A Place to Call Home (theme)

"A Place to Call Home" is a theme of Final Fantasy IX. It was composed and arranged by Nobuo Uematsu.
"A Place to Call Home" is a short, melodic piece based on the D Dorian mode and is contrapuntal in nature. Some of these elements are more or less apparent, or even non-existent, in the many reiterations heard throughout Final Fantasy IX. Despite its shortness, the theme has been included in many official arrangements and compilations and played several times during live performances along with the game's main theme, "Melodies Of Life".
==Game appearances==
===Final Fantasy IX===
"A Place to Call Home" plays during the opening cutscenes and its title screen. The theme is connected to Terra and has several arrangements that play in areas related to it: "Oeilvert" plays at the eponymous location; "Chamber of a Thousand Faces" plays at Oeilvert during the narration of the story of Terra by the stone faces; "Ipsen's Castle" plays at the location, and "The Four Mirrors" plays during events succeeding the visit to the location; and "Terra" plays as Zidane Tribal explores Terra.
"A Place to Call Home" is the first track of the first disc of the Final Fantasy IX: Original Soundtrack. "Oeilvert" and "Chamber of a Thousand Faces" are the twenty-first and twenty-second tracks of the third disc of the album, respectively; "Ipsen's Castle", "The Four Mirrors" and "Terra" are the third, fourth and sixth tracks of the fourth disc of the album.
===Final Fantasy XV===
The original version appears in the music player as the first track of Memories of FFIX (Disc 1) - OST album purchased from Coernix Station - Cauthess for 100 gil. The Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy arrangement is available on the Memories of Dissidia 012 FF album purchasable from Old Lestallum for 500 gil.
===Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy===
An arrangement of "A Place to Call Home" by Takeharu Ishimoto, titled "A Place to Call Home - Arrange (from "Final Fantasy IX")", appears as a dungeon theme. The Dies Irae theme from the Catholic funeral Mass is mixed into the harmony.
"A Place to Call Home - Arrange (from "Final Fantasy IX")" is the thirty-seventh track of the first disc of the Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy Original Soundtrack.
====Dissidia Final Fantasy NT====
The original version is available as a battle music in the arcade version, obtainable from a Theatrhythm Final Fantasy event (2018/01).
===Theatrhythm Final Fantasy===
"A Place to Call Home" is an opening theme in Final Fantasy IX Series Play. While the opening theme plays, the following words appear across the screen:
====Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call====
"A Place to Call Home" reappears, this time as a playable Field Music Sequence.
====Theatrhythm Final Fantasy All-Star Carnival====
"A Place to Call Home" appears again as a playable Field Music Sequence. It can be unlocked by purchasing it in the song store for 5 sound medals.
Difficulty	Difficulty	Difficulty	Difficulty	Difficulty
Beginner 	Basic 	Expert 	Ultimate 	Transcendent
N/A 	3 	4 	8 	N/A
==Arrangement album appearances==
===Final Fantasy IX Original Soundtrack PLUS===
Tracks thirty-six, thirty-seven and thirty-eight, "Ancient Motet I", "Organum" and "Mediterranean" are all variations of "A Place to Call Home". "Mediterranean" is rather similar to "The Four Mirrors". All are bonus tracks, unused in Final Fantasy IX.
===Piano Collections: Final Fantasy IX===
A piano arrangement of the theme is heard on the Piano Collections album, arranged by Shirō Hamaguchi and performed by Louis Leerink. It is the third track of the album.
===Final Fantasy Song Book "Mahoroba"===
The theme is included using a simple arrangement by Yuji Hasegawa of an alto recorder and an acoustic guitar as a short opening track for the album. Hasegawa himself performed the acoustic guitar. It is the first track of the album.
An alternate version plays as a hidden track after a minute of silence following the final track, "Revolving Light". It was also arranged by Hasegawa and was performed on a range of instruments, including Hasegawa performing on the six-string banjo and the acoustic guitar as well as Nobuo Uematsu himself performing on the Irish bouzouki and the percussion.
===Distant Worlds II: more music from Final Fantasy===
"A Place to Call Home - Melodies of Life" was included as a studio recording on this album, successor to Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy, of which it was the fourth song. It was conducted by Arnie Roth and performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
It is also performed in the concert tour.
"A Place to Call Home - Melodies of Life" was also included in the vinyl release, as track 4 on the A-side of disc 1.
===Benyamin Nuss Plays Uematsu===
"A Place to Call Home" was arranged for the piano by Torsten Rasch and performed by Benyamin Nuss for the album.
It was also included in the vinyl release, as track 4 on the A-side.
===SQ Chips===
The theme appears in the SQ Chips VILLAGE/VANGUARD Customer Bonus CD of the 8-bit arrangement album featuring tracks from several Square Enix games, arranged by SEXY-SYNTHESIZER under the alias (S_S). It is the fifth track in the bonus CD. It was released first on the SQ Chips Preview Mini Album.
