that produces it.”37 In the case of the Star Wars score, the mental image created is the orchestra and its hall. The orchestra is the terra cognita that Lucas and Williams wanted the film’s score to inhabit. It is the sounding body that they so boldly and shamelessly used, contrary to scoring trends of the time. It is the ensemble they recorded in a relatively straightforward, true-to-life way, at least compared with other orchestral soundtracks. Williams is an extremely accomplished orchestrator and conductor, and I will occasionally use source-bonding to elucidate more subtle aspects of his orchestral craft in my analyses. Williams and Lucas did not intend their melodies to be “unheard”—in fact, quite the opposite for successful character-tagging.38 The orchestra, while unseen in the film, is thrust into the sonic spotlight. It is not a stretch to consider that viewers can “see” an imaginary pit orchestra. In fact, fans often have the chance literally see one today—major orchestras now regularly perform the entire Star Wars score in sold-out, live-to-picture concerts.39
“You Must Learn the Ways of the Force”: Timbre and Luke’s Theme In 1973, John Williams scored Robert Altman’s neo-noir film The Long Goodbye. At Altman’s suggestion, Williams composed only one melody for the entire 112-minute film, arranging it differently for distinct narrative situations.40 While the melody itself adequately evokes the melancholy mood of the film, Williams’s arrangements of it are a masterclass in
37
Smalley, “Space-Form,” 56
David. Neumeyer and Oxford University Press., The Oxford Handbook of Film Music Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 3. 38
39
Allison Keyes, “‘Star Wars In Concert’ Puts The Force In The Music,” July 24, 2010.
40
There are precedents for monothematic films. See Gorbman, Unheard Melodies, 29.
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