Across the Stars

"Across the Stars" is the primary thematic music of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. The piece was composed by John Williams to accompany the romance between Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, and is used frequently throughout the film and its sequel, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.
==Conception and development==
John Williams wrote the musical score for the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, as had been the case for the four previous Star Wars films. See individual film cast lists. He used the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices to perform the music. Only the orchestra was used for "Across the Stars", the motif used to represent the romance between Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala. The Attack of the Clones soundtrack was released on CD April 23, 2002 and as an MP3 download on May 16, 2002.
==Symbolism==
Accompanied by triplet arpeggios, this love theme illustrates the bond between the queen-turned-senator Padmé Amidala and the slave-turned-Jedi-Knight Anakin Skywalker slowly strengthening and blossoming into love. The forbidden love is sealed in matrimony and continues until it slowly crumbles when Anakin turns to the dark side.
==Summary==
The theme starts off with a slow, emotional part performed by the violas, which play long notes, and the harp, which plays repeating triplets. As the strings continue, a solo oboe comes in with the primary melody. After the oboe finishes half of the melody, the strings finish the other half and end the first section. Next, the strings join the harp in playing eleven sets of triplets before the violins commence with the main melody, which was played by the oboe prior to the triplets. This is backed by short flute riffs. The horns continue a short section of the melody before climaxing into an emotional and climactic part by the violins and horns. The violins then go into two descending phrases, the second higher in pitch than the first.
The piece then turns darker into F minor as the low strings repeat a ten sixteenth note riff and the low brass and woodwinds repeat a march-like phrase. The violins then come in to back the low strings. The oboe then hints at the main melody while the low voices continue their phrases, followed by a horn phrase. This is succeeded by numerous pieces of the melody played by trombones, an oboe, and the horns, each followed by two beats played by horns and trombones, and trumpets respectively, with the horns having no phrase after they play the melody. The theme then crescendos into a violin part accented by staccato and legato phrases from the low strings. Next the horns take over the melody while the low strings play more staccato notes.
The motif revisits the point toward the beginning where the horns and violins shared the melody, a half-step lower in E minor. However, this time the trumpets play small background phrases consisting of one note per phrase, excluding the last phrase. The horns and oboe then take over with the descending part the violins played earlier. The horns play the first, lower one, and the oboe plays the second, higher one. These two phrases are complemented by several ascending violin parts. The strings then crescendo leading into another run-through of the darker part of the theme. The violins drop out, followed by the tubas and low strings, which leads into the finale of the theme: a harp solo of the main theme succeeded by an English horn solo ending in a long note.
==Use==
===In the soundtracks===
It is available from Sony Classical on the Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones soundtrack, as the second track entitled "Love Theme from Attack of the Clones." It is used another nine times in five other tracks on the soundtrack. The first appearance after track two is forty-five seconds into "Yoda and the Younglings." The second is three minutes and twenty-four seconds into the same track. The track "Anakin and Padmé" contains the theme fifty-nine seconds in and again two minutes and eleven seconds in. "The Meadow Picnic" features it at one minute and thirty-six seconds. Track number twelve, "Love Pledge and The Arena," utilizes the motif three times. The first occurrence is from twelve seconds in to one minute and forty-eight seconds in. The second and third are at six minutes and nine seconds and seven minutes and eleven seconds respectively. The composition makes its final two Attack of the Clones appearances three minutes and fifty-eight seconds and five minutes and thirty-six seconds into the last track, "Confrontation with Count Dooku and Finale."
The theme is reused in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, notably twenty-five seconds into. "Anakin's Dream."
===In the movies===
The piece appears in both Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. In Revenge of the Sith it appears for a final time as Padmé is in contemplation upon landing on Mustafar.
===In the Expanded Universe===
"Across the Stars" can also be heard in the trailer for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, as well as in Chapter 1 of the Star Wars: Clone Wars microseries. The piece makes appearances in both Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Battlefront II. The theme is also used in the title screen of the game Star Wars: The New Droid Army. It is once again used in the end credits of LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game and the video game adaptation of Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, and in the first level's cutscenes of LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.
Renditions of "Across the Stars" are played in the 2011 massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic.
===In other merchandise===
The theme's sheet music appears in the Attack of the Clones music book from Bantha Music. The book was released for the following instruments and editions: trumpet, piano, easy piano, clarinet, tenor sax, and alto sax.
===In other films===
The melody of "Across the Stars" is used as a motif in the track "The Flight to Neverland," which was composed by John Williams for the 1991 film Hook. The dies irae phrase of "Across the Stars" is also played in the track "Back to America" in the 1999 film Angela's Ashes, which was also composed by Williams. The same phrase forms a part of Maurice Jarr's "Lara's Theme," which was made for the 1965 film Doctor Zhivago.
===In popular culture===
Alan Silvestri included a brief homage to the theme in his score for Night at the Museum II: Battle of the Smithsonian, which appears towards the start of the track "On Your Toes".
==Sources==
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==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:Themes and leitmotifs