Craig McGill writes, "In its performance and vocal demands and innovative use of cinematic scoring techniques, Sweeney Todd is widely considered to be one of the most musically intricate scores for a Broadway musical." In order for my family to fully enjoy the music in all its splendor, I'm doing an analysis and dragging them through my findings. Click here to download my marked-up 400 page score based on Sondheim's piano copy. Just kidding; it's not that long. But please do download it; this is one of the few mandatory links. This post and analysis took me about a month to write, so allow yourself ample time to rummage through the 12 chapters.
My sister compiled a list of prominent Sweeney Todd performances, in case you're curious. The easiest to access are the 1982 George Hearn & Angela Lansbury, the 2001 George Hearn & Patti LuPone, and the 2014 Bryn Terfel & Emma Thompson.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
The musical thriller "Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" premiered on March 1st, 1979 on Broadway. The composer and lyricist was Stephen Sondheim, the librettist was Hugh Wheeler, and the director was Harold Prince.
Harold Prince wasn't too interested in a story only about revenge, so he focused on portraying the class struggle during the Industrial Revolution. He worked with set designer Eugene Lee to create something that was "a gigantic machine, part prison, part factory, part cathedral." Sondheim, on the other hand, was more interested in the obsession and melodrama of it all. Robert McLaughlin writes, "Sondheim set out to write a musical melodrama, melodrama not in the sense of campy over-the-top-ness contemporary audiences usually associate with the word but in the sense of exaggerated reality. In his essay on Sweeney Todd and melodrama Sondheim writes, 'For me, melodrama is theater that is larger than life - in emotion, in subject, and in complication of plot.'"
Meanwhile, I'm more interested in Sondheim's music than anything else, so I'll never speak of the Industrial Revolution again (or for that matter, the obsession or melodrama either); I just felt it was my duty to mention it once. Oh, well, and you can find some lyrics to support that stuff ("like a perfect machine, 'e planned"), and that's why there's a scary factory whistle in the score.
The idea of a serial killing barber probably originated as an urban legend, one of which was called the "Affaire de la rue des Marmousets" from the 14th century. One of the earliest written accounts of the story dates back to a diary of Swedish traveller Pehr Lindeström from the middle of the 17th century. Two hundred years later, the story was published as an English penny dreadful serial in eighteen parts under the title, "The String of Pearls: A Domestic Romance." Penny dreadfuls came out weekly for a penny and were about 8-16 pages long. This one took place in Fleet Street, London, next to St. Dunstan's church in 1785, and had characters Sweeney Todd, Mrs. Lovett, and Tobias Ragg.
Published November 1846 to March 1847
Various other versions of the story were published or produced for stage, radio, and television, but it wasn't until Christopher Bond's play in 1973 that Sweeney Todd became a somewhat relatable character. A demon barber on its own isn't very relatable, but a wronged man who loses his mind is. Bond also introduced additional characters and subplots to deepen the story. His play gave Sweeney Todd, Judge Turpin, Anthony, and Johanna iambic meter lines, while Mrs. Lovett and the other lower class characters were written in non-rhythmic dialogue. Sondheim was captivated by the play and knew these rhythmic ideas could also work musically. Joseph Swain quotes Christopher Bond, "I have 'borrowed' from, amongst others, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Revenger's Tragedy, The Spanish Tragedy, the family green-grocer, and Shakespeare, as well as Dibdin-Pitt's original melodrama. My object has been to add to the chair and the pies an exciting story, characters that are large but real, and situations that, given a mad world not unlike our own, are believable."
I know I've given you all these dates already, but I'd like to emphasize that the musical premiered just six years after Bond's play was written. In fact, the lyrics in "The Letter" come from the play verbatim. Christopher Bond's contribution to the creation of the show was substantial; the musical was based on his version of the tale.
One more note, and then I'll stop writing a book report and get on with what I do best. Sondheim did like Tim Burton's 2007 movie. Movies and shows require different things, and Sondheim thought the adaptation was skillful. I personally don't know if it was or it wasn't, but I'd watch a recording of the show over that movie eight days a week. The Burton film not only ruins the quality of the performances by hiring popular actors instead of singers, but removes all the most glorious moments from the score. I do understand that Burton didn't do this out of cruelty; he just knows how to make a movie, and glorious music isn't what movie goers care about. They care about Johnny Depp and special effects, so well done. But to illustrate my point, read this quote from the 1979 Beadle, Eric Jack Williams', wiki page:
Sondheim wrote the exceptionally-difficult vocal lines with Williams' voice in mind. His performances in both shows are preserved on their original cast albums....
A noted tenor, he once gave a command performance for the King and Queen of Sweden.
And this is a quote about the 2007 Beadle, Timothy Spall's, musical background:
Oh wait, there isn't one. The Beadle is either so unremarkable that I'm misremembering, or he doesn't even sing in the film, not ever. He had recently been cast as Peter Pettigrew from the blockbuster Harry Potter series. Eye roll.
Alright, with that out of the way, I'll begin with a synopsis of the plot. From there, I'll introduce my take on the leitmotifs, and then take us through the musical numbers and their various reappearances. It will be a grand time, and then you will have graduated.
I feel like leitmotifs are sort of a personal thing because they're based on what you hear and what you think is important. For example, one leitmotif spotted by other music nerds is Nellie Lovett's descending minor seventh. To me, it just doesn't show up enough to warrant too much of my attention, and I also dislike the idea of a two-note leitmotif. But it's there in Worst Pies, My Friends, A Little Priest, and By The Sea, if you want to find it. Several of my leitmotifs are only three notes, and that's already enough to see them in inversion and retrograde by accident all the time. Furthermore, we can hardly call a little bit of haphazard stepwise motion a leitmotif, but that seems to be the way Judge Turpin is handled, even by me. I annoy myself when I can't play by my own rules.
And how far do I push the envelope? Once a pattern changes, like a real vs. tonal answer in a fugue, do I tell you about it? I try my best not to, but really it depends on how strongly the rhythm and lyrics emphasize the idea. The B section of The Ballad is unmistakably a reference to the Dies Irae (spoiler alert: so is nearly everything), and I mark it in confidence with my bright red highlighter, even with its opening whole step. That's the wrong interval! Right at the beginning! No, once you get into this sort of business, you have decisions to make. You have to hope you aren't being inconsistent with yourself and plunder on.
Now I've gotten pretty far ahead of myself, but I'll back up to the plot synopsis as promised so you'll have some context for the songs, and then I'll talk about leitmotifs and inversion and real fugal answers and Dies Irae and all the other terms I've been throwing around so irresponsibly. These conversational rantings are "pre-teaching." They're totally normal; don't panic.
