Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: a piece forever ingrained into our nostalgic subconscious, through it’s whimsical portrayal of the cult classic book series. Directed by Chris Columbus, with music by John Williams, the film follows Harry Potter, an orphan boy who is amazed to find out at the age of ten that he is a wizard, and his misadventures with his two friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. The film guides the audience through Harry’s first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the mystery that lies within the school.
The book, that the film is based upon, presented a magical world left to reader’s imagination to create, in a sense, allowing each individual to form their own depiction of Hogwarts. And though, this aspect did make the book beloved by many, this left a difficult task for Chris Columbus and John Williams: how can the fanciful imagination of millions be conveyed in a single movie?
The way the film achieves this feat is through the use of its musical score and unlikely instrument pairings. For example, many musical compositions within the movie include a soli section featuring the celeste and contrabassoon. The celeste is a type of piano that sounds like light, delicate bells resonating over long stretches of time, whereas the contrabassoon is a woodwind, one of the lowest pitched instruments in the orchestra. Both instruments are not commonly used in conventional musical scores, let alone paired together, however, the juxtaposition of the low somber tones of the bassoon and the whimsical melody played on the celeste offers a light and mysterious emphasis to the overall film.
Additionally, the score of the film adds to the tension of each scene as the plot progresses. Music seems to accompany every moment, and sometimes every movement, and is utilized to punctuation the actions of Harry Potter. For instance, when Harry, Hermione, and Ron defeat an escaped troll that was wandering the halls of Hogwarts (Troll Scene and Orchestration), the music crescendos as the troll stumbles toward them, each step accented by trumpets. And as the trolls begins to slow down and collapse, the orchestra masterfully ritardando and ends the chord progression on a tense B minor.
Conversely, the absence of music plays a huge role in the movie as well. In the film there are setting were Chris Columbus opts to have no music accompanying the scene. When Harry is at Kings Cross Station, the Dursleys’, and the zoo, there is no musical score to accompany his misadventures. This is because these are considered “normal places”: no magical occurrences supposedly happens in these areas. When music is introduced into these scenes, it because magic occurs and the contrast is used to highlight the playful nature of magic in Harry’s life.
In order to fully understand the vital role music plays in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it is important to break down the first minutes of the film and the use of leitmotifs through the soundtrack “Hedwig’s Theme”. Thematically, “Hedwig’s Theme” is the most iconic score in Harry Potter: it is a piece most recognizable, even by those who have never seen the film.
John Williams establishes the unique melody as the central theme of the movie by repeating the melody time and time again: different variations of Hedwig’s Theme appears ten times within the first 18 minutes of the film: the scene begins with Harry receiving the mail for the Dursley’s. The music whirlwinds into a progression of 32nd notes foreshadowing a mysterious event or something about to change Harry’s life. As Harry reads that the letter is addressed to him and his strange living arrangements (The Cupboard Under the Stairs), the melody of Hedwig’s Theme plays with the full force of the orchestra, punctuating arrival of the letter, signifying its magical nature. However, as Harry enters the dining room with his adopted family the piece suddenly decrescendos to an eerie hum and then music is removed from the scene when Harry interacts with the Dursleys’. As the scene progresses, over the course of many days, letters are delivered to the house addressed to Harry Potter, each delivery accentuated by a new variation of Hedwig’s Theme, some with quickened tempos, others with whimsical 16th note progressions emulating The Flight of the Bumblebee. However, each variation is contrasted by the somber movement performed by the brass and woodwinds at a lower tone, as the Dursleys intercept the letters so that Harry never receives the invoices. At each instance the letters arrive, the dynamics of the orchestra increase, until the final letter scene when Dursley home is flooded with letters: with no underlying harmony, the Hedwig Theme resonates at a fortississimo at fills the scene with tension and magic as it becomes more clear that it is inevitable for Harry to receive and open the letter.
Overall, analyzing the musical impact of the scores written by John Williams made me appreciate the subtle complexities of the film. Music is often used a method to set the mood and tone of a piece of media, however I never consider the significance and the thought that went behind the placement of scores. I found it interesting how the absence of musical accompaniment can play a vital role in plot and story telling.
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