The Music That Links Dumbledore's Death to Bach and Radiohead
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- Опубліковано 16 січ 2022
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When Nicholas Hooper, composer for fifth and sixth Harry Potter films, was set the task to write music for Dumbledore's death, he decided to look back upon the music of mourning from hundreds of years ago. The piece he produced is not only beautifully simple, but also uses a bass line that links composers and musicians across hundreds of years - from Monteverdi to Bach, to The Beatles to Radiohead. Let's find out what ties them all together.
FURTHER READING/RESEARCH
Alex Ross - Chacona, Lamento: www.therestisnoise.com/chacona/
Radiohead and the Lament Bass: dalemcgowan.com/radiohead-and...
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Your editing is simply superb. Great job
That's what I was thinking, this video looks insane!
Yes! Love the presentation of these videos!
Absolutely...
Right??!! He’s absolutely slaying it!
incredibly underrated indeed!
I'm an opera singer and director, and Dido and Aeneas was one of the first shows I ever directed - as soon as I saw this vid, I was like "oooooh, I hope he talks about Dido's Lament" and I was not disappointed! ✨Thank you for making music history engaging and exciting for all!
"Hooper is calling back to the songs of grief and loss from centuries past, and giving us and the characters, and all those who have experienced death in their lives, a world to contain our sadness."
Well said. That's a beautiful thought
My two favorite songs from the entire franchise are Dumbledore's Farewell and Lily's Theme. Both songs carried such a heavy weight that you could feel in your soul. Truly powerful works.
A window to the Past is absolutely beautiful too
I would also add Obliviate
Courtyard apocalypse, it's frantic yet composed, sad, yet hopeful, uplifting and despairing all at once. It's pure meloncholic genius
I loved Alexandre Desplat, but Hooper is in my opinion the best harry potter composer we had. Like I know john Williams was the first 4, but IMO he didn't compose for the movies that had the best score. Party due to the fact that the movies he composed for were less depressing, I still stand by what I said
@@holdeenyo8914 well for me John Williams remains the best composer. I can recall almost all John Williams scores from the HP saga, but the only other two scores that got actually stuck in my head from the other movies are Lilys theme and Professor Umbridge theme. Doesn't mean the music is bad, i just think John Williams is the master of giving even the smallest pieces of music strong identity. The other composes struggled making their music unique and recognisable.
Even subtle scores like the when Harry is wearing the invisibility cloak for the first time is forever stuck in my head. And "a window to the past" (with all its variations) is hands down the best HP score of all time.
Fantastic video!
Thank you David!
David Bennet Piano shows up in a comment section of a video I watched. This is a great day.
David you are a star!
The fact that I’d sung liturgical music most of my life, studied music theory to A-level etc but *not encountered this* nor spotted its sheer pervasiveness makes the whole ‘reveal’ all the more astonishing. Thank you for being the one to do so, and so brilliantly!
First thing I ever learned on piano, beautiful song
"Dumbledore's Farewell" - Half Blood Prince
Your videos on the Prisoner of Azkaban score and the Radiohead dissections are some of my favorites, so you put everything I love together to grab my attention and proceed to give me a very enlightening music history lesson. That was really cool.
John Williams deserves aaaaall the praise, but Half-Blood Prince is the absolute best soundtrack of the entire series. Wonderful stuff all over. Also made me understand the film in a different way. Is it the best adaptation? Of course not. Still an amazing movie. That atmosphere. That cinematography. Yates directing the hell out of it.
(Potter aside, Crimes of Grindelwald also has a gorgeous score)
John Williams is my favorite film composer of all times and I really love the score for the third film to death but honestly I think I agree.
Half-Blood Prince is without a doubt the best looking of the series, although Prisoner of Azkaban comes close
Ehh. Prisoner imo is the best
100%%
Crimes of Grindelwald has James Newton Howard as composer and yes, his score is a masterpiece. "Spread the Word", "Wands into the Earth" and "Leta's Confession" are astounding tracks of modern classical music. Especially "Spread the Word" - I mean, the movie is not so great but Johnny Depp in that scene with that score was worth the ticket's price.
