Williams – Star Wars Main Theme

This famous tune from the original Star Wars films has three Williams fingerprints:

  • Modal mixture – borrowing chords from the minor version of a key (or vice versa). Here we have chord IV (Eb) being used in its minor version (Eb minor).
  • Added sevenths as in this example Williams uses added sevenths as a colour rather than functionally. He turns chord IV into a minor seventh chord which then just returns to I
  • Chord progression by third the imperfect cadence at the end of this first part of the phrase arrives on V by descending a third from vii. Williams also makes his chord vii chromatic, turning what would be an A diminished triad into an Ab major chord.