The track was released again on the Final Fantasy IX Chips album as track 1, and on the Square Enix Music Chips Selection CD as track 5.
===BRA★BRA Final Fantasy Brass de Bravo 3===
"A Place to Call Home" was arranged by Garyu Matsumoto while supervised by Hidenori Iwasaki and recorded for the album. It was conducted by Hirofumi Kurita and performed by the Siena Wind Orchestra.
===A New World: intimate music from Final Fantasy - Volume II===
A recording of "A Place to Call Home" is the first track on the album. The violin was performed by Arnie Roth.
It is also performed in the concert tour.
===Square Enix - Mellow Minstrel Mix===
A Mellow Minstrel Mix Version of "A Place to Call Home" was arranged by Takegorou Kobayashi for the album as track 5.
===Electronica Tunes -Final Fantasy Series-===
"A Place to Call Home" was arranged by Giga for the album as track 7.
==Live performances==
The theme is often coupled with the song "Melodies Of Life" during live orchestral performances.
===20020220 music from Final Fantasy===
The theme was included as a medley with "Melodies Of Life", "A Place to Call Home ~ Melodies of Life", for the 20020220 concert. It was arranged by Shirō Hamaguchi, conducted by Taizo Takemoto, and performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. This would be the first instance in the now-common tradition of coupling both themes together during live performances.
It was the thirteenth track of the album, and is the eight track of the second disc of the album of the concert's recording.
===More Friends - Music from Final Fantasy===
"A Place to Call Home ~ Melodies of Life" was conducted by Arnie Roth and performed by the World Festival Symphony Orchestra at this concert, of which it was the eleventh track of the line-up.
===VOICES: Music from Final Fantasy===
"A Place to Call Home ~ Melodies of Life" was included on the live concert held on February 18th, 2006, at the Pacifico Yokohoma Conference and Convention Center in Japan. It was conducted by Arnie Roth and performed by the Prima Vista Philharmonic Orchestra.
It was recorded and released on an album.
===Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy The Journey of 100===
"A Place to Call Home - Melodies Of Life" was performed live and recorded as track 15 on the album. It was conducted by Arnie Roth and performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
===BRA★BRA Final Fantasy Brass de Bravo 2017 with Siena Wind Orchestra===
A live recording of "A Place to Call Home" was held at the Tokyo Bunka Kaiken on May 14, 2017 and recorded, conducted by Hirofumi Kurita and performed by the Siena Wind Orchestra. It was released as track 6 on the album.
===Final Fantasy 35th Anniversary Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy Coral Live CD===
"A Place to Call Home ~ Melodies of Life" was performed live and recorded as track 8 of disc 2 on the album. It was conducted by Arnie Roth and performed by the New Japan Philharmonic.
==Compilation album appearances==
===Uematsu's Best Selection - Music From The Final Fantasy IX Video Game===
"A Place to Call Home" was included in this "best-of" release by Tokyopop Soundtrax as its first track.
===Square Enix Music Powered Vol.2===
"A Place to Call Home" is included as track 13 on the album.
===Final Fantasy Heroes===
"A Place to Call Home" is included as track 17 on the album.
===2017 BRA★BRA Final Fantasy Original Music Collection Original de Bravo===
"A Place to Call Home" is included as track 5 on the album.
===Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Tracks 1987-2017===
"A Place to Call Home" is included as track 75 of disc 1 on the album.
===Final Fantasy IX Vinyl===
"A Place to Call Home" is the first track on Final Fantasy IX Vinyl, a selection of tracks from Final Fantasy IX in the format of vinyl records on two picture discs.
==Sheet music==
Theplaceillreturntosomeday1.png|Sheet music.
Theplaceillreturntosomeday2.png|Sheet music.
==Etymology==
The place referred to in the title is a matter of speculation. Terra, being the Genomes' birthplace, is likely to be "the place Zidane would return to someday," referring to one of the translations of the theme's title. This is supported by "Oeilvert", "Ipsen's Heritage" (Ipsen's Castle's theme) and "The Four Medallions" (also played in Ipsen's Castle) being rearranged versions of "A Place to Call Home", as both places are connected to Terra. The eponymous theme of the world of Terra is also a variation of "A Place to Call Home".
Within the game itself, "a place to call home" is what Zidane describes Vivi is looking for during their visit to the Black Mage Village. In Pandemonium, Garland says to Zidane that "You are destined to live among the stars for all eternity. You have the power, the position, and the motive to do it," to which Zidane replies "I wouldn't want that kind of power... if I only had a place to call home... My brothers in Tantalus, Vivi, Freya, Amarant, Quina, Steiner, Eiko, and... Dagger... My home is with them in Gaia!", suggesting that the place referred to within the title "A Place to Call Home" is in, fact, Gaia.
==External links==
*A notable fan vocal arrangement of "A Place to Call Home" by Kate Covington.
de:A Place to Call Home
Category:Event themes from Final Fantasy IX
Category:Field themes from Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Category:Event themes from Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Category:Field themes from Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call