LEITMOTIF
For this task I will Be discussing John Williams And his use of the leitmotif style of composing throughout his career. In this writing i will cover a brief definition and history of the leitmotif. secondly i will discuss John Williams and how he specifically implemented leitmotif in his iconic works. and lastly how the leitmotif has been used by other artists and practitioners in a similar manner.
What is Leitmotif?.
The term Leitmotif refers a small recurring section or portion of an existing musical theme that is used to represent a specific character, idea or event. Not to be confused with a Theme or Motif. A theme being an entire musical piece commonly used to represent a creative body of work, a motif is the smallest piece of music that still holds a thematic link to a creative body of work.
Leitmotif first appeared in history 1871 in to describe and highlight a musical point in the 1821 opera Der Frieshutz (The Freeshooter) by Carl Maria Von Weber. The leitmotif referenced in this case, refers to the character max and the fact that Von Weber used a recurring musical section to describe his fear throughout the opera.(Riggle,E. 2018)
19th century german composer Richard Wagner was famous for using leitmotifs in his characteristically epic and sophisticated operas to help identify important plot points and ideas and also to help build a stronger sense of meaning and relationship to the characters in the main story. An example of this would be the short but chilling melody “Longing for Death“relating to the doomed fate of the main characters in his 1865 romantic tradgedy Tristan and Isolde.(Encyclopedia Britannica. 2018)(Riggle,E.2018)
How was Leitmotif used in John William’s work?
John Williams has used the leitmotif technique in his composing since the early days of his film scoring career. After the technique itself was set to the side with the arrival of the full movie theme, Williams was said to have been responsible for the return of the leitmotif to popularity. John Williams, having long admired the works of Wilhelm Richard Wagner, has adopted the technique to his style of film score to create some of the most iconic and recognisable examples of leitmotif.
One example of John Williams using the Leitmotif technique in his work is the Piece “The Imperial March” of the motion picture soundtrack for STAR WARS. This piece of score was used to as leitmotif in a couple of ways. as discussed previously, leitmotif is a recurring piece of music that can be used in film or live production to help identify a certain character, event or idea. In this case The imperial march can be heard whenever The character Darth Vader is introduced onto scene and again used to bring to attention the presence of the dark side of the force or the Empire forces in general.
A specific example of this can be seen in the video below at 1minute and 26 seconds. This scene, From the empire strikes back, transitions from the rebel base on Hoth, to the imperial forces in orbit around the planet and shortly after to the character Darth Vader on the command bridge of his ship in the fleet.
Another example of Williams using the leitmotif technique is the “shark theme” from the movie JAWS. In the video below this piece of score can be heard heralding the arrival of the giant shark that moves menacingly towards the character Hooper in the shark cage
How did Leitmotif influence future work of other practitioners?
There are several other composers that have used the leitmotif technique since John Williams made it popular again, but for the purpose of this task i will discuss two of these practitioners only.
Firstly, James Horner uses leitmotif in his work in film composing, but most memorably for the films “Titanic” and “Braveheart”. Examples of each are provided below.
The piece entitled “Rose” was used by Horner to identify the character Rose in the film
The haunting sound of bagpipes was used by Horner in the film Braveheart to identify the character William Wallace.
Composer Hans Zimmer used the Piece entitled “Jack Sparrow” to identify the character Jack Sparrow in the score for the film ”Pirates of the Caribbean”
Zimmer also used his powerful piece entitled “the new batman” to identify the character of batman in the Dark Knight series of batman films
In conclusion, John Williams has used the Leitmotif technique in his work over his long career. A technique that he repopularised, emulating one of his greater influences Wilhelm Richard Wagner. Using this technique, Williams has been responsible for some of the most memorable moments in movie scoring.
REFERENCES:
Riggle,E. (EMMA RIGGLE)(2018) Leitmotif: Definition and Examples.www.study.com. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/leitmotif-definition-examples.html#lesson
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica(2018)Definition: Leitmotif. http://www.Encyclopedia Britannica.com. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/leitmotif
Star Wars Rebirth of the Orchestral Score. The Leitmotif in American Sound Film Music. Received from https://filmleitmotif.weebly.com/star-wars.html
Robson,A. (Andrew Robson).(2012). A Study of Music in Film. Retreived from http://a-study-of-music-in-film.blogspot.com/2012/03/leitmotif.html
Isaac Gresswell 1011634 
Language, spelling and grammar-
Good use of professional language used to discuss your chosen topic. The writing was good and used from your expression of interest of your chosen and was evidently well placed together with your knowledge in the chosen topic. The sentencing and structure of the writing task was put together well and all made sense, good job.