I find it interesting that Adagio for Strings by Barber, a popular piece for conveying sadness, is centered around upward motion when, as we saw in this video, downward movement was the archetype for expressing sadness. Keep up the good work dude!
this is a brilliant observation, that upward motion in the adagio creates such a feeling of desperation
My favorite peace (in chorale form) of all time!
I was also thinking about Barber watching this. While the bass movement is different the meandering suspensions, passing dissonances, and sometimes resolved sometimes subverted expectations all seem quite similar. I suppose they're just other pieces of cultural understanding that have evolved like the lament bass to carry this meaning.
@@elijahstewart3231 Yes, instead of representing the grief of loss bringing the world spiraling down around you, it instead represents trying your hardest to claw your way up and failing. The main melody line constantly goes three steps up and two steps back again, and slowly the efforts appear to pay off as the line climbs to the ends of the instruments' ranges, and then it dies out, falling away suddenly to nothing. The instruments attempt to restart the journey, but they are too weak, and they spend the rest of their energy going nowhere until they fade away.
I never looked at Adagio for Strings in that way but that's a great observation!
I think it's often the inversion of expected associations which can make an even profounder effect.
Take the Violin Solo Ciaconna by Bach for example: it has 3 sections, minor - major - minor again. The beginning of the minor part is to me the most haunting of them all. I can't describe the emotion I associate to it but it's a lot.
I love it when I find out the history of music that has unconsciously formed my own palette. When I was ten my piano teacher of two years moved away and I was left without a teacher for a couple years, and without a constant influx of sheet music, I learned to improvise. The most common thing I improvised over was the Andalusian cadence and of course the lament bass. I wouldn't find out that the progression was called "Andalusian" until years later and I didn't know the term "lament bass" until today!
And then, after watching this I'm realizing the patterns of dissonance from Dumbledore's death music has also cropped up in my own writing a lot when I'm trying to express sadness, and since I watched the harry potter movies as a child many times, I can't imagine that's a coincidence.
Thank you for this history and analysis! Beautiful editing as always :)
For years I have wondered why this one piece from Harry Potter 6 always gives me goosebumps and just makes me feel a certain way. To learn that it’s because of the history of this one Beautiful lament that has been passed down through the ages, just makes it that much more powerful. I will never listen to this part the same again because of this video the next time I hear this I will be thinking about the history that Nicholas Hooper decided to put within the score of this one single moment. Just another great video man you never disappoint!
Something has the Hafl Blood Prince soundtrack is so nostalgic and dark. Probably it is because of the simplicity of themes through solos. On one side you have Ginny's theme with a beautiful oboe solo. The theme "When Ginny Kissed Harry" with the guitar solo, wanting to be romantic, but sad for the context in which they live. "In Noctem" perhaps the most understated piece, which shows with a simple almost a cappella choir the danger and imminent darkness that is approaching Hogwarts and the magical world, which is tied with one of the best scenes (and also deleted) of the entire series before Dumbledore died. All this is mixed with the beautiful photography and aesthetics of the film, which perfectly reflects the atmosphere of danger and melancholy of the book.
Great choice of putting that line of Dumbledore at the end of the video. It's actually my favorite line in all of the books, just so beautiful
I can't remember when did he say that?
@@lusinebaghyan8864 in the first book, chapter of the sorting hat ig
I think that the Muse song with the strongest resemblence is the B section of Citizen Erased. It is in the same key and uses the same melody almost.
Also the music in 1:29 is directly influenced by Arvo Pärt's Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
"Resistance" is also very similar
The music at 1:29 isn't just influenced by the Pärt piece - it actually IS that piece haha. And what a beautiful piece it is 😊
@@xaphok2173 exactly what I thought! If I recall correctly it's also in Thoughts of a Dying Atheist?
