Star Wars: Episodes IV, V, and VI

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away . . . So begins the Star Wars saga that captured the world by storm and has held its attention for almost half a century. In a galaxy held in terror by its oppressive emperor and his right-hand man Darth Vader, a rebel alliance springs forth to combat the injustice but is heavily attacked. Enter the young hero Luke Skywalker, a farm boy from the desert planet of Tatooine with dreams of adventure. When his home and family are destroyed by agents of the empire, Luke sets out with veteran Jedi warrior Obi-wan Kenobi to help the alliance. On his journey, he meets charming smuggler Han Solo and his Wookie co-pilot Chewbacca and the feisty Princess Leia. Together, they forge a powerful bond and help lead the rebellion to victory. Over-simplified, I know, but it would take too long if I tried to summarize differently.

Though I have seen these movies countless times, I had never really noticed the people on each side. With the Imperials, everyone was a white male in the same kind of uniform, nothing differing one man from another except the bands that told their rank. Amongst the Rebel Alliance, there were males and females, differing nationalities, and even different species. Where the Empire was composed of carbon copies, the Rebel Alliance had a conglomeration of varying peoples. Perhaps this is reading too much into it but it seems that there comes a certain strength from diversity. With each person comes a certain specialty and a different point of view that could be critical in helping give a fully rounded view to any situation. On the other hand, when everyone is the same, there is not any innovative thought. That could be why when the Empire could not capture the Millennium Falcon, it called in bounty hunters; they could not think of any creative ways because they were all the same.

The Creation

Joseph Haydn created a beautiful work when he composed The Creation. From the first two chapters of Genesis, he forms a magnificent relation of its events through the music. The tale is told entirely by the angels Raphael, Uriel, and Gabriel, accompanied at times by the heavenly hosts. As each day unfolds, the angels describe the created things and then rejoice over them ecstatically. When man finally arrives in the midst of creation, they also take part in the great celebration of life given by God. At the end, everything sings praises to God.

Listening to Haydn was a wonderful experience and forced me to listen to everything that was going on in the music. I found that I normally don’t listen to everything that’s going on in the music I listen to unless I am actively trying. Often, I’ll focus on the main melody exclusively because that is the easiest to find. However, Haydn provided so many lovely melodies to follow not only in the vocals but also in the orchestration. Each and every part supports and enhances the other parts of the music. Accident? I think not.

One thing that caught my eye was the vocal assignments to the various “characters” of the Creation, specifically having a soprano as Gabriel and a bass as Adam. Normally in musical pieces, the bass is the villain of the story and tenor is the hero. This is not to say that Adam is the villain; there is no villain the Creation. Raphael is also a bass, for that matter. Yet, it still seems odd that the leading man, quite literally, is a bass and not a tenor as that goes against usually prescribed vocal distinction. In the case of Gabriel, everywhere Gabriel appears in the Bible, the angel is identified as male. Yet, a soprano is a high female vocal part. So, I wonder, why cast a woman as Gabriel, the most famous of the three angels given in the Creation, rather than another tenor? Does this reflect any belief that Haydn may have had of the nature of angels? Or is it merely for musical diversity purposes? I don’t know.

Week 14 Harkins

There isn't really anything that I need to be explained. Professor Harkins has done a wonderful job of instructing. :)