CHAPTER 2: PLOT SYNOPSIS PART I
Please reference this playlist as needed!
Characters
Sweeney Todd/Benjamin Barker
Nellie Lovett
Beggar Woman
Judge Turpin
Beadle Bamford (a beadle is "a minor parish officer dealing with petty offenders.")
Anthony Hope
Johanna Barker
Tobias Ragg
Adolfo Pirelli/Daniel O'Higgins
Company/Chorus
Prologue
An organ plays funeral music (Prelude) as two men dig a grave at the front of the stage. The factory whistle blows, a blackout follows, and the company invites you to "attend the tale" in its narrative (The Ballad of Sweeney Todd). Sweeney rises from the grave and joins them. It's creepy already.
Act I
Young sailor Anthony Hope and middle aged corpse Sweeney Todd arrive to London by boat, after Anthony had saved Sweeney's life at sea (No Place Like London). They meet a crazed Beggar Woman who cries for alms and does a little prostituting jig. I really don't know of a better way to describe that, or I would. Sweeney Todd shoos her off and starts telling his own tale (There Was A Barber and His Wife). His story goes as follows: there was a barber and his wife and she was beautiful. There was a bad guy who saw that she was beautiful so he sent the barber away, and then she would fall. (Side note: unfortunately, this story like so many does objectify beautiful young women.) Sweeney tells Anthony that he (Sweeney) will be staying around Fleet Street, and they part ways.Returning to his old home, Sweeney finds that the lower level has been made into Mrs. Lovett's Pie Shop, and Mrs. Lovett introduces herself (The Worst Pies in London). She tells the tale of the barber and his wife who used to live upstairs (Poor Thing). Her story goes as follows: there was a barber and his wife and he was beautiful. The Judge and his disgusting sidekick, Beadle Bamford, were enamored with the wife, Lucy, so the Judge sent the barber off to Botany Bay in Australia, and Beadle Bamford invited Lucy to Judge Turpin's party. At the party, the Judge publicly raped her while everybody stood around laughing. In one synopsis I read, it was even a gang rape. Can you feel the inner serial killer rising within you? We have Christopher Bond to thank for that. Anyway, upon hearing this, Sweeney Todd shouts, "Noooooo! Would no one have mercy on her?" Much to Mrs. Lovett's delight, his anguish reveals his true identity as Benjamin Barker. Mrs. Lovett explains that Lucy has taken arsenic, and his daughter Johanna has been adopted by Judge Turpin. As one does, Sweeney Todd swears revenge on both the Judge and the Beadle. Mrs. Lovett reunites him with with his old razors (My Friends), and a killer is born. "At last, my right arm is complete again!"
At Judge Turpin's house, Johanna is locked up like Rapunzel. Anthony hears her introductory song (Green Finch and Linnet Bird), admires her (Ah, Miss), and the two instantly fall in love, which is also kind of like Rapunzel. Anthony buys Johanna a bird and declares his feelings for her (Anthony's Johanna). Judge Turpin and the Beadle approach the couple and put this little love affair to an end. Beadle threatens Anthony by strangling the little bird, which is very off-putting. "Get the gist of it, friend? Next time it'll be your neck!" Anthony, however, is not easily intimidated.
Over at St. Dunstan's Marketplace, a barber/dentist to the King of Naples, Signor Adolfo Pirelli, and his assistant Tobias try to sell a fraudulent hair growing potion (Pirelli's Miracle Elixir). Sweeney exposes Pirelli by challenging him to a public shaving contest judged by the Beadle (The Contest) and winning. After completing the "fastest, smoothest shave" (this always bothers me because you have to compete in one category, not two), and then deftly pulling a tooth in verse 2, Sweeney gains favor with the Beadle and earns a little publicity.
We are more closely introduced to the Judge, who watches Johanna through a peephole and flagellates himself to the point of orgasm (Judge Turpin's Johanna). I think now is a good time to remind my gentle readers that we'll get to the leitmotifs the moment we make it through all of this. Just wait, love, wait.
Sweeney is anxious to kill both the Beadle and the Judge, but as neither has yet arrived at the Tonsorial Parlor, Mrs. Lovett is tasked with calming him down (Wait). Anthony visits and tells Sweeney that he plans to kidnap Johanna (she's 15, so I believe this is the right word) and bring her to the shop on Fleet Street that night. Mrs. Lovett suggests to Sweeney that he could kill Anthony and keep his daughter, but Sweeney is a man of morals. Actually, he's just distracted, and doesn't respond because Pirelli and Tobias appear. Mrs. Lovett takes Tobias to the kitchen for a meat pie while Pirelli, who worked as an apprentice for Benjamin Barker and therefore recognized his razors, threatens to expose Sweeney Todd for who he is. To present Signor Adolfo Pirelli and his Italian accent as even more of a fraud, it's revealed that he's actually an Irishman named Daniel O'Higgins. But the point is that Sweeney Todd is trapped into his first kill.
Anthony shows up at Johanna's window and proposes (Kiss Me). While on their walk home from court, Judge Turpin tells the Beadle about his intention of marrying Johanna. The Beadle suggests to the Judge that Johanna might find him more attractive if he gets spruced up at Sweeney Todd's shop (Ladies in Their Sensitivities). The Judge agrees, which saves our young lovers from being discovered. The Beadle's Ladies with the addition of Judge Turpin, as well as the couple's Kiss Me combine into a stunning quartet, ending with an incredible falsetto from the Beadle as the lovers "oh sir, ah miss, oh sir, ah miss..."
In Sweeney Todd's shop, the Judge presents himself, and Sweeney cannot wait to slit his throat. They sing a duet (Pretty Women), and just before Sweeney's razors drip precious rubies, Anthony bursts in, blurting out all of his elopement plans. Unsurprisingly, the Judge leaves and swears to lock Johanna up.
Sweeney Todd kicks Anthony out of the shop, loses his mind, and decides "Not one man, no nor ten men, nor a hundred can assuage me" (Epiphany). He's more or less ready to kill everybody for the rest of the play. The final song of Act I is very catchy, and the most famous number from the soundtrack (A Little Priest). Mrs. Lovett realizes that they can dispose of Pirelli and any subsequent bodies by turning them into meat pies, and Sweeney Todd wonders, "How I've lived without you all these years, I'll never know!" Intermission.
