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Theme from "ET the Extra-Terrestrial"

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John Williams

John Williams (arr. James D Ployhar)


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General Info

Year: 1982 / 1985
Duration:
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Cost: Score and Parts – Out of print.


Instrumentation

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Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction fantasy film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott (Henry Thomas), a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. He and his siblings help it return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

Longtime Spielberg collaborator John Williams, who composed the film's musical score, described the challenge of creating one that would generate sympathy for such an odd-looking creature. As with their previous collaborations, Spielberg liked every theme Williams composed and had it included. Spielberg loved the music for the final chase so much that he edited the sequence to suit it. Williams took a modernist approach, especially with his use of polytonality, which refers to the sound of two different keys played simultaneously. The Lydian mode can also be used in a polytonal way. Williams combined polytonality and the Lydian mode to express a mystic, dreamlike and heroic quality. His theme—emphasizing coloristic instruments such as the harp, piano, celesta, and other keyboards, as well as percussion—suggests E.T.'s childlike nature and his "machine."

- Program Note from Wikipedia


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State Ratings

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