Your spelling was very good apart from 1 word. Though your grammar needed work. A lot of the letter ‘I’ is spelt in lowercase during a sentence when they have to be in uppercase if the letter is by itself during a sentence. A couple times there were a double spacing between words. When talking about the German composer, the letter ‘G’ in German is supposed to be spelt with a capital. A couple of times the starting of a new sentence was in under case; and there were unnecessary full stops. These are some things to be mindful of, I recommend typing your writing task in word beforehand and use word’s spellcheck to pick up spelling and grammar mistakes you may have missed by right clicking any underlined words or sentences.
Referencing-
You have met the minimum of 4 sources being used with 3 of them being from credible sources which is good. However, you on put in-text referencing from two of end-text sources. I recommend putting the in-text referencing after every major argument and where you got the validation of information in a paragraph from. So, in other words, you need to include more in text referencing and for all of your sources used and ideally at the end of every paragraph.
There also needs to be referencing to validate all information used such as for the influence of future works of leitmotif, there were none of your sources that validated your claim.
While doing in-text referencing, make sure you do the refence while in a sentence before a full stop e.g. “describe his fear throughout the opera (Riggle,E. 2018).”
Your end-text referencing needs to be in alphabetical order, for example.
Riggle,E. (EMMA RIGGLE)(2018) Leitmotif: Definition and Examples.www.study.com. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/leitmotif-definition-examples.html#lesson
Robson,A. (Andrew Robson).(2012). A Study of Music in Film. Retreived from http://a-study-of-music-in-film.blogspot.com/2012/03/leitmotif.html
Star Wars Rebirth of the Orchestral Score. The Leitmotif in American Sound Film Music. Received from https://filmleitmotif.weebly.com/star-wars.html
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica(2018)Definition: Leitmotif. http://www.Encyclopedia Britannica.com. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/leitmotif
I also recommend reading the SAE Quick APA Referencing Guide while doing your referencing for your work.
Content-
The content was excellent and sufficient to the task requirements, there was enough examples and pictures used to help the understanding of your content, good job. The number of words was under the word count that was in the instructions of the task, so keep that in mind.
But overall you done a good job for your task and looks like you know what you are talking about, I recommend improving on your grammar from the feedback I have given you and good luck on your future tasks!
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Quality of writing –
Good use of professional language used to discuss your chosen topic. The writing was good and used from your expression of interest of your chosen and was evidently well placed together with your knowledge in the chosen topic. The sentencing and structure of the writing task was put together well and all made sense, good job.
Your spelling was very good apart from 1 word. Though your grammar needed work. A lot of the letter ‘I’ is spelt in lowercase during a sentence when they have to be in uppercase if the letter is by itself during a sentence. A couple times there were a double spacing between words. When talking about the German composer, the letter ‘G’ in German is supposed to be spelt with a capital. A couple of times the starting of a new sentence was in under case; and there were unnecessary full stops. These are some things to be mindful of, I recommend typing your writing task in word beforehand and use word’s spellcheck to pick up spelling and grammar mistakes you may have missed by right clicking any underlined words or sentences.
Referencing-
You have met the minimum of 4 sources being used with 3 of them being from credible sources which is good. However, you on put in-text referencing from two of end-text sources. I recommend putting the in-text referencing after every major argument and where you got the validation of information in a paragraph from. So, in other words, you need to include more in text referencing and for all of your sources used and ideally at the end of every paragraph.
There also needs to be referencing to validate all information used such as for the influence of future works of leitmotif, there were none of your sources that validated your claim.
While doing in-text referencing, make sure you do the refence while in a sentence before a full stop e.g. “describe his fear throughout the opera (Riggle,E. 2018).”
Your end-text referencing needs to be in alphabetical order, for example.
Riggle,E. (EMMA RIGGLE)(2018) Leitmotif: Definition and Examples.www.study.com. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/leitmotif-definition-examples.html#lesson
Robson,A. (Andrew Robson).(2012). A Study of Music in Film. Retreived from http://a-study-of-music-in-film.blogspot.com/2012/03/leitmotif.html
Star Wars Rebirth of the Orchestral Score. The Leitmotif in American Sound Film Music. Received from https://filmleitmotif.weebly.com/star-wars.html
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica(2018)Definition: Leitmotif. http://www.Encyclopedia Britannica.com. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/leitmotif
I also recommend reading the SAE Quick APA Referencing Guide while doing your referencing for your work.
Content-
The content was excellent and sufficient to the task requirements, there was enough examples and pictures used to help the understanding of your content, good job. The number of words was under the word count that was in the instructions of the task, so keep that in mind.
But overall you done a good job for your task and looks like you know what you are talking about, I recommend improving on your grammar from the feedback I have given you and good luck on your future tasks!
LikeLike