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  • Before you see one single image in the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy

  • you hear a chorus singing in a somewhat unsettling harmonic minor key over black.

  • This is a musical theme that signals the Lothlorian Elfs.

  • It's the theme of Galadriel, who's about to narrate the story of the One Ring in prologue,

  • but not before the Ring's own theme fades in with the first title.

  • as the prologue ends and an e flat minor chord shifts to an E flat major,

  • the narration shifts also, from Galadriel to Bilbo, and the mood changes.

  • The lighter "Shire Theme" is introduced as Bilbo places us there on a map,

  • and finally after he places us in time.

  • The "Fellowship" theme plays in full statement as its corresponding subtitle fades in,

  • bracketing the opening of the film.

  • Now, if this masterful interplay of themes isn't enough to prove to you already

  • that composer Howard Shore is a genius, that's okay.

  • There's a lot more to say.

  • The first thing is that these four themes that I've mentioned are actually what's

  • called Leitmotifs - an operatic technique popularized by Richard Wagner,

  • that fuses musical themes with specific people, events, or places to aid,

  • and in some cases, augment the dramatic development of a story.

  • In order to show how Shore develops his Leitmotifs,

  • I'm gonna isolate one: the "Fellowship" theme,

  • which has the most variations and focus on its development in the "Fellowship of the Ring."

  • Now, before the "Fellowship" theme can come together in its full heroic glory,

  • Shore builds it up with a few variations.

  • The first time we hear it after the title is when Frodo and Sam leave the Shire on the road to Rivendell.

  • Shore presents a small snippet of the "Shire" theme as foreshadowing of that theme's

  • final variation at the end of the film

  • and then transitions into a humble statement of the "Fellowship" theme,

  • using just French horn and cor anglais.

  • "Remember what Bilbo used to say?

  • 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo. Going out your door.'"

  • This is almost immediately contrasted with another,

  • darker variation as Gandalf rides into Isengard to take counsel with Saruman.

  • Shore adds crashing cymbals

  • and plays the theme off Gandalf's galloping horse,

  • and this tense variation prefigures Saruman's eventual

  • betrayal, and the two versions playing off each other anticipate the eventual

  • fracturing of the fellowship later in the film.

  • The next time we hear the theme,

  • Frodo and the hobbits have accepted Strider (or Aragorn) as their temporary leader.

  • The Fellowship is growing so the brass section is growing too.

  • We started with one French horn,

  • now we have three.

  • But the stately melody of this theme is upset with the timpani drumbeat that adds urgency.

  • The fellowship Leitmotif doesn't appear again until after Frodo has been

  • stabbed by the Ringwraiths. As Arwen races to get him to Rivendell the

  • fellowship theme mixes with a Wraith Theme threatening to overtake it.

  • The fellowship might dissolve before it even has a chance to fully form.

  • At the middle of the film, the fellowship finally comes together and Shore echoes

  • that by presenting a string of three "Fellowship" theme statements in their full

  • orchestration and full glory. First, as Elrond announces the fellowship.

  • "Nine companions."

  • And third as the fellowship strides heroically away on their quest.

  • But the second one is the most interesting to me, just as the Fellowship

  • is about to depart Shore softly teases the "Shire" theme before it is

  • overpowered by the "Fellowship" theme, suggesting that the hobbits priorities have shifted

  • and they now have to live with the consequences of that.

  • And it ends with the unique harmony on the second half of the full statement,

  • as if to sow a seed of doubt right into the middle of the team as it comes together.

  • "The Fellowship awaits the Ringbearer."

  • We're going to get another exciting full statement in the Mines of Moria, the only

  • time that the nine members of the fellowship will be in action together.

  • But the 3/4 time signature of the Fellowship is quickly swallowed up by

  • the 5/4 time signature of the orcs. And from now on,

  • after Gandalf is lost, the "Fellowship" theme will only appear in fragmented form

  • until the very end of the trilogy.

  • "Fly, you fools!"

  • For example, after what's left of the fellowship departs Lothlorien,

  • the theme can only muster violins and cor anglais,

  • and Shore has this already weak variation trampled on as soon as it starts.

  • Then as they rest on the shore, the Leitmotif can't find its footing.

  • It wanders away from its full expression as uncertainty and suspicion creep in.

  • "You've so little faith in your own people."

  • These insecure variations on the theme herald the breaking of the fellowship.

  • First with the death of Boromir, then with the departure of Frodo and Sam.

  • In fact Shore links these two moments with a severely deflated,

  • but poignant rendition of the Leitmotif that fades into silence.

  • Like the fellowship itself, the "Fellowship" theme builds to its full

  • formation and then is deconstructed until it's only a shell of its former self.

  • Shore does this with instrumentation, with tempo, and with harmony,

  • and he does it for several other Leitmotifs in the trilogy, weaving them back and forth and

  • through one another so that the result is a complex web that entwines with the story.

  • I think that we hardly grasp the importance of music in film.

  • It's an invisible layer of pure emotion that guides us, or challenges us, or guides or challenges the drama itself.

  • In the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Howard Shore gave us perhaps the

  • most complete and complex exploration of Leitmotifs in the history of cinema.

  • And the result is a score that's as alive as the world Tolkien gave us.

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Before you see one single image in the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy

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指環王》:音樂如何提升故事音樂是如何提升故事的 (Lord Of The Rings: How Music Elevates Story)

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    ping 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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