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Abstract
John Williams’s “Imperial March” is one of the most iconic film themes ever written. Despite its popularity, however, little scholarship exists on the origins of the theme and the musical references that influenced it, beyond brief citations of Russian composers or Wagner. Like all composers, Williams takes inspiration from his predecessors and contemporaries, resulting in an amalgam of multiple composers and styles that Williams seamlessly blends into a unique and distinctive composition in the “Imperial March.” By performing a genealogy of the march and analyzing pieces already suggested as its origins, I argue for the special significance of one subtextual source: British imperialist music. This thesis explores how the British imperialist connection goes further than musical reference, revealing parallels between the British and Galactic Empires. An understanding of the specific historical allusion to the past can alert us to ways that the binary between good and evil—Rebels and Empire—is not as black and white as the Original Trilogy presents.