@@LDNMRK Thanks, I've been looking for this piece for a long time.
I'm always amazed at how strongly your essays, both in content and presentation, focus on the emotional impact, on the raw appeal to humanity of so many simple concepts and motifs -- the ones that I tend to overlook the most in my (probably ADHD-driven) interest towards more chaotic & fast-paced music.
Brilliant as always, I would say Muse’s Matthew Bellamy based a lot of his music from Lament Bass, you hear it constantly through all their records. I would say it’s Muse’s signature.
Some Examples:
- Citizen Erased - Bridge and Back end of the song, Bellamy hums it
- Prelude
- Butterflies and Hurricanes - Already Mentioned
- Thoughts of Dying Atheist
- Resistance - Intro and Verses
- Blockades - Pre Chorus and Chorus
0:05 this sounds just like Resistance intro
You know. At first glance, it might sound absurd, as I have literally 0 technical knowledge about the world of music. And yet... This channel, easily, is one of my favorites out of them all.
Your care, respect and heart for music shine so very brightly in each and every video. They never fail to move me, to teach me something precious - since we, as humans, speak the language of emotions no matter our technical knowledge. I always find great peace in watching and re-watching your videos - and I gladly re-watch them many, many times while working on my own art.
For that, I would like to kindly thank you. It's a beautiful channel, full of warmth and passion for art. Please never change. Please continue doing what you love.
Kindest regards.
Every time I hear Dumbledore's Farewell: ah, yes. It's pain time.
Loved the brief extract of Arvo Pärt's 'Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten' at 1.30. That's such a beautiful piece of music. The bell feels ancient and eternal.
Thanks for covering this. I remember sobbing after this had happened in the theater. I hadn’t read the book and the music carried me away in a sort of out of body experience
It’s actually sort of ironic that you’re covering this now because I revisited Dumbledore’s Farewell yesterday and couldn’t piece together why it weighed so heavily on my heart.
To me this piece of music strongly resembled the introduction to Resistance by Muse - great video!
Yes, I agree and Citizen Erased
I was thinking the same thing too! It sounded so much like the Resistance.
It was actually confirmed by the band that the intro of Resistance comes straight up from Dumbledore's Farewell!
@@kamisama3855 Where? I remember looking for a correlation between the 2 online but couldn't find anything from the actual band
@@nathanciufo i saw that in an interview years ago, but after almost an hour of obsessive internet search, couldn't find it back :( they sure are hp fans and admitted it (the easter egg on propaganda), and i know that chord progression is super common, but i'm almost certain they made a direct reference to it one day.
The quality of this video is exceeding anything I've seen on UA-cam till now. This channel deserves so many more subs
This music theme reminds me of Monsoon Chariot by Enya.
Also super pumped that he mentioned Butterflies and Hurricanes. One of my all time favorite songs by Muse
These videos make you see music in totally different light, keep up the amazing work. Would love to see your take on some more game scores such as Halo, Tomb raider etc.
Hmmm Halo...
@@ListeningIn Analyzing Halo's musical score would be great to see on your channel! Would love to see it on your channel!
As a music teacher, your video has been inspirational for me to explore new ways of teaching. Keep up the good work and keep rocking
Intriguing! Dido‘s Lament is the first piece that popped into my head when you demonstrated the lament bass. That exploration back to the 15th century up until now was truly fascinating. Brilliant work! Thank you very much!
This is my favorite piece of music in the entire Harry Potter franchise so THANK YOU for making this video... Made me cry (as many of your videos do)!! Thank you x1000
clever title! nobody would be watching this vid if it was called 'The history of the lament bass'. great vid!
One of my new favorite quote :)
"Music isn't a universal language, but sometimes it speaks so clearly, that it is difficult to imagine ... anything else would work ... that anything else would make us feel as comforted or held ... in this moment."
