This 100 year old music sounds EXACTLY like Star Wars

a lot of people like to point out that john williams stole his entire bag from a very specific work now this is not true of course but it is interesting to point out the striking similarities between many of john williams's most famous scores and a set of works from pre-1920 in fact precisely 59 years before the very first star wars film in 1977 there was another set of works that might sound shockingly familiar [Music] this is a movement from a suite called the planets by gustav holst and it was released in 1918. host was an english composer and a ranger born in 1874 and the planets is probably his most famous work it is a suite consisting of seven movements all based on different planets he left out earth for one and pluto even though it's not a planet anymore wasn't actually discovered until 1930. a full 12 years after the public release of the suite and 47 years before the release of the very first star wars film now why do i keep pointing out star wars well check this out so [Music] as you can see what was arguably extremely groundbreaking in the world of cinematic scores in 1977 was perhaps not necessarily as groundbreaking as you might have thought now does this take away from the work of john williams and star wars some people think it does personally i think it does not i am not necessarily put off when things borrow and are influenced even to this extent which is significant but some people do firmly believe that john williams kind of just jacked gustav hulse's entire book so i'll start by sharing my point of view and saying that i don't think that that's true i don't i don't feel that way about john williams's work i recognize the the amount of influence that the planets had on much of john williams's work but i don't think it's fair to take away the genius and the timelessness of so much of what john williams has done for the world of film that's where i stand but let's keep taking a look at some of these similarities because it is pretty incredible wow you know funny enough this was actually met at its initial release in 1918 1919 with the with some hostility people didn't like it surprise surprise when something new happens throughout history people kind of go i don't like it it was called noisy and pretentious pompous and unalluring and even a great disappointment elaborately contrived and difficult to listen to if you can imagine that i think opinions on it were initially fairly split i'm sure that many people loved it and also a lot of the people who didn't like it initially wound up changing their tune this whole suite is just absolutely incredible and we get these moments of just unbelievable similarities to the modern cinematic universe that we know like check this out [Music] this is crazy but watch this [Music] [Music] check it out it's the same chord it's even in the same key [Music] this is one of those things that i can almost guarantee you that john williams did very intentionally as as a nod to clearly his greatest influence for this particular film i don't think he was trying to write the same thing and pass it off as his own i think that's a pretty blatant like hey i'm going to use the same chord with the same quality and the same key and almost the exact same instrumentation and do that sort of same chord repeated in a drawn out manner i think that's that's very intentional to just kind of pay homage to um what's like again clearly the greatest influence for this soundtrack but it's just an example of the many ways in which film and especially john williams has drawn from these seven movements of a suite that was born in the end of the first world war any ideas on what this might sound like how about this [Music] the harry potter soundtrack is another one of john williams's timeless classics i mean john williams had a knack for writing themes that we all kind of can sing along to i mean there's there are so many you know composers that have done that i mean everybody knows the lord of the rings theme by howard shore some of hans zimmer's work with like pirates of the caribbean there are plenty of composers that are capable of doing this but perhaps the person who has written the most melodies that we all kind of know and can sing along to because movie scores don't always approach things that way i mean look at han zimmer's work on interstellar it was completely a different approach it was not as much about the melodies and the things that you might sing along to as much as it was the palette of sound it's just a different approach to movie scores this is making any you know better or worse or less valid or whatever it's just a different approach but john williams typically had this more melodic approach that's why we know the indiana jones theme the e.t theme the jurassic park theme the [Music] the harry potter theme the star wars theme the superman it just goes the list just keeps going and going and going [Music] it's just so unbelievably beautiful and it would not sound even a little bit out of place in a scene from harry potter it is exactly that same vibe it's the same instrumentation it's the same kind of mystical harmonic structure you gotta check this out because it'll leave you listening just in a trance almost just kind of not even sure where you are anymore in fact in 1918 following the public premiere holst's daughter wrote this about this particular movement which was the end of the entire suite but it was the end of neptune that was unforgettable with its hidden chorus of women's voices growing fainter and fainter in the distance until the imagination knew no difference between sound and silence this is what she's referring to [Music] imagine hearing this in 1918 you've never heard anything like it in your life things like this hadn't really been done before and that's the ending to the concert and it's about outer space and it's about the planets of the solar system and you're probably just sitting there without knowing how to even react what an incredible depiction of the farthest darkest planet that we knew so little about imagine like where your imagination would have gone they did that by having the singers off in the wings and then eventually moving them farther away and closing a door between the singers and the audience i mean imagine what that must have sounded like it's just like incredible then you get things like jupiter which tell me this just doesn't sound like every hero's theme ever there are so many films that you could point to that sound something like that while it's very easy to point out the incredible similarities between gustav hulse's work and john williams he's not the only one that has been influenced by this work in perhaps less obvious ways these ideas and this these styles pop up in so many film composers works over the last 50 years but perhaps one of the most significant and earliest usages of these influences is the star wars trilogy beginning in 1977 and i think that john williams is equal parts responsible as gustav host in creating this style as becoming kind of the staple sound in so much cinematic work while gustav host paved the way with the ideas to begin with john williams took many of those influences and developed them into film scores and the themes that we know today and that just kind of created a lot of what we now kind of look at as cinematic music and of course people have taken from that and done many many different things as you do in music but it will always be a little bit shocking and surreal to me to think that star wars in some ways was written 60 years before star wars and that so much of what we understand as being sort of a cinematic style today comes from a lot earlier than we typically think gustav holst is one of those names that uh you know in the music world many of us are familiar with him and with the planets and and the incredible works that they are but in the wider world of music and especially cinematic music i think he kind of goes under the radar and is often not really recognized for the amount of credit he's due so if there's one thing you should take away from this go check out the planets by gustav holst listen to the whole thing in its entirety at once if you can because it is an incredible experience and you are definitely going to hear so many bits and pieces that will sound oddly familiar and that's because he really paved the way with a lot of ideas that would ultimately become modern cinematic music what other scores do you know of that you've maybe made connections to gustav holst's work let me know in the comments below i'm really curious to kind of find some of those more specific instances where people have been influenced by the planets and maybe have used bits and pieces of it in their own cinematic work but that is going to do it for me today if you wouldn't mind giving the video a thumbs up if you liked it that helps out a ton with the youtube algorithm and subscribe if you haven't already as always thanks so much for watching and we will see you in the next video [Music]

Channel: Charles Cornell

Views: 1,222,107

Keywords: Charles, Charles Cornell, Charles Cornell Studios, Studios, Cornell, Piano, Piano Covers, Piano guy, star wars, star wars soundtrack, star wars score, john Williams, john Williams Gustav holst, Gustav holst, the planets, holst the planets, the planets star wars, the planets star wars soundtrack, john Williams star wars, star wars theme, imperial march

Id: 4R5r4shLDbs

Length: 12min 36sec (756 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 30 2021