CHAPTER 3: PLOT SYNOPSIS PART II
Act II
Mrs. Lovett is richer. Her shop has prospered, Toby has grown into a good little right hand man, and Sweeney Todd receives a fancy barber chair that disposes his victims down a chute into the bakehouse (God, That's Good). How's that for efficiency? (Earlier versions of the legend skip the slitting of throats and let the victims break their heads falling down the chute or on the cellar floor, but that seems a little farfetched). Mrs. Lovett tends to all of the customers and throws out the Beggar Woman.
Anthony searches for the missing Johanna while Sweeney Todd sings in a light hearted manner and slashes throats (Todd's Johanna). Anthony hears Johanna's voice in Fogg's Asylum, but the Beadle prevents him from rescuing her.
Mrs. Lovett dreams of marrying Sweeney Todd (By The Sea) while he fixates on the Judge and pays her very little attention. One line in this song is the only point in the libretto that suggests the two have had a physical relationship: "Me rumpled bedding legitimized." Anthony swings by the shop and explains that he's found Johanna in Fogg's Asylum. Immediately Sweeney Todd realizes that she's as good as rescued. He teaches Anthony how to sound like a credible wigmaker, equips him with a gun, and instructs him to return to the shop that evening. Anthony is a quick study after waiting for his modulation, and sets off on his mission. But then crazy Sweeney Todd writes to Judge Turpin, luring him to the shop with the promise of Johanna (The Letter)! That's the craziest!! I don't think he needed to do these two things at the same time. He could have lured by lying.
Downstairs, Mrs. Lovett knits Tobias a muffler. He explains that demons are prowling everywhere, and he'll protect her (Not While I'm Around). However, once Tobias recognizes Adolfo Pirelli's purse, Mrs. Lovett realizes he has grown suspicious, so she invites him down to the bakehouse and locks the door. Upstairs, the Beadle arrives for a routine inspection concerning the stink from the chimney. She claims she doesn't have a key to the bakehouse, so they wait for Sweeney while singing and playing a singed harmonium (Parlor Songs). Sweeney Todd returns, offers a free shave to the Beadle, and disposes of him. Toby sees the Beadle arrive down the chute and somehow vanishes through a trap door into the shadows. (The vanishing of Toby makes a little less sense than most of the story). Mrs. Lovett tells Sweeney Todd that Tobias suspects them and urges Sweeney to kill the boy, but he only has eyes for the Judge at the moment.
Over at the Asylum, Anthony cannot bring himself to shoot Fogg, so Johanna has to. Everybody escapes (City on Fire)! The release of the lunatics is a wonderful feeling. The score and libretto create a fantastic scene here: City on fire! Rats in the grass and the lunatics yelling in the streets! It’s the end of the world! Yes! City on fire! Hunchbacks kissing! Stirrings in the graves and the screaming of giant winds! Watch out! Look! Crawling on the chimneys great black crows screeching at the city on fire!
In the chaos, Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney search for Toby while the Beggar Woman searches for the Beadle to report the bakehouse, so the name of the sequence is "Searching." Meanwhile, Johanna has dressed in sailor's clothes, and she and Anthony have made it from the Asylum to the deserted barber shop. The Beggar Woman appears and Johanna hides in a trunk. The Beggar Woman sings a lullaby while rocking an imaginary infant. This is labeled Searching Part III, but I'll refer to it as My Jo, My Jing from now on. The score, an adaption of Poor Thing, brought tears to my eyes, and I haven't even taken it to my piano yet.
Sweeney Todd enters. He doesn't really care to kill the Beggar Woman, but he needs to make room for the Judge who is on his way, so he slits her throat and sends her down the chute. In a moment the Judge has entered. Together they lust after pretty women again (Pretty Women) and Sweeney Todd finally takes his revenge. Sweeney leaves the room to look for Tobias, but realizes he has left his razor behind. He comes back to find Johanna trying to escape in a sailor's outfit. He almost kills the sailor, but Mrs. Lovett's screams from downstairs distract him and Johanna escapes. Whew! I really thought Johanna was going to get killed there!! The Judge is clinging to Mrs. Lovett's skirt when Sweeney arrives on the scene.
Mrs. Lovett tries to prevent Sweeney Todd from getting closer to the body of the Beggar Woman, but she isn't successful. Upon seeing her face in the light of the fire, Sweeney Todd realizes that the Beggar Woman is his wife, Lucy Barker.
When Len Cariou screams "Noooooo!" it's heartbreaking and shocking and scary. I've probably listened to that recording a hundred times, so I've cried about it, just a little bit, a hundred times. Sweeney Todd holds his dead wife for a few moments before making quick work of throwing Mrs. Lovett into the oven. (The score is just incredible here.) Benjamin caresses Lucy once more, and Tobias comes from out of the shadows, half crazed with white hair. He slits Benjamin's throat, who falls on top of his wife Lucy.
Policemen, Anthony, and Johanna arrive on the scene to discover all the dead bodies, and the company concludes with the final iteration of The Ballad of Sweeney Todd. Everyone comes back to life to join in, and Pirelli and the Beadle treat us to a fantastic duet in the B section beyond the wildest dreams of Tim Burton.
The End.
CHAPTER 4: MY LEITMOTIFS PART I (#1-#4)
The term "leitmotif" translates to "leading motif" or "guiding motif," and it's simply a motif that's associated with an idea. Ideas could be characters, places, situations, or objects. The term was coined by the Wagnerian scholar Hans von Wolzogen, and Wagner wrote a lot of operas that used these. In case you clicked on that link and are thirsting for more, here's part 2.
What comes to your head when you think of Jaws is a leitmotif, and so is the beginning of the Imperial March. The ideas they are associated with are the shark Bruce and Darth Vader, respectively.
Now that we're sorted, it's time to introduce you to the players!
Leitmotif 1: Dies Irae
Represents: Death
Highlight Color: Bright Red like Fresh Blood
First Appearance in Score: p. 2
Score Example: p. 2
Leitmotif 1 Audio
Discussion:
Our first leitmotif is the beginning of the Dies Irae, a part of the Catholic requiem, which is a mass for the dead. It originates from 13th century Gregorian chant, and the Latin translation is "Day of Wrath" or "Judgement Day." Sondheim found it "moving and scary at the same time." It looks like this.