This is the best UA-cam video that I’ve ever watched. It got better each minute. The editing and voiceover work is phenomenal. I’m studying Cello Performance and part of my degree is ,of course, taking music history classes. This video covered works and composers that have been named in those classes. I’m just amazed.
You didn't mention it because it doesn't exactly fit the 'lament bass' idea, but I deeply appreciated the appearance of the Arvo Part Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten. That music is pure musically distilled grief, and almost never fails to tear me up.
Your channel is the pure definition of quality content.
Exit music for a films chord progression was heavily inspired by prelude in e minor by Chopin which contained the lament bass as well unless I'm mistaken
I am just AMAZED by the quality of the video. Everything is perfect : from the story it tells, to the shots of the partitions, passing by the deep analysis.
Bravo.
Most of the music in the video:
-Dumbledore's Farewell by Nicholas Hooper
-Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten by Arvo Pärt
-Fors Seulement by Johannes Ghiselin
-Lamento Della Ninfa by Claudio Monteverdi
Lagrime Mie by Barbara Strozzi
-When I Am Laid In Earth (Dido's Lament) by Henry Purcell
-Mass in B Minor, BWV 232: XVII. Credo: Crucifixus by Johann Sebastian Bach
-Ruy Blas, Op. 95 - Overture to Victor Hugo's play: Lento - Allegro molto by Felix Mendelssohn
-While My Guitar Gently Weeps by The Beatles
-Feeling Good by Nina Simone
-Butterflies and Hurricanes by Muse
-Paranoid Android by Radiohead
May I add from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sonata for Piano and Violin in E Minor, K.304; 2. Tempo de minuetto/menuetto
In your list, it would be between Bach and Mendelssohn :)
You missed Mozart, genius
From the moment I saw the title I thought...."oh, I bet he is going to mention 'Dido's Lament'-my favourite use of the Lament Bass" 🙂
This theme was tragically brilliant and forms the emotional core of the entire series: it was also used for the pivotal moment in the final movie where Dumbledore reveals "The Boy Must Die", followed by Snape's patronus and his legendary "Always".
I was doing an HP marathon early last year and not having paid attention to the scores before "Dumbledore's Farewell" was one of the pieces that stuck out to me, along with John William's works especially Prisoner of Azkaban. After watching this, I think the Lament Bass reminds me a lot of Dies Irae in the sense that they are both pieces that evolved through the ages to become a symbol for a certain emotion, while Dies Irae became a sign of foreboding and warning, The Lament Bass, as you explained, became a symbol of despair and grief. Really interesting examples of art being derivative in a good way.
Once again I want to thank you for helping me parse through why certain music makes me feel a certain way. Much love.
Brilliant video! Alex Ross wrote a wonderful article about the development of the chaconne and the lament bass. One of my favourite modern examples is the slow movement of Glass's Violin Concerto, fantastic music
I cannot believe I only have found this channel now... this is EXACTLY what I always wanted: a channel with a lot of orchestral (mostly) film music, but with the actual basis of Western Classical music... The editing, visuals, etc. It's all on point!
Great job & you got yourself a new sub.
Btw, does anyone by any chance know the piece that starts at around 1:28? Seems more modern, than classical music I reckon... I'd definitely like to hear the full version. Thanks!
I really wish this channel had the million plus subscribers it deserves!
awesome analysis! can I just say, that I truly appreciate how you are willing to speak about the similarities across different kinds of music. Not many either in academia or outside of it are willing to acknowledge that there is any similarity, between the vaunted Classical and popular music. But the fact is, people are neither stupid nor wholly uncultured. At least subconsciously, we are all able to pick up musical ideas: and any musician develops an intuitive sense of music merely through practice and their own experimentation. "Music Theory" is merely the making conscious what the subconscious already understands: because music primarily works at the subconscious level. I do always laugh when people say that music is a universal language: because it would in fact be more accurate to say that language is a kind of music. And if there is any kind of magic in the world, then surely it is some kind of music.
