Harry Potter and the John Williams Score

Harry Potter and the John Williams Score

There are few franchises in current literature or cinema which have commanded the kind of commercial power and consistency as has Harry Potter. The J.K. Rowling book series about a boy wizard and his epic struggle against the evil Lord Voldemort would be adapted into eight serial films, each of them a major box office blockbuster. It is fully appropriate, therefore, that when directing the initial installment in the series, 2001's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Christopher Columbus would collaborate with the score composer famous for overseeing the musical direction of such powerhouse film franchises as Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Superman. In the context of Williams' work alone is a blueprint for scoring classic popcorn cinema.

The reasons for his effectiveness in this capacity are on ready display in the Philosopher Stone. From the whimsical and swirling strings that sweep us up into the "Prologue," Williams meshes an eerie softness with a sense of childhood playfulness perfectly suited to the birth of a great wizard. Indeed, throughout the film, Williams is sensitive to the youth of his characters, spooking without ever horrifying, playing on fear without exploiting terror. This is an important trick of the composer's trade given the intended variation of ages represented in Harry Potter's viewing demographic. Most assuredly, Williams was conscious of this in a score that never coddles the audience with triteness but which also never hammers it over the head with intensity. As is typical of a Williams piece, there is always playful relief in close sight of a dense cluster of darker tones.

A find example of this is found in "Harry's Wondrous World" a triumphant and sprightly piece standing in the midst of more ominous settings. Here, we can appreciate that so many of Williams' compositions have a soaring quality that causes us to take flight with the camera or the characters. In a film about fantasy, wizardry, magic and youthful excitement, the audience feels a warm sense of engagement even as the volume reaches a crescendo. Another instance of this is "The Quidditch Match," which features a majestic horn section with a loud, jaunty and frequently intensifying tempo as the backdrop to the competitive sporting scene. One is inclined here, in fact, to reflect on some of the chase scenes in the Indiana Jones series where the titular hero dispatches with his pursuant enemies through various clever acts of self-defense. As a result, the scene carries a similar combination of bemusement and tension, qualities that are frequently transposed by Williams' compositions.

As Williams is won't to do, the score may often reach excesses of grandness, resembling the orchestra at a Christmas-themed ballet as much as serving to soundtrack the fantasy film. And on the occasion of its more intense moments of instrumental crescendo, it also borders on being shrill and irritating, though rarely a distraction from the film. In fact, even at its most bombastic, the score remains wholly appropriate for this particular installment of the Harry Potter series. Indeed, this first installment is frequently recognized as an effective starting point for a series that would only improve as its lead characters aged and its narrative intensified. The same may well be said for the score, which will grow effectively bolder with subsequent film installments in the Harry Potter series.

Here, Williams will borrow liberally form the finest points in his own legacy, most notably some of the trademark points of balance between light and dark so frequently used in the iconic Star War trilogy. "The Arrival of Baby Harry" balances the same sinister and ominous tones to mark the approach of a villain, the same quick, darting flutes to indicate movement, the same quiet, ambling strings to establish momentary atmosphere. And just as Williams conventionally shifts between slow-tempo building and grand, sweeping enormity to tremendous impact in Star Wars, so too does he serve this end effectively in the first Happy Potter film. This compatibility is unsurprising as the Potter series, like its fantasy precursor, creates a full universe of characters and possibilities through which to explore the narrative experiences of its characters. And like Star Wars, the Harry Potter series requires a large number of installments in order to convey this narrative.

In addition to borrowing liberally from his own work, a glowing review of his work for Harry Potter would invoke a critical acknowledgement of some of his sources of external inspiration. Here, Clemmensen (2001) reports that "Richard Dyer, the interviewer for The Boston Globe, stated at the time that 'The music is destined to be one of Williams' greatest hits, an affectionately allusive tribute to great fantasy music of the past - but in his own unmistakable voice; this parallels the way Rowling's book stands on the shoulders of its predecessors like a nimble circus acrobat about to grab a trapeze and fly away. The theme, an agreeably lopsided and slippery waltz, appears first on Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker celesta, while the strings flutter around it like owlish wings. The brass offer contrasting ideas, and the whole thing develops in the tradition of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and Humperdinck's homage to it in the witch's ride in 'Hansel and Gretel.'" (Clemmensen, p. 1)

This summation denotes a certain inherently familiar set of touchstones for the work of John Williams. The result is that his work provides a certain comfort and fulfillment of expectations for the film-watcher regardless of his or her individual knowledge of these sources. Certainly, we can assume that many of the younger members of the Harry Potter audience at the time of this first installment's release will have been scarcely familiar with Star Wars or Indiana Jones. Thus, it is important to note that in this first score for a long-standing film series, Williams establishes the character themes and rules that will help anchor his music, his director, his characters and his audience through countess narrative transformations.