With Loki‘s Natalie Holt on board, the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi is the first Star Wars project to have a female composer. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the classically trained violinist talked about using unusual instruments for the show’s music, creating themes for planets (and Stormtroopers), bringing “a bit of modernity” to the sound—and about the piece of music she didn’t write: Obi-Wan Kenobi’s theme. That theme, and the title suite, is all John Williams.
Holt says Williams is “basically the reason why I noticed music in film as a child.” The iconic composer is responsible for all those Star Wars themes we know so well—but, Holt says, “He really wanted to write [Obi-Wan’s] theme because he was the one character that he didn’t write the theme for in the original movie.”
She continues:
So I think he had this feeling that he wanted to complete the challenge. I think he had two weeks and he came on board and wrote the Obi theme and a suite, which is the main title, and then a few variations of how the Obi theme can work. That was what he had time to give the project, and it was just a gift. It’s so perfect and in a way, once I had that Obi theme, it set the tentpoles up for the project.
Holt (who is also the composer for the upcoming Batgirl) has a palpable enthusiasm for Williams, for working with Obi-Wan Kenobi director Deborah Chow, and for the whole Star Wars experience: “Deborah said everyone has this moment where they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m working on Star Wars!’ The writers—like all departments. It takes everyone a minute to get used to the idea of it and then find their way.”
We’ll get to hear the way she found when Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on May 27th.
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“He really wanted to write [Obi-Wan’s] theme because he was the one character that he didn’t write the theme for in the original movie.”
I’m frustrated by the revisionist history I keep hearing about this. Obi-Wan Kenobi did have a theme in the original film, and it was noted as such in the film’s soundtrack. But it doubled as the Force theme, in the same way that Luke’s theme doubled as the main series theme and the Imperial March introduced in TESB doubled as Vader’s theme. And over time, it’s come to be used as the Force theme more often than as the Obi-Wan theme, to the point that it’s seen that way primarily now. But it is an error of fact to claim that Williams did not write a theme for Obi-Wan in 1977.
A quick note: In this context, let’s not use the term “revisionist history,” as it has implications that don’t apply here at all. Thanks.
What @1/Christopher said – This has been bugging me no end for weeks now. Williams clearly calls it “Ben’s Theme” in the 1977 2-LP liner notes, for crikes’s sake. I think “Binary Sunset” is maybe the only track in “Episode IV” (ahem) where Ben’s Theme is used apart from Ben Kenobi.
Well, ok, it’s also an uptempo march in The Throne Room, but I distinctly rememer Williams’ notes calling that an arrangement of Ben’s Theme.
Grr. It’s as if millions of fan memories like our suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced…!
@1. ChristopherLBennett & 3. writermpoteet: ‘Ben’s theme’ or no, if Mr John Williams himself says that he had not yet written a theme for Obi-Wan Kenobi (Obi-Wan Kenobi, as opposed to ‘Old Ben’) I think it only courteous to take him at his word, though one hopes he would nonetheless appreciate your point & your close attention to his body of work. (-:
Really looking forward to hearing this new theme either way, as Master Kenobi is very probably my favourite character in all of STAR WARS.
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Same. This theme will pretty much be Williams’ final piece of Star Wars music, so I’m interested to see what he’s composed.
@4/ED: We all rewrite our memories as we age, and we all misremember things about our own past. Which is why personal accounts, especially about events nearly half a century ago, should not be taken as gospel, but should be verified against independent sources.
@1 The theme that you are looking for is actually titled “Binary Sunset.” Which, if you recall the film, you’d realize that what has long been dubbed The Force Theme entered the film several scenes before Ben Kenobi first shows his face. Which would then mean that “Binary Sunset” is Luke’s theme (or perhaps more than likely the Skywalker theme).
If you’re gonna have a beef with the OG composer’s view of the music he himself wrote, then maybe first check your facts.
As for me and my house: we’ll enjoy John Williams as we’ve always done, including this BRAND NEW Obi-Wan Theme + Suite.
@7/pen: See comment #3. Williams himself called it “Ben’s Theme” at the time. “Binary Sunset” is just the name of that specific cue making use of the theme.
