Music of the Harry Potter films

John Williams, composer of the first three films and creator of "Hedwig's Theme".

The music of the Harry Potter film series was recorded and released in conjunction with the post-production and releases of each of the eight corresponding films. The scores were composed by John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper, and Alexandre Desplat. Though Williams only scored the first three films, several motifs that he created have been reprised and incorporated into the remaining scores, in particular "Hedwig's Theme", which can be heard in all eight films. Other musicians credited with writing the Harry Potter music include Jarvis Cocker, The Ordinary Boys, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Jeremy Soule and James Hannigan wrote the music for the Harry Potter video games. J. Scott Rakozy, Peter Murray, and Chuck E. Myers "Sea" composed the music for Hogwarts Legacy.

Overview

Themes and motifs

Throughout the series, each composer created themes for particular characters, items, locations, and ideas. Several themes can be heard in films subsequent to the one they were written for, although very few lasted for the entire film series.

First appearance in The Philosopher's Stone

First appearance in The Chamber of Secrets

First appearance in The Prisoner of Azkaban

First appearance in The Goblet of Fire

First appearance in The Order of the Phoenix

First appearance in The Half-Blood Prince

First appearance in The Deathly Hallows – Part 1

First appearance in The Deathly Hallows – Part 2

References

1. Carlsson, Mikael (). "Hooper writes new themes for Potter" (PDF). Film Music Weekly (14). p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2007., Mikael (8 May 2007). "Hooper writes new themes for Potter" (PDF). Film Music Weekly. No. 14. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
2. Williams, John (5 September 2010), Composers Commentary on The Harry Potter Suite by John Williams and the Boston Pops, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 7 January 2019
3. "McGonagall & Umbridge". Youtube.com. pp. 16 seconds. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
4. "The Book". Youtube.com. 14 March 2019. pp. 1 minute and 12 seconds. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
5. "Darkness Takes Over". Youtube.com. 8 November 2014. pp. 42 seconds. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2018.