Dies Irae is everywhere. The first four notes begin Haydn's Symphony 103, composed in 1795. Thirty-five years later, Berlioz used it in the "Dream of A Witches' Sabbath" from his Symphonie Fantastique, in which our protagonist, a drugged artist, sees himself "in the midst of a hideous gathering of shades, sorcerers and monsters of every kind who have come together for his funeral." Needless to say, it's been popular ever since. The beginning of Liszt's Totentanz from 1849 is another terrific example, and here's one for solo piano from 1893 - Brahams' Intermezzo Op. 118, No. 6. Now that you know what you're listening for, let's go to the movies! You're an expert on this, so don't be too shy to click: It's a Wonderful Life, 1946; Star Wars, 1977; The Shining, 1980; Home Alone, 1990; The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993; The Lion King, 1994; Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone, 2001; and Frozen 2, 2019. If you're disappointed because you feel I wasn't sufficiently thorough, you can start making your way through this list.
Here's the punchline: Sondheim used the beginning of the Dies Irae as a basis for this entire musical. In his interview with Adam Guettel, Sondheim spoke on using "as little material as possible." He also described Bach as having the ability to take four notes and "build a cathedral." I love that.
Leitmotif 2: Dies Irae Relative
Represents: Death as it relates to Characters
Highlight Color: Brownish Red like Dried Blood
First Appearance in Score: p. 22
Score Example: p. 34
Lietmotif 2 Audio
Discussion:
This one is the first 4 notes of the Dies Irae but with the last interval (the third) inverted. It's sung by every character. Anthony is the only character that never kills anybody or gets killed himself, and the only time he sings this leitmotif is when he's imitating Johanna's part in Kiss Me. In that song, he's mostly making plans and telling Johanna to kiss him, and none of that has the Dies Irae Relative. Here's a quick rundown of where the DIR appears.
Beggar Woman - Prostituting Jig, Hey Hoy Sailor Boy from Ah, Miss
Lovett - Worst Pies, Poor Thing, A Little Priest, By the Sea
Company - Pirelli's Miracle Elixir, God That's Good
Pirelli - Pirelli's Entrance, The Contest, Pirelli's Death
Johanna & Anthony - Kiss Me
Beadle - Ladies in Their Sensitivities
Judge Turpin & Sweeney Todd - Pretty Women (Sweeney Todd tends to use the original DI)
Tobias - Not While I'm Around
The first three notes in Dies Irae, and also this leitmotif, begin with a step in one direction and a step right back. Collectively, that's called a "neighbor figure." Were I to highlight every neighbor figure, the score would be a mess, so I didn't. However, I'd like to point out the fact that Pirelli can hardly go a measure without one. Neighbors are all over the B section of Pirelli's Miracle Elixir, Pirelli's Entrance, The Contest, The Contest II, and Pirelli's Death. On my score, those pages may look like they need a bit of color, but a quick glance in search of neighbors will tell you all you need to know.
(Side note: if humans could see as many colors as mantis shrimp, I probably would have made a "Pirelli Neighbor" color and marked up those pages. I might have given into the Mrs. Lovett seventh too. And before you get mad because you're a mantis shrimp aficionado, I understand that we don't actually know how many colors mantis shrimp see, but we can all agree that they have 12-16 color receptors which seems impressive enough, and I thought that was plenty of biology for the day year.)
If you'll all turn to p. 102 where we begin The Contest, you'll notice that Pirelli tends to oscillate within a 4 note range, the same range as our Dies Irae excerpt. From now on, we'll call four stepwise notes in the same direction a tetrachord, meaning "four strings" or "four notes." Dies Irae spans a tetrachord, so they show up a lot.
One more lecture, and then I promise we'll move on.
A fugue is a piece of music written in two or more voices where there's an important motif called the "subject" that gets passed around and repeated and altered. There's a little more to it than that, but that's all you need to know for this discussion. So a fugue begins with the first voice presenting the subject. Then the second voice comes in and also presents the subject, but this time, the subject has started off on a different note, and this second subject is called the "answer." It's really exciting, even if it didn't sound that way from how I described it. If the answer has all of the exact same intervals as the subject did, it's called a "real answer." If it doesn't, it will still have had enough in common with the original subject to be recognizable, and it's called a "tonal answer." It's called that because it was only altered to stay in the key and sound nice, so there were good tonal reasons for the changes.
Because the Dies Irae Relative is given to so many characters in so many situations in so many keys with so many moods, it's a good example of one I treat more "tonally." It's okay if the second is a major second or a minor second, and it's okay if the third is a major third or a minor third; it just has to look and sound the part.
(That being said, even I had to reject the diminished third from m. 33-34 of the Prelude on p. 3. Male cuttlefish sometimes imitate female cuttlefish in order to pass by the other males undetected and find a mate.)
Leitmotif 3: Sweeney Todd
Represents: Revenge, Murder, and Obsession
Highlight Color: Sweeney Green
First Appearance in Score: p. 6
Score Example: p. 172, 119
Leitmotif 3.1 Audio
Leitmotif 3.2 Audio
Discussion:
Sondheim called this one the Stravinksy theme because it "had a Stravinksy texture" to him. Joseph Swain calls it "Obsession," Stephen Banfield calls it "Nemesis," and Craig McGill calls it "Murder," but I simply call it Sweeney. It follows Sweeney around and intensifies when he's thinking about Judge Turpin; the first example from Epiphany demonstrates this well. The second example is the version I hear most easily with all its variations, which are the 6 notes performed lyrically by Mrs. Lovett at the end of Wait with, "Gilly flowers maybe." So when I'm creeping around with my sweeney green highlighter, that's what's going through my head. In its simplest form, it's 3 notes, and in example 3.2 above, those notes are Bb Db Eb. The 4 note version begins one note earlier, and it's C Bb Db Eb. Actually, when the theme is first introduced in The Ballad, it breaks up these 4 notes into two groups of three, overlapping the middle notes: C Bb Db, and then Bb Db Eb.
The 6-note version just repeats the first two notes, and that one's my "Gilly flowers maybe" - C Bb C Bb Db Eb. But the 8 note version, C Bb C Bb Db Bb Eb Bb, comes with all the bells and whistles of the harmony shown in the treble staff of m. 84 in example 3.2, or in a different key, example 3.1. By the way, each of the three leitmotifs so far span that perfect fourth.
Leitmotif 4: Judge Turpin
Represents: Old Lech Turpin
Highlight Color: Dark Blue
First Appearance in Score: p. 1
Score Example: p. 381
Leitmotif 4 Audio
Discussion:
You already know that I don't love this one because it's just a bit of stepwise motion. In what I consider to be its original form, the 3 notes in this motif are an ascending half step followed by an ascending whole step, like the Eb Fb Gb above. Inverted (that means upside-down), that's a descending half step followed by a descending whole step. In retrograde (that means backwards, like reading right to left), that would be a descending whole step followed by a descending half step. And retrograde inversion, which I'm sure you can figure, would be an ascending whole step followed by an ascending half step.*
Of course you can see the dilemma; these four patterns of 3 steps are not only everywhere in this score, but in all scores everywhere. Were there not significant findings to chat about, I would have thrown this one to the dogs for dessert after Nellie Lovett's seventh.