No joke, the quality of your videos is so superb! I cant even put it into words. Interesting topics, you learn new things about music, the video quality is outstanding, and as many often point out not only content wise but also the editing.
I believe the first video of yours i watched was the one to the third Harry Potter movie, The Prisoner Of Azkaban: Wow, that video really had it in it... I think i watched it at least four or five times to this day (im gonna watch it again now i guess, but i first wanted to write this comment) and i am still amazed by the quality and the things you found hidden in the music, the way you interpreted and explained them, just amazing, it fascinated me and inspired me to give a presentation about the movie and its music in class.
I really thank you for your work and videos, they are an enrichment for all music lovers.
I can image the amount of time and effort you put into these, still i would be so happy to see a new video from you soon if you find the time :D
You had me in tears at the end. Beautifully done. I love the well structured historical narrative. Ending with that quote was brilliant. Thank you so much.
This really is an incredibly underrated channel for music analysis and compositional education. Very, very well put together and informative about more than just the music itself, but an in-depth analysis of the "why" behind each note and phrase. Well done, sir. Very well done. Hopefully this channel continues to grow as it very much deserves to.
this is a fantastic video. the animation is perfect, it's technically outstanding, but most importantly it makes me feel the emotion behind each of the pieces you're talking about, and knowing more about a piece of music by having an aspect of it explained to you can help me not just understand why something feels a certain way, but make it feel more that way. thank you.
I always appreciate the music history and theory aspects of your videos. Thanks for the brief, expansive tour of the lament bass, it truly is an effective way to evoke a particularly melancholy mood in the listener.
I LOVE your work. The editing of your videos is absolutly magical and immersive. Your texts are so well-worked and beautiful that I almost cried when you talked about how death links every one of us. So thnak you for what you are doing and I looking foreward to watch your next video.
You are my favourite video essay maker! Incredible craft and intriguing themes on music, providing new insights and viewpoints. Love it!
I cannot believe how good, well constructed and beautiful your video's are. Thank you so much!
When you talk about music it seems to me like it's a supernatural force living in and around everyone almost godlike. Immortal and with the wisdom of centuries. It just gives me goosebumps every time you give me the opportunity to dive in this world of music. Thank you.
The editing is amazing. Keep up the amazing work.
This is my favourite video that you've done, a perfect history and explanation of this simple but powerful musical technique. Truly inspiring.
Your videos are literally so effing good. You put so much work into them, it’s like an entire crew’s production
Subbed! Love the whole thing, content to editing. And this aspect ratio works surprisingly well :)
Your videos are brilliant. From the writing to the editing, everything is just perfect
this was a beautiful video. so concise, yet so comprehensive
Thank you so much for this great and deep look into the history of that small but effective motif. It was the first video I watched from you and you blew my mind with it. I am fascinated by music and do some composing by myself but I've never looked so deeply into some structures' history. Thanks for widening my horizon.
Very good your tutorial and reflection on the subject.
Thank you so much for this video. This musical theme has been stuck for a long time in my head, I find myself often improvising on it or listening to it. This video widens my horizon immensely.
Miss seeing your content! Your videos are really enjoyable for me to watch. I hope they continue being enjoyable to create
so much work and production in your videos. love!
Love it. The way music is used in movies to connect the viewer to the feelings on screen is something I first realized as a kid and has kept me fascinated with movie scores and all music ever since. never heard of the lament bass until today but I am slightly obsessed with it now.
There is so much emotion in your video essays, we can feel the love of the music and it marvels me every time ! Thank you so much for this :-)
Your videos are always a joy and this one was no exception: such a great video! I was vaguely aware of this particular trope from my music history classes but this was a fantastic journey through its history. I hadn't realised it was quite so prevalent in more recent music.
