TLJ 30: Musical DNA of The Last Jedi (Minutes 146-150 with Frank Lehman)

Frank Lehman is a music theorist, film musicologist, and John Williams scholar who created the Complete Catalogue of the Musical Themes of Star Wars. Today, he's here to help us understand the end credits and music of The Last Jedi overall. We talk about wild theorizing, erotic themes, and the technical and philosophical ideals that make up the musical vocabulary of Star Wars. Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro and welcome to Frank Lehman, music theorist and film musicologist 02:50 - Complete Catalogue of the Musical Themes of Star Wars talking about music with non-musicians pet peeves, hot takes, justifications crafting theories based on music 18:55 - What's going on in this end credits music? 20:48 - Is the music in these end credits "successful"? 26:35 - "Luke in Exile" themes 32:00 - violin demonstration overlaying Luke in Exile, Jedi Steps, Rey's themes 37:15 - mythically intentional way of writing open-ended music 46:xx - pre-existing expectations, idea that meaning comes from incongruity 48:26 - underscore, benefits of focusing on 5 cinematic minutes at a time, setting up moods 50:24 - "Mirror Cave" (TLJ) in conversation with "Magic Tree" (ESB) example 51:48 - about the "Battle of the Heroes" (ROTS) quote in the opening of this film 52:40 - rarity of perfect authentic cadences in this style of Hollywood score 57:02 - thoughts on Rose's theme, lydian themes in John Williams' history in general 1:03:41 - "wonderment" as a musical aesthetic 1:07:03 - explicit eroticism in music, Leia, Han and Leia, Q'ira, Jyn, etc... 1:10:19 - Rey's theme as a complete departure 1:15:27 - more playback of the end credits music 1:19:04 - leitmotif vs. incidental motif vs. nonspecific byproduct of a writing style, Ahch-To Arpeggios, Kamino Mystery motif 1:22:03 - Kamino callback in The Bad Batch, John Williams's musical fixations and shorthands 1:27:04 - visionary aspects of the screenwriting and directing as a possible inspiration for John Williams 1:32:54 - Goodbyes References: Things by Frank Lehman Complete Catalogue of the Musical Themes of Star Wars: https://franklehman.com/starwars/ "Thematic Transformation and the Limits of Leitmotivic Analysis" - Talk by Frank Lehman given at Society for Music Theory, 2019 - https://youtu.be/4ZBCNK0PYrk "Hollywood Cadences: Music and the Structure of Cinematic Expectation" (paper) https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.4/mto.13.19.4.lehman.php Hollywood Harmony: Musical Wonder and the Sound of Cinema (book) - https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Harmony-Musical-Wonder-Cinema/dp/0190606401 Music: "A New Home" (The Rise of Skywalker) - by John Williams https://youtu.be/68jxhJYmo7o "The Cave" (The Last Jedi) by John Williams - https://youtu.be/nFzuvgyqyCE "The Magic Tree" (The Empire Strikes Back) by John Williams - https://youtu.be/RW5Fpv7X-4Q "Far From Home/E.T. Alone" (E.T.) by John Williams - https://youtu.be/P312yGJGZgg "Main Titles" (from Space Camp) by John Williams - https://youtu.be/eeq2Vy31t6E "Back to the Future" by Alan Silvestri - https://youtu.be/cgBvhmxun5M "Romeo and Juliet Overture" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - https://youtu.be/_Od7gx3Dc-U "Tristan and Isolde" leitmotifs by Richard Wagner - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL78TsyiiZjhGGJhndz_P-8EbshbYcFDxB Symphony No 9 "New World" by Antonin Dvorak - https://youtu.be/Qut5e3OfCvg "The Firebird Suite" by Igor Stravinsky - https://youtu.be/6wbkKWrUD-A "Marion's Theme/The Crate" (Raiders of the Lost Ark) by John Williams - https://youtu.be/Mp9InE4oDAw "Princess Leia's Theme" by John Williams - https://youtu.be/eyHOUMWw5_M "Han Solo and the Princess" by John Williams - https://youtu.be/zIQLjKJ2Yto "Jyn Erso and Hope Suite" by Michael Giacchino (from Rogue One) - https://youtu.be/w42CTq5QZtI "Lando's Closet" (Solo: A Star Wars Story) (Han and Q'ira's theme) - https://youtu.be/wummwZCt5s0 "Hera Syndulla's theme" (compilation from Star Wars Rebels) by Kevin Kiner - https://youtu.be/x7LNzBjCFrA "Finding Kamino" (Attack of the Clones) by John