Duel of the Fates

"This choral piece, which has to do with the sword fight and comes at the end of the film, is a result of my thinking that something ritualistic and/or pagan and antique might be very effective."

- John Williams

"Duel of the Fates" is a musical theme composed by John Williams between October 1998 and February 1999 for the 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and its respective score. It was written to represent the duel in Theed between the Sith Darth Maul and the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn with his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi in the film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The composition was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and the London Voices choir in February 1999 in EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London, England. The piece was used in all three of the prequel trilogy movies and included in the The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones soundtracks. The motif is used many times throughout video games, trailers, and numerous other pieces of Expanded Universe media as well as in the music video trailer for The Phantom Menace, which includes footage of the theme's recording sessions. The theme is mainly polyphonic, is in the key of G major, has a tempo of 152 bpm, and a duple meter with a time signature of 4/4. The composition, which lasts four minutes and fourteen seconds, contains lyrical Sanskrit chants translated from the Celtic epic Cad Goddeu. The composition was made available for purchase on May 4, 1999, with the release of the soundtrack for The Phantom Menace, and the sheet music was released in the music books Music from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Star Wars Episodes I, II & III Instrumental Solos.

Conception and development
John Williams wrote the score for the 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and the respective soundtrack, as he had for the previous three Star Wars films of the original trilogy. He began work on the project in mid-October of 1998. "Duel of the Fates" was written as the main theatrical motif for the film and was utilized in various forms throughout the scenes depicting the climax of the film during the Second Battle of Theed where the Trade Federation forces battle the Royal Naboo Security Forces. The piece is used mainly to represent the duel between Darth Maul, a dark Lord of the Sith, and the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

When composing the theme, Williams felt something ritualistic and pagan would be very effective in evoking the proper emotions, so he took a stanza of text from the Celtic epic Cad Goddeu. He had friends from Harvard University translate the English version back to Celtic, then to Greek, and finally Sanskrit, which he chose for its "beautiful sounds." Williams then reduced the stanza to phrases consisting of a single word when translated to English and repeated their Sanskrit counterparts. Williams composed the music for the motif on a piano. The piece, along with the entire score, was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices in EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London, England in February 1999, both recording live at the same time. The motif was written for The Phantom Menace end credits and then cut to fit in the picture. The original soundtrack, which includes the song, was released by Sony Classical on May 4, 1999, and the Ultimate Edition on November 14, 2000. The original soundtrack was re-released in 2012 to coincide with the 3-D release of the film in theaters.

Summary
"Duel of the Fates" is mainly polyphonic, has a tempo of 152 bpm for most of the piece, and a duple meter with a time signature of 4/4. The composition is four minutes fourteen seconds long and is in the key of G major. The theme commences as homophonic, maestoso in style, with the London Voices singing a chant in Sanskrit. The tempo, marked as "allegro," then speeds up to 152 bpm as the strings enter with the violins playing a repeating phrase consisting of two eighth notes followed by two sixteenth notes and another eighth note. The low strings play sets of one, two, and five eighth notes with a measure of rest between each set's measure excluding the last, which has a pickup note, making the previous measure only seven eights rest. This continues for twenty measures with slight variations in the low string part.

After the phrase has repeated for six measures, the theme's main melody comes in, played by the clarinets. This melody consists of two eighth notes followed by four quarter notes, two more eighth notes, and a final quarter note. It repeats four times, with the first two occurrences being identical and the last two varying. The end quarter note in the last repeat of the melody is tied to two whole notes and crescendos as the strings continue to play their repeating phrases. After another three measures, the harp plays a rising phrase. In the next bar, the French horns play the melody, and the trombones echo it in the background. Then the strings repeat their phrases for a few more bars, this time accompanied by the flutes, and then the London Voices return with their Sanksrit chant. Meanwhile, the trombones play the motif's main melody. This is followed by more repetition of the string phrases intermingled with accented notes and phrases from the tubas and trumpets. Then the London Voices return with the chant, and the horns and trumpets trade out on the primary melody. The trumpets join the strings as they continue to repeat their phrases, crescendoing into a chorus chant of two eighth notes followed by a quarter rest, which repeats eight times as the trumpets play between every other phrase. The chant switches back to its original form, and the trumpets continue to play accented notes between phrases. The brass and strings then join in playing the strings' repeating phrases in unison.

The piece gets quiet with only the strings continuing. Woodwinds come in with the theme's primary melody followed by the French horns and trumpets. The stings then start playing phrases composed of triplets. The main melody is traded between the flutes and horns, and the orchestra grows into an instrumental version of the piece's second chant. The chorus then returns singing the first chant. Between each pair of notes in the chant are the trumpets playing the string phrases and the horns playing the theme's melody, with the trumpets playing between the first and third pairs and the horns between the second and fourth. The chant is repeated with a timpani roll in the middle. Next the entire orchestra plays the string phrases while crescendoing, followed by an upbeat trumpet part and a bongo part. The orchestra returns with the string phrases, and then the piece quiets as the strings continue their phrases and the woodwinds once again perform the melody. The Voices return with the first and second chants. The trumpets play the string phrases, the timpani plays a solo, the trumpets return with six eighth notes, the bongos roll, and the piece ends with one hit of the string phrase.