I try not to get too highlighter happy, marking every version of the Judge's theme, but I make exceptions. For instance, I mark up the Judge's opening leitmotif in retrograde inversion at the beginning of his Johanna on p. 377, and its later reference to this moment in the pick up to p. 345, right before he lusts after Pretty Women for the second time and promptly gets his throat slit.
But even with my conservative highlighting, the Judge shows up quite a bit. He's in every version of Prelude (there are 4) and the end of every A section of The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (there are 9). He's in the songs Wait, Epiphany, Todd's Johanna, the Letter to the Judge, and Pretty Women. But also, his theme is worked into the Beggar Woman/Alms leitmotif as well as opening the theme, There Was A Barber and His Wife. I love the connection to Alms specifically, because it was he that drove our Lucy into becoming the "half-crazed beggar woman" in the first place.
The entire story revolves around the conflict between Sweeney Todd and Judge Turpin, so it would make sense to link their leitmotifs. Take a look the Sweeney's 8-note version and see if you can find the Judge.
*Speaking of inversion, retrograde, and retrograde inversion, any of these variations are fair game for my highlighters. If you're following along and think I've marked something incorrectly, double check these first. For example, the 3-note version of Sweeney Todd's leitmotif is one I often mark in retrograde.
CHAPTER 5: MY LEITMOTIFS PART II (#5-#8)
Leitmotif 5: Lucy Identity
Represents: Lucy Barker
Highlight Color: Dark Purple, or what Dark Blue does to Pink
First Appearance in Score: p. 22
Score Example: p. 47, 22, 155
Leitmotif 5.1 Audio
Discussion:
The first score example I chose takes place during the flashback in Poor Thing, when Mrs. Lovett is describing what happens to Lucy at the party. Sondheim gives away the big twist - Lucy's Identity - but only to people who are looking for it. When we meet the Beggar Woman, this is her prostituting jig!
Leitmotif 5.2 Audio
Leitmotif 5.3 Audio
Leitmotif 6: Beggar Woman
Represents: Begging for Alms
Highlight Color: Light Purple
First Appearance in Score: p. 21
Score Example: p. 22
Leitmotif 6 Audio
Discussion:This is the Beggar Woman's cry for alms, so we hear it when she approaches Sweeney Todd and Anthony in No Place Like London, outside Judge Turpin's house when she's talking to Anthony in Ah, Miss, outside the Pie Shop before Wait, and at the beginning of the final sequence when she's looking for the Beadle. Her leitmotif is based on a descending chromatic scale, broken up with filled in thirds based on the Judge's leitmotif. (I told you Turpin was worth keeping!) Fun fact: the example above shows leitmotifs 1-6.
Leitmotif 7: Lucy Lyrical
Represents: Memory & Idolization of Lucy Barker
Highlight Color: Dark Pink, further away from Dark Blue
First Appearance in Score: p. 1
Score Example: p. 178
Leitmotif 7 Audio
Discussion:Banfield writes, "Both Johanna and Lucy seem to be associated with downward scales, diatonic for Johanna in her purity, onomatopoeically chromatic for the fallen Lucy."
Lucy Lyrical uses the tetrachord of the Dies Irae and rearranges the pitches in descending order: F E D C. Normally enunciated with longer rhythms, this musically romantic theme is the very first phrase the listener ever hears, beginning right on the downbeat of the first measure of the Organ Prelude. As the third leitmotif concerning Lucy, it is linked with both Beggar Woman/Alms (Light Purple) and Lucy's Identity (Dark Purple) with its opening descending half step. We've already seen how Judge Turpin's leitmotif relates to the Beggar Woman's, but how does it relate to this one?
Lucy Lyrical is found in the four statements of the Prelude, but more expressively all over Epiphany, the song in which Sweeney Todd completely loses his mind. To this leitmotif that he sings, "Not one man no, Not ten men, Nor a hundred can assuage me." I've always loved the way the words sit on the melody there.
Leitmotif 8: Johanna Lucy
Represents: Johanna Barker, Young Lucy Barker
Highlight Color: Light Pink
First Appearance in Score: p. 2
Score Example: p. 62, 68
Leitmotif 8.1 Audio
Leitmotif 8.2 Audio
Discussion:
Green Finch and Linnet Bird is Johanna's aria, and it opens with this 5-note run with a step in the opposite direction. We first hear this leitmotif, both in its original form and its inversion, when Mrs. Lovett describes Lucy in Poor Thing. It's presented more beautifully here by Johanna, and immediately afterwards in a faster rhythm by the newly lovestruck Anthony in Ah, Miss.
Characters like Johanna and Anthony have less to do with the Dies Irae theme than characters like Sweeney Todd or Mrs. Lovett, but Johanna does kill Fogg, and a case could be made for the Dies Irae popping up twice in her first two measures. Under the lyrics, "Green finch and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird," the DI shows up with "linnet bird, in [G F G E]" and "nightingale, bird [F E F D]." It's subtle. In this case, I feel that the rhythmic and lyrical emphases point our ears towards stepwise motion, so I kept the red highlighter by my side.
Speaking of restraint, this motif pops up on p. 99 under the words "barber of kings" and on p. 219 under "one for the gentleman," but neither one means a thing.
CHAPTER 6: MY LEITMOTIFS PART III (#9-#11)
Leitmotif 9: Anthony Hope
Represents: Anthony and his Hope
Highlight Color: Light Blue like the Seas and Skies
First Appearance in Score: p. 19
Score Example: p. 19
Leitmotif 9 Audio
Discussion:
Anthony is a nice young sailor boy who loves Johanna, and that's about all there is to him. His leitmotif can nearly be found wherever he is, which means we hear it in: No Place Like London in which we first meet Anthony; Ah, Miss, in which he first sees Johanna; Johanna, in which he has already immediately fallen in love; Kiss Me, in which he proposes; the Kiss Me Quartet, in which he introduces himself to Johanna (no, I do not have these events backwards); Todd's Johanna in which Anthony is searching the streets after Judge Turpin has locked Johanna away; and the No Place Like London in the final sequence when the two lovers have just escaped Fogg's Asylum.
