The Arena

"The Arena," also known as "Grand Army of the Republic Theme" or "Arena Theme," is a minor theatrical theme written by John Williams for the Attack of the Clones soundtrack and respective score to represent the executions in the Petranaki arena. It was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) in 2002 and included in the track "Love Pledge and The Arena." The theme features many different sections of the LSO and contains references to "Across the Stars" and the "Force Theme." The theme appears in Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and the expansion pack Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns, the video game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, and the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies. The theme is mainly polyphonic, is in the key of A minor before it modulates to C major, has a tempo of 88 bpm, and a duple meter with a time signature of 4/4. The sheet music for the piece was contained in the Attack of the Clones music book. The Attack of the Clones soundtrack was released on CD April 23, 2002 and as an mp3 download on May 16, 2002.

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. He used the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices to perform the music. Only the orchestra was used for "The Arena", the motif used to represent the executions in the Petranaki arena. The Attack of the Clones soundtrack was released on CD April 23, 2002 and as an mp3 download on May 16, 2002.

Summary
"The introduction to the theme"

- London Symphony Orchestra

"The Arena" is mainly polyphonic, that is, sections in the orchestra generally play their own unique parts that are dissimilar to those of other instruments and groups by rhythm and pitch. It is in the key of A minor, has a tempo of 88 bpm, and a duple meter with a time signature of 4/4. The theme starts off with a percussion, string, and woodwind part that frequently modulates into the key of C major before returning to the tonic key. Brass instruments play occasionally throughout this part, but only scarcely. This section is actually homophonic.

Anakin tames the Reek
"Anakin tames the Reek"

- London Symphony Orchestra

Now polyphonic, the theme then goes into a snare drum roll that leads into the main melody, which is played by tubas. The melody is complimented by a simple quarter note beat by the snare drums. The rest of the low brass then come in and repeat the melody in a higher octave. The trumpets come in toward the end of the melody's second run-through. The melody is then repeated by the low brass with the trumpets playing a countermelody, which at first consists mainly of an E. After this run-through, the theme goes into a complicated set of notes that is led by the trumpets. This is followed by a brief woodwind, string, and keyboard percussion phrase that leads into a fast string part, which repeats four times before going into another altered version of the main melody. This carries on into several measures featuring more brass that is once again set to a quarter note beat by the percussion. It then rushes into a frantic percussion part with accented bursts by the brass. This leads into a fast-paced brass part accented in the background by short bursts of strings. Next the theme goes into a heavily accented phrase played mainly by brass instruments, which is followed by a descending low brass phrase. The main melody is played once again, this time going back and forth from the trumpets to the low brass and back to the trumpets. The low brass then plays two sets of two notes that are slurred together. This is complimented by a trumpet part consisting of a three note phrase which repeats twice. The main melody is then again played by the trumpets. The low brass then repeats the sets of slurs, this time to a much faster, more complicated trumpet part. The low brass then play a near solo. After this the low brass plays the main melody once again. The trumpets and percussion play in-between the phrases that compose the melody.

Anakin rescues Padmé and Obi-Wan
"Anakin rescues Padmé and Obi-Wan"

- London Symphony Orchestra

Next the strings go into a brief section of "Across the Stars", the main love theme from Attack of the Clones. After several measures of low brass and trumpets, the theme goes into a timpani and string part where the strings repeat a fast phrase over and over. The brass play occasionally throughout this part. Following the string/timpani part, the tubas play an extremely low phrase. The next few measures feature the percussion, followed by the brass. Then the low brass and low strings play a bass melody while the keyboard, percussion, and woodwinds play quick bursts. This is followed by another reference to "Across the Stars" by the strings, and then the baritones. This leads into another fast string part succeeded by a phrase split between the baritones and other low voices. The theme then references the "Force Theme" which switches from low brass to trumpets and back again. The strings follow playing the previous upbeat part once again. The trumpets come in for the last time, and the theme fades out with a low string part. By the end, the music has settled into the key of C major.

In the movies
In Attack of the Clones the theme is used only during the executions in the Petranaki Arena, though here the majority of the theme is cut out except for the moments scoring Poggle the Lesser announcing the start of the executions up until Anakin Skywalker tames the Reek. It is also used in one of the DVD's main menus. The theme is used again in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith to introduce Kashyyyk prior to the battle, and again when Darth Vader attacks the Jedi Temple during Operation: Knightfall.

In the soundtracks
The theme appears one minute fifty-five seconds into the track "Love Pledge and The Arena" on the Attack of the Clones soundtrack. Most of the track is composed of this theme. Though the theme appears in Revenge of the Sith, it does not appear in the film's soundtrack.

In the Expanded Universe
The expansion pack to the video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Clone Campaigns, uses the theme as part of a medley of background tracks meant to represent each of the game's factions. The theme represents the Confederacy of Independent Systems faction. The piece is also used during the pit arena fight in Chapter 1 of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. The composition makes another appearance in the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies.

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.