In the soundtracks
The theme makes its only pure occurrence in a Star Wars soundtrack in the second track titled "Duel of the Fates" on the Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace soundtrack, but it is also briefly featured in the fifteenth track titled "Qui-Gon's Noble End." These are the only uses that are made of the theme in the original soundtrack; however, it is used several times throughout most of the last fourteen tracks of the Ultimate Edition soundtrack. The dialogue version, which is featured in the last track of the Ultimate Edition soundtrack, was added to the end of the re-release of the original soundtrack, which became available in 2012 to coincide with the 3-D release of the film in theaters.

In the Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones soundtrack, the motif makes one appearance three minutes and thirty-five seconds into the tenth track, titled "Return to Tatooine."

In the movies
"Duel of the Fates" is first played in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The "Duel of the Fates" scene, so named in the menus for the DVD version of the film, is the scene where the Jedi characters Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi duel the Sith Lord Darth Maul in the Plasma Refinery Complex on the planet Naboo. It is played in instrumental form as another major character, Queen Amidala, is ambushed along with her guards by droidekas in the Theed Hangar, and as Darth Maul and the Jedi activate their lightsabers. It is used again as the duel moves from the hangar to a generator complex. The cue comes to an end as plasma shields separate the three combatants for the first time. The original recording is used during the film's end credits.

In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the piece is played when Jedi KnightAnakin Skywalker travels across the surface of the planet Tatooine to search for his mother, Shmi Skywalker Lars, and rescue her from her captors, a tribe of a species called Tusken Raiders.

In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, "Duel of the Fates" is played for the final time during the middle of Darth Vader's duel against Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar, as well as during Yoda's fight with Darth Sidious in the Senate Chamber. The piece concludes as Yoda falls from the Chancellor's Podium.

In the Expanded Universe
The theme makes an appearance in the main menu of the game Star Wars: Battle for Naboo and during the game's second bonus mission. It also appears in the opening cinematic for Star Wars: Episode I Jedi Power Battles, as well as that game's tenth mission, The Final Battle. The theme is played in Star Wars: Clone Wars Chapters 18 and 19 during the battle between Anakin Skywalker and Asajj Ventress and concludes with Ventress's defeat. It can also be heard during the climactic battle between a spacer and Lord Vartonis in Trials of Obi-Wan, the third expansion of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Star Wars Galaxies. Also in Galaxies, players can choose to play "Duel of the Fates" from a jukebox playlist. The theme is utilized in the sixth level of "Episode I"&mdash;titled "Darth Maul"&mdash;in the non-canon video game LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, and in the fifth level of the same name in the non-canon LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga. The composition is utilized in Star Wars: Starfighter during "The Final Assault" as Rhys Dallows dogfights a mercenary leader, and it appears twice in the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith video game, once in a cinematic sequence featuring Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker and again as the first piece that plays during the game's version of the Duel on Mustafar. The motif is also used in the 2001 real-time strategy video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds and its expansion pack Clone Campaigns, released in 2003. A few sections from the composition were included in the Return trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic during a lightsaber duel between the Jedi Satele Shan and Kao Cen Darach and the Sith Darth Malgus and Vindican. A completely electronic version of the theme is used in the main menu for the 1999 Game Boy Color game Star Wars: Episode I Racer. The composition is included in the level "Darth Maul" on the game Star Wars: Obi-Wan and in the final level of the game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The game Kinect Star Wars contains both a game mode and a dance move called "Duel of Fates." In the mode, players combat Sith or other sword-wielding opponents with a lightsaber. The MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic utilizes a cut from the track "Qui-Gon's Noble End" that contains the theme whenever a gamer playing as a Sith Warrior takes off in his or her starship.

In-universe reference
According to the roleplaying game sourcebook Coruscant and the Core Worlds, curators of the Coruscant Ice Crypts claim to have heard faint hums of "korah matah" emanating from the halls of the underground tombs. This could indicate that the tune may be of Zhell origin in-universe, as this is a phonetic excerpt of lyrics from "Duel of the Fates."

In other media and merchandise
The theme's sheet music appears in the sheet music book Music from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace from Bantha Music. The book is available for the following instruments: trumpet, piano, easy piano, clarinet, tenor sax, and alto sax. It also appears in the music book Star Wars Episodes I, II & III Instrumental Solos published by Alfred Publishing Co.

Part of the piece is used in the first theatrical trailer for the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars. A music video for the theme consists of clips from The Phantom Menace alongside video of the recording sessions for "Duel of the Fates." An article by Andy Collins in the Star Wars Gamer 1 magazine and an expansion set for the Young Jedi Collectible Card Game both share the name "Duel of the Fates." In the online game Ace Assault II, the song plays in a level pitting Anakin Skywalker against General Grievous.

In popular culture
The composition has been featured on The Simpsons in the episode "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em..." in which Bart Simpson and Principal Skinner battle on top of a bus with sticks that have peanuts and shrimp attached to them. The theme also plays during Soulcalibur IV whenever Starkiller fights within either of the game's two Star Wars-themed stages, as well as during his extended ending. The piece is also included at the end of a Verizon Wireless commercial which features R2-D2.

Reception
"&hellip;Distinct because of its sixteenth notes for brass and chanting adult chorus over turbulent percussion, 'Duel of the Fates' is an explosively frightening theme to hear over the pivotal battle sequence."

- Filmtracks review

Christopher Coleman from Tracksounds.com, a soundtrack review website, stated that he felt the early release of the "Duel of the Fates" single "set a high bar of expectation for the rest of the score." He felt that Williams had managed to create something different, yet still evocative. The single lasted 11 days in the eighth position on Total Request Live's video debut countdown starting March 5, 1999.