Anthony has a little fanfare in the first two measures of p. 19. There aren't that many of them; they're in No Place Like London and the end of its reprise on p. 337, as well as the end of Ah, Miss on p. 71. Both Stephen Banfield and Joseph Swain hear bells in the fanfare, but I'm not convinced. They might know something I don't, because Banfield even describes this moment as "Anthony hearing and seeing the golden radiance of steeple and weathervane." I hear it as a brassier statement, more like the way Into The Hoods describes it. Anyway, I didn't mark it, but I'll try to remember to redo this essay in my next life as a mantis shrimp.
Anthony saved Benjamin Barker's life at sea, and they arrived in London together. On p. 335, Anthony says, "He'll [Sweeney Todd] be back in a moment, for I trust him as I trust my right arm." Also, Anthony loves Johanna as Benjamin loved Lucy (I'm not going to pretend Sweeney Todd is a good father to Johanna; he uses her for bait, for heaven's sake). All of this is to say it would make sense to link their leitmotifs. Can you figure out what I'm about to say?
Leitmotif 10: Anthony's Johanna
Represents: Anthony's Idolization of Johanna Barker
Highlight Color: The Exact Shade of Johanna's Hair: Yellow
First Appearance in Score: p. 27
Score Example: p. 74
Leitmotif 10 Audio
Discussion:
Notice that this represents Anthony's idolization of Johanna Barker, which is different than the character Johanna Barker. Robert McLaughlin put it well:
Clearly, each man, in singing of Johanna [Anthony in his Johanna, Judge Turpin in his Johanna, and Sweeney Todd in his Johanna], has created a version of the girl and projected it onto the real Johanna, thus turning her into an object of desire. This process of objectification is also a process of dehumanization as a living human being is turned into an ideal to be desired and, less romantically, a product to be consumed...
And while we may be getting off topic, it has gotten too interesting to ignore. McLaughlin continues,
Although she has initiated the rescue attempt by stealing the key to her room and tossing it to Anthony from her window, when he comes to her, she grants him all agency, appearing too demure and, well, stupid to take charge herself. Much of the humor in "Kiss Me" comes from her silly babbling... With Judge Turpin, there is no babbling or stupidity. When he asks if she has been near the window, Johnna replies with irony, "Hardly, dear father, when it has been shuttered and barred these last three days" as to protect herself from his lust. She reminds him that she is a "maid trained from the cradle to find in modesty and obedience the greatest of all virtues." She also repeatedly addresses him as "father" to try to keep their relationship on a parent-child footing. In act 2, as her need to escape becomes more desperate, she claims more agency. She shoots Fogg when Anthony cannot bring himself to, and, trapped in the barber chair with her life in the balance, she becomes the only one of Sweeney's intended victims to elude him and escape.
It's true, it's true! She's our secret heroine! But back to business - the opening three notes are unquestionably a leitmotif. An ascending sixth falling down to the fifth is easy enough to recognize without these rather extreme rhythmic durations, and once those are in place, the highlighter nearly takes on a mind of its own. Admittedly, sometimes my highlighter gets a little greedy and doesn't stop after Anthony's Johanna's first phrase.
The Anthony's Johanna leitmotif appears in his song Johanna of course (shown above with his leitmotif highlighted as well), throughout the Kiss Me sequence, and in his search throughout Todd's song, Johanna. In fact, both Anthony and Sweeney use it in Todd's Johanna. Later, Sweeney Todd uses it again to lure the Judge in The Letter. A more subtle version of the leitmotif can be found in outlines of the A sections of Pretty Women: first on p. 160 as Sweeney sings to the Judge "'Tis your delight, sir, catching fire," and then again on p. 278 as he teaches Anthony how to appear as a credible wigmaker in, "There's tawny and there's golden saffron..." But the very first time we hear this leitmotif, 'tis but a ghost of the past. It haunts us before Sweeney Todd tells us his backstory all the way back to the beginning of the play, near the docks of London on p. 27.
Leitmotif 11: Birdcalls
Represents: Johanna Barker
Highlight Color: Pretty Pretty Peach
First Appearance in Score: p. 45
Score Example: p. 62
Leitmotif 11 Audio
Discussion:
Now we're referencing the actual Johanna Barker, who's a caged bird. I've not found another person that considers birdcalls to be Johanna's leitmotif, but I have no idea why. They are. We first hear grace notes alluding to birdcalls on p. 45 when Mrs. Lovett remembers, "Johanna, that was the baby's name... Pretty little Johanna." They're written out more extensively before Green Finch and Linnet Bird and right before Anthony's Johanna. We find some weird electronic notation for them on p. 262 when Anthony first finds her in Fogg's Asylum, and then again on p. 321 in the scene where Johanna shoots Fogg.
One of Mr. Fogg's lines is, "Poor child. She needs so much correction. She sings all day and all night and leaves the other inmates sleepless." This has a parallel moment: the Bird Seller, in his conversation with Anthony on p. 73, says, "We blind 'em, sir. That's what we always does. Blind 'em and, not knowing night from day, they sing and sing without stopping, pretty creatures."
Other than the trill, there are two main birdcalls: C F E C and D# F# E#. The first, simplified to C F C, with the last note up the octave, can be found throughout Green Finch and Linnet Bird. The second can as well, but there we go again with the mantis shrimp. If you can't stand that I haven't marked it, look for the words, "beckoning, beckoning," and don't forget to check the orchestra part.
I know I wrote earlier that I don't care for 2-note leitmotifs, but take a look at the dramatic outlining of three descending perfect fifths on the top of p. 31. They sound like the end of our C F C in retrograde! Isolated descending perfect fifths also show up in Kiss Me and Poor Thing, so I gave in and marked them. I tried not to, but they were dreaming and crowing and screaming.
To review Johanna's birdcalls in order, first there's the idea of grace notes and trills, then the wider birdcall D# F# E# which I have chosen not to mark, then the even wider birdcall C F E C, then the simplified octave-spanning C F C, and finally the descending C F, a retrograde truncated echo. It really is all connected in my ear, but now that I've had to explain it in three paragraphs, maybe I can understand why other people don't consider this markable. I'd probably delete this whole section out of insecurity, were it not for the fact that I've already claimed Anthony's first three phrases to be one leitmotif. And let's not forget how complicated Sweeney Todd's unnegotiable leitmotif ended up being.
