar 147.
 STRUCTURE
● Verse–chorus form.
● Verse: bar 34, bar 63, bar 135.
● Chorus: bar 50, bar 79, bar 103, bar 151.
● Within that structure this piece has multiple sections which
are defined by tempo, contrasting moods and melodic
material.

Bars 1-19 Free Tempo (colla voce) recitative-like

Bars 20-48 Andante Verse (bar 34)
Bars 49-87 Allegro Chorus (50), verse (63) chorus
(79)
Bars 88-102 Moderato
Bars 103- 110 Allegro Chorus (103)
Barrs 111-128 Andante
Bars 129-161 Allegro Verse (135), Chorus (151)
Bars 162-177 Andante to Maestoso
 MELODY
● The text setting is syllabic throughout with speech-like
rhythms.
● Vocalisation at the end in bar 175 to the word ‘aah’.
● The melody starts in a conjunct/stepwise manner.
● Bars 6 and 7 show an ascending sequence.
● The verse and chorus combine conjunct and wide
angular leaps in the melodic line.
● Leaps often feature a rising perfect fifth (bar 34).
● Some exceptionally large leaps such as a compound
perfect fourth (bars 39–40) and a compound perfect
fifth (bars 140–141).
● Leitmotif: ‘Unlimited’ uses the same 7 notes from
‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’, changing the rhythm.
 TEXTURE
● Opening: A sparse texture with instrumental chord stabs (bar 1)
with some monophonic unaccompanied bars (bar 3).
● Verses: Melody-dominated homophony (melody and
accompaniment) texture where the singer is accompanied by
chords in the orchestra.
● Homophonic chordal moments (bar 132).
● Ostinato accompaniment at bar 88 with repeated semiquavers.
● Elphaba and Glinda usually sing separately but sometimes sing
together in unison (bar 101) or in harmony such as thirds (bar
127).
● Ending: Contrapuntal with three different musical ideas with
different lyrics (bar 168).
 HARMONY
● Chords are in root position.
● Chord progressions are often unrelated and in
the opening we can see shifts downwards in
parallel semitones. Eg. a D chord to a C♯ minor
chord to a C major chord.
● There is some use of dissonance (e.g. bar 30).
● At the end there is a pedal at bar 168.
 TONALITY
● Tonally ambiguous opening with chromatic movement
and unrelated chord progressions.
● D major key.
● Bar 20: B major
Bar 22: F major
Bar 32: Tonic key of D major for the verse.
Bar 88: G major.
Bar 103: D major.
Bar 115: Chromatic melody of the opening.
Bar 132: Tonic key of D major.
Bar 168: B minor until we finish on a chord of D major.
 TEMPO, RHYTHM AND METRE
● Tempo changes are numerous and important to the structure.
● Rallentandos used at the end of sections. Ralls usually followed by
an a tempo. (except at the end).
● Time signature changes from 3/2 triple time to 2/2 duple time in the
opening section, changes to 4/4 in bar 88 and to 2/2 in bar 115.
● Syncopation is frequent (bars 67–70).
● Dotted rhythms: in bar 82 on the word ‘gra-vi-ty’.
● Triplets: Quaver triplets (bar 96) and crotchet triplets (bar 60).
● Crotchet and quaver rhythms, longer note lengths at the ends of
phrases.
● Rests used to break up phrases.
● Phrases start with an off-beat entry after a crotchet rest (e.g. bar 15).
● Fermatas lengthen and give freedom to longer rhythms (b. 174 +
176).
DEFYING GRAVITY
WICKED

WIDER LISTENING
 HAIRSPRAY
● An American musical based on the 1988 film of the same
name, composed by Marc Shaiman
● Set in 1962, tells the story of a plump teenage girl with
dreams of dancing stardom and becomes an overnight
celebrity after winning a dance competition. She uses her
fame to fight for racial integration.
● Feel good music, uses late 50s and early 60s pop styles.
MAMA, I’M A BIG GIRL NOW
● Tracy and her friends pleading with their parents to be
allowed to audition for a place on a TV dance show.
● Vocal ensemble for 3 girls.
● Features characteristics of early rock and roll.
● Starts with recitative, ends with 6 voices in harmony
towards end. Mainly in sing alternately or in unison
(Texture)
● Features falling 3rd progressions I-vi-IV-V (harmony)
● Music shifts up a semitone twice- truck driver’s gear
change (tonality)
● Shuffle rhythm with heavy backbeat on snare dream
(rhythm)
● Regular 8 bar structure
MATILDA THE MUSICAL
● Based on book by Roald Dahl about a
precocious girl who fights injustices at home
and school, using her telekinetic powers.
● Music and lyrics by Australian Tim Minchin,
known for his stage act as a comedy musician.
NAUGHTY
● Solo song
● Syllabic word setting
● Based on primary triads of F
major, occasional added 2nds
and chromaticism (harmony)
● Swung 4/4 metre with a ¾
bar at the end of each verse.
 LES MISERABLES
● Premiered at the West-end in 1985 and is one of
the longest running musicals to date.
● Based on the classic novel by Victor Hugo, the
plot revolves around different characters with
hardships during the French Revolution.
● Music and lyrics composed by Claude-Michel
Schonberg.
DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING
● A cappella opening in choral unison with
snare drum roll.
● Texture gradually builds up as more
instruments are added and 2 main themes
are repeated.
● Melody made up of dotted rhythms with
triplet rhythms at the end of phrases.
● Anthemic melody with a military feel
(percussion and brass heavy) to reflect act
of protest of the people.
 HOMEWORK TASK
1. Listen to the 3 wider listening pieces in the next slide.
2. Make a spider diagram with the following headings for each:
- Structure
- Performing forces
- Melody
- Texture
- Harmony and Tonality
- Tempo, Metre and Rhythm
3. See how much you can fill in by just listening to the pieces a few times.
4. Research the background and context of the composers and pieces.
5. State how they reflect what is happening on stage and compare them to
Defying Gravity, writing down:
- Similarities
- Differences
 WIDER LISTENING PIECES
Shadowland- Lion King
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA-BUlJ9MSM

Prima Donna- Phantom of the Opera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBUlPqaVj88

Another Day of Sun- La La Land

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWnYIb2lqpo