I mean, it’s clear that whatever the intent – and the intent was certainly that the theme be used for Obi-Wan (and the main crawl was going to be Luke’s theme), the theme has since morphed to mean something else entirely (as has the main crawl) and eventually evolved to be the Force Theme which has a MUCH broader use than just Obi-Wan. So I definitely understand his desire to write a more focused theme that can really be about Obi-Wan as a character. I have been wondering if it will descend musically from the Force Theme in any way.
I really enjoyed Natalie Holt’s Loki theme, and she’s also shown (with the Classic Loki/Glorious Purpose) that she can work with leitmotif in a unique way so I’m pretty excited about all of this.
I’m a bit low key obsessed iwth movie music and JW in particular and I did love the TROS soundtrack, and ‘A New Home’ (the closing piece) is one of my favorites. There was something so bittersweet about it and the fact that it was likely the last piece of music he would compose for Star Wars (which has been incredibly important for me) – so this is really a gift to me.
@7 – that is actually not true in soundtrack speak.
Binary Sunset is the name of the cue, which is a specific variation of the Force Theme which has MANY different cues and iterations across all 9 movies (such as Throne Room, Light of the Force, Boys Into Battle, Goodbye Old Friend, etc, etc, etc).
It’s also not Luke’s theme. The main crawl is Luke’s theme (although also gets repurposed as a general hero/adventure theme) and in fact there is an alternate cue of binary sunset that uses a version of this, until Lucas suggested using Ben’s theme, and hence it became a much more general theme associated with the Force. There are several moments where that theme is used specifically to apply to Luke (usually in quieter, less bombastic variations – see RotS epilogue or some of the moments in The Last Jedi).
And even so, sometimes the themes get repurposed in general when they sound right – Yoda’s theme shows up in the carbon freeze scene even though Yoda isn’t there (one can argue that his training is, I guess) mainly because it sounds the best. I think (although it’s escaping my memory right now) there was a part in ANH where Leia’s theme is used basically because he liked how it sounded even though it wasn’t really a scene about Leia.
@5/Mr Magic – This theme will pretty much be Williams’ final piece of Star Wars music – Not an unreasonable idea, but let’s hope not! Never say never, always in motion the future is, and all that good stuff. :) If memory serves, folks said the same about the theme he wrote for Solo, and then, lo and behold, he composed music for Galaxy’s Edge.
@10/Lisamarie – Good call on the distinction between cue and theme. Are you certain that alternate “Binary Sunset” cue is a version or variation on Luke’s Theme/Main Title, though? I’m not a musicologist (nor do I play one on TV), but to my ears it mostly sounds like a variation on the Dies Irae (also the cue where Luke returns home to the smouldering remains of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru). I guess maybe the tail end of the alternate “Binary Sunset” uses some of the notes from Luke’s Theme/Main Title, maybe in a minor key? (It’s time like this I wish I WERE a musicologist…!)
Not directed at anyone in particular: I bear no ill will toward Williams, I’m thriled he’s still composing Star Wars music. But I do second Christopher’s comment at #6 above.
@10/Lisamarie: One bit of repurposing that’s struck me — In the “TIE Fighter Attack” cue in the original film, there’s a sped-up version of the “da-daa-dum, da-daa-dum, da-DAA, da-da-da-da-daaaa” motif that was essentially the Empire theme in that film, before the Imperial March was written for TESB to replace it. (Heard at 0:41 here.) Presumably it was meant to represent the TIEs. But the sequel trilogy scores seem to have repurposed it as the Millennium Falcon‘s leitmotif, I guess because audiences associate it with that iconic Falcon-vs.-TIEs space battle.
@12 – it’s so funny you say that because I had also written out and deleted something about how ‘Rebel Fanfare’ actually originated from Imperial Attack :D That one I am not sure though if it was specifically *intended* to be just Imperial (along with the 1977 Vader theme) or just a ‘space battle’ motif that ended up more strongly associated with the rebels. But I figured that was me being too nerdy and pedantic.