CHAPTER 7: MY LEITMOTIFS PART IV (#12-#14)
Leitmotif 12: Westminster Quarters
Represents: Time & Setting
Highlight Color: Bronze, the color of Bell Metal
First Appearance in Score: p. 19
Score Example: p. 41
Leitmotif 12 Audio
Discussion:
You know this one already! The big clock chime represents time.
These last three leitmotifs in Chapter VII are no longer associated with characters, but they're helpful storytelling devices. I got the Westminster Quarters from Into The Hoods*, the Ballad Accompaniment from Stephen Banfield, and Remembering from Craig McGill who calls it "History."
To elaborate on the Banfield motifs, he lists Anthony's fanfare as "Bells 10A," Remembering as "Bells 10B," the Westminster Quarters as "Bells 11," and the B section of Not While I'm Around as "Bells 12." Bells are important in Sweeney Todd, and there are a few moments that sound especially like bells to me: the accompaniment of Anthony's Johanna, Banfield's "Bells 12" including the fifths in the pedal, and the bass line of Pirelli's Miracle Elixir. The accompaniment of Ladies in Their Sensitivities spells out a major pentascale (A B C# D E), and something about this with its repetitive nature, combined with the quartal and quintal spacing, make it feel bell-like too. Finally, there's the Parlor Song Tower of Bray, which is a song written about 12 bells. "If four bells ring in the Tower of Bray... Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong! Then lovers must pray. Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong! Four bells today..." I really did have to type all that out, because if you know the song, you know that The Beadle is hilarious, and you wanted to relive the moment.
*This Into The Hoods link is a playlist of all 20 videos created by young'un David Lien on his musical analysis of Sweeney Todd. Please check it out; I'm not ashamed to admit that you may very well like it better than this essay.
Leitmotif 13: Ballad Accompaniment
Represents: Narration
Highlight Color: Light Green
First Appearance in Score: p. 4
Score Example: p. 4, 376
Leitmotif 13.1 Audio
The same leitmotif with the opposite articulation and dynamics:
Leitmotif 13.2 Audio
Discussion:
Here's a quick rundown of the Ballad's appearances and their sections:
p. 4 ABACA
p. 58 BA
p. 110 C
p. 124 AB
p. 280 C
p. 315 AC
p. 350 B
p. 362 ABACA
The Ballad Accompaniment is not a perfect representation of where the Ballad enters, because it only occurs in the A section. However, its placement isn't quite that cut and dry. In the final A sections of the full versions (p. 15 and 373), the accompaniment changes its articulation from legato to staccato. The one on p. 15 begins a decrescendo down to pianissimo before No Place Like London, whereas the final section drives us into the fortississimo that ends the entire show. In a similar flurry of anger and excitement, a fortissimo staccato underscore transitions us from the boat dock to the Pie Shop on p. 32-33.
The Ballad Accompaniment appears twice more in a very sad way, surrounding Sweeney's first and last There Was A Barber and His Wife. The first time, Sweeney Todd is telling Anthony his backstory on p. 27-31, and the second, he is singing to himself, full of remorse on p. 359-361.
A very similar accompaniment figure can be found when Mrs. Lovett tells her version of the story in Poor Thing when the time signature changes to 6/8 on p. 46. However, the intervals have changed and the neighbor figure inverted itself, and naturally, I'm reticent. Oh yes, I'm reticent. (That was a Music Man quote.)
Leitmotif 14: Remembering
Represents: Introduction to There Was A Barber
Highlight Color: Orange
First Appearance in Score: p. 21
Score Example: p. 24
Leitmotif 14 Audio
Discussion:
This one is a little like Anthony's unmarked fanfare or the Ballad Accompaniment, because it serves as an intro or accompaniment to another theme. The theme There Was A Barber and His Wife first takes place in No Place Like London, and like the Ballad Accompaniment, it shows up several times. McGill points out that this theme links Anthony and Sweeney Todd, and while that's usually true, its presence under Mrs. Lovett's statement makes me wholeheartedly disagree. Meanwhile, Banfield describes it as a "ghostly oppressive echo of what might be a funeral toll," and I think that's about right.
p. 21 before an instrumental statement
p. 24 before an instrumental statement
p. 25 leitmotif continues under Sweeney's "There's A Hole"
p. 41 under (not before) Lovett's statement
p. 335 before an instrumental statement
p. 337 before an instrumental statement
There is no Remembering leitmotif when Sweeney is singing with the sad Ballad Accompaniment on p. 27 and 359; nor does it show up in Epiphany, when Sweeney sings "There's A Hole" for the second and final time.
CHAPTER 8: MY LEITMOTIFS CLOSING REMARKS
15. Bernard Herrmann
Surprise! This isn't actually a leitmotif at all, but a very brief lecture on the harmonic make up of the score. That's why it's all by itself in grayscale. Sondheim loved horror films, and he particularly loved Bernard Herrmann, the film composer behind Hitchcock's Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo. Herrmann composed for several other films as well as Mom's favorite show, The Twilight Zone! He died in 1975, and Sweeney Todd (1979) is Sondheim's homage to him. But enough with the chit chat.
All seventh chords are built from stacking up four notes in three thirds. Assuming an "M" represents a major triad and an "m" represents a minor triad, building from the bottom up, we have the following possible ways of building 7th chords:
MMM [C E G# B#] - Augmented triad; not a real 7th chord at all
MMm [C E G# B] - Augmented major seventh chord/Major seventh sharp five chord
MmM [C E G B] - Major seventh chord
Mmm [C E G Bb] - Dominant seventh chord
mMM [C Eb G B] - No common name/Minor major seventh chord
mMm [C Eb G Bb] - Minor seventh chord
mmM [C Eb Gb Bb] - Half diminished seventh
mmm [C Eb Gb Bbb] - Fully diminished seventh
The one that doesn't really have a name, the mMM, is the chord Sondheim referred to as the Bernard Herrmann chord. In its purest form, the seventh (B in this example) is in the bass [B C Eb G]. Within this harmony, there's both a minor triad [C Eb G] and an augmented triad [Eb G B]. The Bernard Herrmann chord has a minor second on top of the augmented triad or a minor second below the minor triad, but Sondheim often puts other minor seconds together with augmented triads and minor triads in other ways to create similar harmonies. I do not mark those (mantis), but you can stay after school and cite 3 examples for extra credit. This is actually a pretty easy task; look for a Bernard Herrmann chord I missed, and you'll probably either find one (double extra credit), or stumble across one of the fakes I'm requesting.
I also stumbled across several bitonal moments that felt more like they were designed to build dissonance and tension rather than function harmonically. Here's an example of that - take a quick look at the notes in the treble of the accompaniment. There's a C minor triad & Bb major triad, which moves to a D major & C major triad in m. 128.
