ESB 6: Battle of Hoth Set Theory (Minutes 26-30 with Dominic Sewell)

We're getting deep into the Battle of Hoth today! This is minutes 26-30 of The Empire Strikes Back with composer/orchestrator Dominic Sewell. The quickie topic is a primer on the anatomy and function of a score. 

To follow along with the visuals in this episode, I recommend checking out the video version (or just spot checking the areas you want to see): https://youtu.be/oOvHkaciOVk 

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Hello there!
• 2:10 - What stands out to you about the Battle of Hoth?
• 8:26 - Who is the greatest 20th century composer?
• 10:30 - Quickie topic: Anatomy and function of a score.
• 16:05 - Start of these minutes.
• 18:51 - Contrapuntal fudge.
• 28:18 - Frank Lehman's breakdown of the Battle of Hoth themes from a-z.
• 32:46 - Cool things about octatonic scales and John Williams's use of them.
• 45:42 - Military preparation theme (e)
• 48:00 - "One is okay, two is memorable, three is too much."
• 54:05 - Optimistic Walton-esque theme (h)
• 1:01:07 - Increasing rhythm, momentum, texture before big crescendo.
• 1:03:35 - Start of 3M3 "The Snow Battle"
• 1:10:30 - Pitch class sets, Forte numbers, using the pitch-class set calculator. 4-19, 6-z19, 5-32, 8-28, etc...
• 1:26:29 - “Fingers are not to be despised: they are the great inspirers, and, in contact with a musical instrument, often give birth to subconscious ideas which might otherwise never come to life.” -Stravinsky
• 1:29:10 - Alpha chords.
• 1:38:47 - What JW wrote about this cue in the liner notes ("bizarre, mechanical, brutal...")
• 1:49:10 - "The rub" + Why are minor seconds and major sevenths "the same?"
• 2:00:14 - "Into the Maw" from Solo: A Star Wars Story.
• 2:06:13 - Cluster splurge.
• 2:13:33 - Diverging outline.
• 2:19:01 - Filigree, frills, and trills.
• 2:23:41 - 6-20 classic hexatonic set.
• 2:31:40 - Philosophical question: how do you decide the boundaries of the set you're analyzing?
• 2:36:46 - The Hoth sequence contains nearly all of John Williams's action hallmarks.
• 2:45:38 - SWMM Questionnaire

References:

• Complete Catalogue of the Musical Themes of Star Wars (by Frank Lehman): https://franklehman.com/starwars/.
• Analysis Through Composition - Principles of the Classical Style (book by Nicholas Cook) - https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/3425258
• Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
• Orb and Sceptre (William Walton) - https://youtu.be/v6qjUdaDE_Q
• Crown Imperial March (William Walton) - https://youtu.be/1M9xZlA2zn8
• Dominic's video intro to pitch class set theory: https://youtu.be/Am2KLFMGuvw
• Pitch-Class Set Calculator: https://www.mta.ca/pc-set/calculator/pc_calculate.html
• List of set classes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_set_classes
• Petrushka (Stravinsky) - https://youtu.be/jeSC0vtdn3g
• David Matthews piece: The Golden Kingdom song cycle, "Spell of Creation" movement - https://www.fabermusic.com/shop/the-golden-kingdom-p3081
• Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain - https://youtu.be/SLCuL-K39eQ
• Mickey Mouse (2013) series, music by Christopher Willis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNdhDq-DF8k&list=PLIUzyJZLGeBM2mB9MaXtfzCxHRZ6s8PIl
• Mark Richards's film scoring courses: https://filmmusicnotes.com/all-courses/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mouse_(TV_series)
• The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films: A Comprehensive Account of Howard Shore's Scores (by Doug Adams) - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/8882617

Check out Dominic Sewell's channel to see more analysis with video walkthroughs of these cues:

• 3M2 Leia's Instructions (final segment) - https://youtu.be/DThcEWb_CoE
• 3M3 The Snow Battle - https://youtu.be/fIHn1e521DY
• 3M4/4M1 Luke's First Crash - https://youtu.be/dfKjTX7gpNs 

Cues:

• 3M2 "Leia's Instructions"
• 3M3 "The Snow Battle"
• 3M4/4M1 "Luke's First Crash"

Musical Themes:

• 2. Rebel Fanfare
• 18) Descending Heroic Tetrachords
• 1a. Main Theme (A Section)
• 13. Droids

Where are we in the soundtrack?:

• "The Battle Of Hoth (Ion Cannon/Imperial Walkers/Beneath the"

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STAR WARS MUSIC MINUTE QUESTIONNAIRE:

1. In exactly 3 words, what does Star Wars sound like?

• Transporting. Transforming. Transcendental.

2. What's something related to Star Wars music or sound that you want to learn more about?

• Dom would like to talk to John Williams about what his teachers taught him.

3. What's a score or soundtrack you're fond of besides anything Star Wars?

• Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore
• Doctor Who (TV series) - Murray Gold
• The Orville (TV series) - Bruce Broughton (main theme), Joel McNeely, Andrew Cottee, John Debney, and Kevin Kaska
• Death of Stalin - Christopher Willis

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Guest: Dominic Sewell

• Website: https://dominicsewell.co.uk
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DominicSewellMusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/dominicsewell
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DominicSewellMusic

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