When people remember the “Harry Potter” movies, they’re usually at least partially thinking about the score from the legendary John Williams. In terms of how memorable and evocative it is, “Hedwig’s Theme” is up there with “The Imperial March” from “Star Wars” or “He’s a Pirate” from the “Pirates of the Caribbean Movies,” in that everyone can remember and accurately hum it at a moment’s notice. Regularly producing bangers like this, it should be no surprise that John Williams has earned over 50 Oscar nominations over his career.
That’s why it’s a little surprising that Williams wasn’t actually there for most of the “Harry Potter” films. The soundtrack for “Goblet of Fire” was composed by Patrick Doyle, “Order of the Phoenix” and “Half-Blood Prince” were composed by Nicholas Hooper, and both “Deathly Hallows” films were composed by Alexandre Desplat. An attentive ear will notice these changes throughout the series, but considering how much the score of the first film would be re-used and adapted throughout the later films, it’s easy to assume Williams was there the whole time.
In a 2010 interview, producer David Heyman explained why Williams didn’t return for “Deathly Hallows,” even though he was definitely wanted back. “We wanted to make it work with John but John’s schedule didn’t permit,” he said, and later added, “We asked him around the time of [movie] six. Actually, we talked to him all the way along [about coming back for the end] but his schedule didn’t permit … He tried to work his schedule to try and accommodate it but it just wasn’t possible.”
Why did John Williams leave the Harry Potter franchise in the first place?
Much like the reasoning behind Williams’ lack of return to “Deathly Hallows,” he left the series after “Prisoner of Azkaban” in part because he was so busy. He had the big epic “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” to compose for around the same time, not to mention “War of the Worlds” and “Munich.” And although Williams’ name is attached to “Chamber of Secrets,” he wasn’t quite as involved with it as he was in that first film. As composer William Ross, who worked a lot on “Chamber of Secrets,” explained in a 2013 interview:
“[Williams] also explained that he may have a scheduling conflict that might in some way affect his participation on the second film. Although he planned to write the new themes and new musical material for ‘Chamber of Secrets,’ there would be areas of the new film in which he intended to utilize and adapt themes from the first ‘Potter’ score. John asked if I would be interested in taking that original material and adapting it to make it work within the context of the new film. He had no way of knowing how much work that would entail since he hadn’t yet spotted the movie and didn’t know at the time the extent to which the scheduling conflict would be a factor.”
If you were wondering why the “Chamber of Secrets” soundtrack feels ever-so-slightly off from the magic of the first movie — including that one section in the quidditch match where the score seems a little too similar to the score in the “Star Wars” prequels — this is part of why. Williams, who was busy composing the lovely Spielberg film “Catch Me If You Can,” wasn’t able to devote as much time to the first “Potter” sequel.
The good news is that, although Williams never returned to the series after “Prisoner of Azkaban,” that third movie did sort of serve as a quasi-return for him. “Chamber of Secrets” may have been a slight step down, but the “Prisoner of Azkaban” score is arguably the best in the whole series. (Which makes sense, given that it’s also the best movie of the series overall.) “Buckbeak’s Flight” and “A Window to the Past” were not only some of his best work, but they were also pretty original, not just continuations on previous “Potter” music. The whole score for “Azkaban” had a darker, more gothic feel to it, complementing the movie’s more mature themes.
John Williams’ presence was always there, even if just in spirit
Even though Williams only composed two and a half of the franchise’s eight movies, he still easily overshadows all the composers that would come after. That’s largely the result of Williams being the one to nail the tone of the series from day one, providing a “Harry Potter” blueprint for all his successors to at least partially work with.
It also helps that a big theme of the movie is nostalgia; later series Harry longs for the days when his life at Hogwarts was relatively simple, and of course, every adult in the series gets wistful about the times when Lily and James Potter were still alive and well. When a later “Harry Potter” movie wanted to be nostalgic, the easiest way to help capture that feeling was to reuse the iconic themes from that first film.
When asked about this, “Deathly Hallows” director David Yates explained his thought process behind knowing when to bring back “Hedwig’s Theme”: “Anything that felt like we were being nostalgic or in a way reflective of the past. That’s when we used it,” he said. Sure enough, some repeat or variation of “Hedwig’s Theme” would be used in every single “Harry Potter” film. In a lesser franchise, this might seem lazy, but in this case, it’s hard to find any Potterhead who’d ever complain.