At any rate I don’t see Williams’ statements as misremembering or misrepresenting anything – I think he knows what the Force theme used to be, but just merely a statement that now he’s glad to go back and do it for reals, because the theme he intended for Ben ended up repurposed fairly early on.
@11 – there’s something really unsettling about that alternate binary sunset take in general and one of the few times I have to think Lucas’s meddling really paid off as it gives the scene an entirely different feel (ironically some people have said it foreshdaows the sequel trilogy and Luke’s ultimate fate, especially as it is a liittle similar, mood wise, to the bridge of Jedi Steps..). I have also read that part of the theme being used is actually some music that plays during some of the landspeeder/droid in peril scenes, as well as that it was a theme that ultimately ended up being discarded or reworked. There is definitely some Dies Irae in there (which actually also evokes Immolation Scene for me, as the ‘descent motif’ used in that cue is also built around Dies Irae, which also gives it an entirely different significance!) Anyway – it’s actually entirely possible I’m misremembering that bit of information because I personally have never really heard Luke’s theme (as we know it) in there either.
But my main hill is that the binary sunset, at any rate (in its current version), is not ‘Luke’s theme’ although it does play at many important moments of his life (and even at his death) so I do understand why it’s become that in some peoples’ minds.
When a band finishes recording in the studio and then takes their new song on tour, more often than not it’s changing along the way. it’s the live experience. The way it’s sung and played, embedded with a certain intro or a new coda.
It’s the same with a cultural phenomenon like Star Wars. Music is a fluid thing, it’s dynamic. It is about feelings. That’s why the orchestration of a theme changes due to the particular scene it appears in. Please don’t start this endless discussion because of some liner notes back from a time when the imperial theme was different and Luke was supposed to be in a not brotherly love affair with the princess. Having a Kenobi show justifies giving him a new theme. That doesn’t render the old force/Ben theme useless. They can both exist, can’t they?
@13/Lisamarie – I’ve not heard that reevaluation of the alternate Binary Sunset before. I like it, but, with you, not as much as having the Force Theme in there as it exists in the film now :)
@14/andretea – “endless discussion” is what Star Wars fans (among others) do best! :)
@14/andretea: If it were cast in terms of Kenobi’s original theme having been repurposed and thus warranting a new theme for the character, I’d have no objection, since that’s an accurate description of what’s going on. But the claim that Kenobi never had a theme before is simply an error of fact. Wanting facts to be represented accurately should not be a matter of controversy. It should be the minimal baseline for anything.
@11: to my ears it mostly sounds like a variation on the Dies Irae. That’s an … interesting … hearing; the music we first hear at the binary sunset starts each phrase with a rising 4th followed by more rising notes, where the original “Dies Irae” (sound sample) starts with descending pairs of descending notes. AFAIK (and I suspect there’s something I don’t know of) the best-known modern quote of the ancient version appears in Sweeney Todd, on the words “Swing your razor wide, Sweeney” (1:42 on this recording), and that’s not very well known because the opening wasn’t used in the movie.
@14: I suspect most of the arguers are quite aware of how music travels, mutates, and is repurposed (see “the folk process”). What’s argued here is not whether there should be new music, but the correctness of the statement that Kenobi never had a theme; my immediate reaction (having about worn out a copy of the soundtrack when it was first released) was that we were told at the time that he did. Subsequent drift doesn’t change what was declared then — although I can see some argument that the sunset-etc. music from SWIV represents a different age(/personality/identity?) from the character in this series.
@16/ChristopherLBennett (and @17/chip137):
After carefully reviewing your initial post and reading your comment to my somewhat rushed argument, I can totally see your point about factuality. In fact, I am with you in the regard that this is about the way the news about the soon-to-come theme by John Williams has been framed on news websites. An unnecessary way of framing it, at that, when the headline could just be something along the lines of „maestro writes new music for upcoming Star Wars show“.
I also wonder wether or not the prequel trilogy took its chance in re-establishing the Kenobi/force theme as the former, featuring Obi-Wan as one of its central characters. I never watched Episodes I to III that closely, but I think it’s worth to give these wonderful soundtracks another listen soon.
I also found the phrase “how music travels” (@17) to be a very truthful and catchy one. :)