UKC

Afternoon all,

hope you're all good and enjoying the snow, sunshine. Sunny and about 2 degrees here on the beach on the south coast.

Does anyone have any really obscure Leitmotifs? I was explaining them to my daughter and we could only come up with really obvious ones so I'll start with:

James Bond

Morse (the TV detective)

Pink Panther.

How to combine it with James Bond (safe for work, just some music):

youtube.com/watch?v=upFQcITxX9A&

and here, Darth Vader's theme by Beethoven:

youtube.com/watch?v=IshINI7uGpE&

CB

In the biography I'm writing 'the sound of surf' is a very important recurring leitmotif. There are others, particularly dozens revolving around stars and star metaphors.

Not sure about obscure but Slaughterhouse 5 is packed with linking phrases and recurring themes. "So it goes" is the stand out.

Jaws

Not sure what you mean by "really obscure" in the context of this request but will Van der Valk do? I've never seen (so I don't know if it is a leitmotif in terms of signifying the appearance of a character, or only a theme tune) it but I know that melody. 

And Apache by The Shadows which I knew for decades before connecting it to the band. 

etc. 

In case I am not on the right lines, I'll stop and wait to see if I am, or not! 

In music a leitmotif tends to be less than a complete melody. E.g. the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth (symphony).

He's 'playing all the right notes, not necessarily in the right order' (E. Morecambe).

In that case, the five note steel guitar riff from Southern Comfort. Or the two chord exchange in Deliverance.

I know. My examples were about this. Just a few notes of Apache or Van der Valk, and it's instant recognition. Also various John Williams film scores, of which two examples are already listed. Special mention to his "Hedwig's Theme" from the Harry Potter films, as the leitmotif aspect there has been extremely handy for merchandising adverts, rather like the McDonald's "I'm Loving It" (does that count? It was WRITTEN as a leitmotif, like Brian Eno's old Windows sounds, and that old Nokia ringtone....)

Yes, good examples, particularly the Harry Potter thing. Also, possibly the greatest example in film, just those two repeated notes of the Jaws themes. You only had to hear about six of those to know you were in deep trouble!

It was always very kind of the sharks to give you a sporting chance by audibly signalling their imminent arrival. 

Could it be argued that Bernard Herrmann created a single-note leitmotif for Psycho? I know there is melody around it but the bit that people "quote" is a single repeated note...

Except they knew you hadn't a chance. By making that musical sound it was able to make your last few minutes even more terrifying by telling you it was coming for you even before you could see it

maybe getting into the realm of "people only actually know the intro and barely know what they are even FROM", but Theme from Dragnet, and Theme from Peter Gunn....

Yep, they were looking for the fastest swimmers so they could aim for them first. Better muscle, more protein. And maybe get you to evacuate your bowels so you taste nicer. 

.. and the three notes played on the big horns in The Vikings.

Yes, all that. I guess the one person they wouldn't want to eat was John Williams.

Wasn't that to get them in for their dinner?

Most of the spaghetti westerns/ morriconi themes. The donkey "honk" in two mules for sister Sarah, or the good the bad and the ugly theme. 

My neighbours cockerel crows the good the bad and the ugly every morning

Just watch a few adverts. Danone. McDonald's. Asda. And loads besides have very very short musical phrases at the end