Duel of the Fates
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Duel of the Fates (commonly known as the Darth Maul theme) is a musical theme recurring in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and the Expanded Universe. It was composed by John Williams. This symphonic piece is played with both a full orchestra, as well as choir. According to John Williams in his interview to the Star Wars Insider, the inspiration for the theme of Duel of the Fates was an old Celtic poem called "Cad Goddeu" ("The Battle of the Trees").[citation needed] Williams said in an interview that the song itself had no particular meaning, and was intended to simply sound dramatic, with the lyrics helping attain the desired effect.[citation needed]
Appearances in Star Wars films and Expanded Universe
The music had its debut during the final lightsaber duel between Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (although Williams conducted Duel of the Fates to appear as a concert suite in the End Credits, rather than the film). For Episode I, John Williams recorded a choirless version of Duel of the Fates, then recorded the choir performing on its own, then layered the vocals over the choirless recordings.
In addition to The Phantom Menace, part of it was also played in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, as Anakin Skywalker searched for his mother, Shmi Skywalker, who had been kidnapped by Tusken Raiders on his home planet, Tatooine.
The piece Battle of the Heroes that was played in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, during the battle sequence between the Jedi Master, Yoda, and Emperor Palpatine, the Dark Lord of the Sith, in the senate chamber on Coruscant, and the simultaneous battle between Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar, was inspired by Duel of the Fates but rewriten in a tragedy style. Lucas had expressed in a documentary of The Phantom Menace that he wanted to use Duel of the Fates in his Part III liking how it portrayed the feeling of the doom of the dark side. But he decided not to use it mainly because it did not match the tragedy feeling of Darth Vader and Obi-Wan fighting. However, Duel of the Fates does make an appearance during the Yoda/Darth Sidious fight scene. For this instance, John Williams re-recorded the choir and layered it over the vocal-less recording from Episode I.
Duel of the Fates can be heard in a number of Star Wars video games, including Clone Wars, Lego Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith video game, Star Wars: Empire at War, Star Wars Battlefront II, and others released since the original release of the song. [citation needed]
In other media
- The music is used in during the allergen-stick battle between Bart Simpson and Seymour Skinner in The Simpsons episode "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em". [1] [2]
- In Top Gear when James May is driving the Bugatti Veyron in order to reach its top speed, Duel of the Fates is played. [3]
- In Any Dream Will Do, the music is regularly played in intense scenes usually at the start of the programmes.[4]
- With the music video for this theme, the London Symphony Orchestra became the only classical group to ever have a video debut on Total Request Live. "Duel of the Fates" lasted 11 days on the countdown. [5]
- In 2005 it was arranged and recorded for pipe organ by Josh Perschbacher. [6]
- In 2003 it was used as the theme music for the PBS Broadcast of the Drum Corps International World Championship. [7]
See also
References
- ^ "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em". The Simpsons. Season 18. Episode 1803 F80147 SI-1720. 2006-09-24. FOX.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "The Simpsons: - TV.com". TV.com. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
- ^ "Series 9 Episode 2". Top Gear. Season 9. Episode 2. 2007-02-04. BBC.
- ^ "Any Dream Will Do". BBC.
{{cite episode}}: Missing or empty|series=(help); Unknown parameter|began=ignored (|date=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|ended=ignored (|date=suggested) (help) - ^ "The TRL Archive - Debuts". ATRL. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
- ^ "Recordings". Retrieved 2008-10-30.
- ^ "Drum Corps International World Championship". 2003-09-15. PBS.
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