I'm currently working on a (slightly silly!) Baroque style reimagining of 'Tainted Love' and I've just realised I instictively set it against the 4-note natural minor bassline and was surprised how well it fit, although I suppose it kind of makes sense due to the blues/popular music connection.
The editing is so good!! What a really nice video
this is so cool! thank you very much! every aspect of this video is so delightful♥️
Great improvement on the presentation Thanks for all your content!
I just wanted to say, the examples you give is really awesome as you took examples from the past and the present. It's awesome to see composers like Purcell, Bach, Mendelssohn, Mozart and then newer musicians such as Muse and Radiohead. The video is so high quality and I TRULY LOVE LOVE LOVE the animation in this video. Thank you for making such an informative video!
I clicked on this video for Dido and Aeneas and was not disappointed. Was happily surprised to see Lagrime Mie!! One of my favorite pieces, never thought about how it subverts the lament bass like that!!!
Fantastic video! And what a great topic. I don't think I've heard about the lament bass before but it seems so obvious considering how often it is used in music and the mood it creates. I really appreciated this peek into history!
That Dumbledore's quote at the end origins from quite a comedic scene in the novel. Now it has become a retrospective remark on this lament.
Your videos are always so well constructed, with the clear and fascinating explanations of the pieces as well as the the stellar editing and sound design, it's truly a joy and honor to watch your videos! Fantastic work!
amazing job. Love your passion of music and editing.
Your videos are true works of art. I love your channel, please keep doing these! They are extremely entertaining and inspiring for us musicians. Thank you!
What a fantastic, fascinating video essay! Whilst watching this video, I realised how many of the pieces and songs I absolutely adored without knowing what they have in common. I love finding out more about why I like what I like. Thank you very much for creating such an interesting deep-dive into a (seemingly) simple musical concept!
PS. Nicholas Hooper is, in my opinion, one of the most tragically underrated film composers working today.
Exquisitely edited. A pleasure to view. Well done.
Purcell wrote a perfect piece of music there for Dido, essential in a discussion on ground bass. Glad to see you've included it.
love these videos, keep growing!!
I was just thinking about your videos and realized how long it's been since you'd uploaded. I hope you're doing all right.
Your videos are so good, they help a lot.
Truly top notch video. Impressive audio and video quality and content of such depth of both culture and emotions that it just makes this musician heart of mine tremble a bit.
So proud to be a patron of yours!
Looking forward to the next one!
Brilliant video for contents, structure and video editing.
Great video. Learnt a lot. Thanks
Superb!! Informative, beautiful and uplifting! Inspires me as a musician and thrills me as an educator. I will find a class to show this to. Bravo!
This is amazingly well put together and both educational and moving.
I just discovered you, and WOW. Youre amazing!!
I literally cried.. Thank you so much for this amazing video :,)
Beautiful and interesting video, as usual! I love the links you made between modern music and antique music. Your videos are always a pleasure to watch, the editing is so spot on and made with such cleverness! I simply love the editing style.
THE VISUAL QUALITY. FULL SCREEN. 60FPS. JEEZ NAILED ALL THE CHECKMARKS. SUBSCRUBED
I absolutely love these types of videos! The editing is superb, and I think you’re going to hit many milestones in the near future. Keep up the great work!
This was absolutely beautiful, thank you for making it.
Superb analysis! The editing and writing are also quite incredible. Well done!
This was just magnificent. Goosebumps all over. Thank you!
I'm a Bach fan, a Radiohead fan, working on a Monteverdi vocal piece (Lasciatemi morire!), and working on two vocal spirituals as well. You made this video just for me lol. Great work!
What a great video. Thank you so much. (I think I need to know more about Monteverdi!!)
Yoo, this video is so great with all those history conspects and really interesting narration, loved it.
So thorough! Great work 😎
I loved your explanations and your calm voice.The chaconne bass of Bach's Goldberg Variations also begin with the four descending notes 🎼🎶