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" --------------- STAR WARS MUSIC MINUTE QUESTIONNAIRE: 1. In exactly 3 words, what does Star Wars sou