If you want to know what this sounds like, just think about the Beggar Woman's leitmotif. Under her first word, "Alms," lurks a Bernard Herrmann.
It's amazing that Sondheim can create deliberate discord and still make it cheery. Would you believe that A Little Priest and God That's Good make use of the Bernard Herrmann? It's not all over the place, but when it shows up, it's relatively inconspicuous. That's like magic. Yet sometimes the Bernard Herrmann chord is used more predictably. We expect to hear it in Judge Turpin's Johanna, The Letter, and City on Fire. In fact, Turpin's Johanna (see notes starting on p. 286) has what I would call double Herrmann chords. Herrrrmannnn chords, perhaps.
Mrs. Lovett tends to have more dissonant songs that actually don't use much of the Bernard Herrmann chord at all: Worst Pies, Poor Thing, Wait, By The Sea, and even her part in Toby's Not While I'm Around. By contrast, some of the most consonant songs with no Bernard Herrmanns are: Green Finch and Linnet Bird, Anthony's Johanna, Pirelli's Miracle Elixir (if you don't count the trill before Toby removes his hat on p. 85), Kiss Me Quartet, and Todd's Johanna.
Sondheim and his collaborators considered this to be a very musically romantic score, and I would have to agree. The Kiss Me Quartet, particularly, strikes me as one of the most sweeping, captivating moments I've ever heard. Put better by Joseph Swain,
All this reaches a musical climax at measure 23, just when Anthony begins a reprise of his love theme. This is a moment of true contrapuntal art, a coordination of rhythmic preparation, of the two singing together for the first time, and of the ineffable rightness of Anthony's sustained theme which cancels all memory of pattersong, all concentrated on a single point of time. It all builds, of course the dramatic image of the besieged couple who are so much in love that they cannot take their own danger seriously enough.
Leitmotifs Conclusion
I know a fun game. Let's transpose the leitmotifs so that their highest note is F, just to see how they relate to one another. Many of them will fall into the C-F tetrachord that spans the DI.
This isn't an exhaustive list, but it includes prominent first iterations of the leitmotifs in each number, which can be helpful for those of you who know the soundtrack pretty well. (I won't track how the leitmotifs tonally morph throughout each piece, because then I would risk coming across as obsessive.) If the examples aren't the beginnings of phrases already, I'll include the lyrics and opening notes to the beginnings of phrases so you can find your footing.
DI - F E F D E C D D
Prelude instrumental p. 2
The Ballad instrumental p. 16-17
DI common truncation - F E F D
My Friends "how they glisten" p. 52 (These are my friends D E D F)
Kiss Me "I'd rather die" p. 131 (He means to - A A G)
DI inversion - D Eb D F
DI altered 1 - F E F Db
Pirelli's Miracle Elixir "did the trick, sir" p. 85 ('Twas Pirelli's - Gb Ab Bb Db)
God, That's Good "particular" p. 229 (Is that a chair - C F G A)
DI altered 1 inversion - Db Ebb Db F
DI altered 2 - F Eb F D
God, That's Good "dear forgive my" p. 224 (What's my secret - Ab Ab Ab Ab)
Not While I'm Around "-mons are prowling" p. 294 (De[mons] - G)
DI altered 2 inversion - D E D F
My Friends "These are my friends" p. 52 (Beginning of phrase)
God, That's Good "it's six o-'clock!" p. 222 (But - C)
By The Sea "bones on the es" p. 270 (I'll warm me - C D)
DI altered 3 - F Eb F Db
The Ballad "Swing your razor wide" p. 8 (Beginning of phrase)
There's A Hole "great black pit and the" p. 25 (There's a hole - Db Eb F)
Wait phrase structure in A section p. 116 (Easy now - F Gb Ab)
DI altered 3 inversion - Db Eb Db F
DI tricky truncation - E F D E C D
The Ballad "the tale of Sweeney Todd" p. 4 (Attend - A D)
DI tricky truncation altered - Eb F D Eb C
God, That's Good! "You take your time, I'll" p. 230 (You make your - Bb F G)
DIR - E F E C#
Ladies in Their Sensitivities "Ladies in their" p. 140 (Beginning of phrase)
DIR inversion - D C# D F
A Little Priest "Mister Todd, all" p. 186 (Those crunching - C B G)
DIR altered 1 - Eb F Eb C
Ladies in Their Sensitivities "I request, my" p. 138 (Excuse me - Ab F Db)
Not While I'm Around "I may not be" p. 297 (Not to worry - A G F D)
DIR altered 1 inversion - D C D F
The Worst Pies "What's yer hurry" p. 34 (Wait what's yer rush? - C D C D)
Poor Thing "pretty little" p. 42 (He had this - G F E)
Pirelli's Miracle Elixir "bottle, mister?" p. 86 (How about a - D D D C)
Kiss Me "means to mar[ry] me" p. 131 (He - D)
By The Sea "That's the life [I] cov" p. 267 (By the sea - Bb C D)
DIR altered 2 - E F E C
Pretty Women "Pretty women" p. 165 (Beginning of phrase)
DIR altered 2 inversion - Db C Db F
The Contest "shave-a da face" p. 103 (To - Db)
DIR altered 2 retrograde inversion - F Db C Db
Ladies in Their Sensitivities "-cuse me, my lord, May" p. 138 (Ex[cuse] - Ab)
ST - Db C Db C Eb F
Wait "Gilly flowers maybe" p. 119 (Beginning of phrase)
ST common truncation - C Eb F
No Place Like London "Life has been" p. 20 (Beginning of phrase)
Pretty Women "candles or" p. 167 (Blowing out their - D Eb D Bb)
God, That's Good "Excuse me" p. 226 (Beginning of phrase)
God, That's Good "Ooohhh" p. 229 (Beginning of phrase)
God, That's Good "I have another friend" p. 230 (C Eb F, G Bb C)
The Letter "Judge Turpin" p. 286 (Most honorable - A D)
Not While I'm Around "everywhere nowadays" p. 294 (Demons - G F)
ST retrograde - F Eb C
The Ballad instrumental accompaniment p. 12
My Friends "My faithful" p. 52 (My friend - F Eb G)
Not While I'm Around "to worry" p. 297 (Not - G)
ST retrograde altered - F E C
A Little Priest "For what's the" p. 184-185 (Beginning of phrase)
JT - D Eb F
Prelude instrumental p. 1
There Was A Barber "There was a" p. 27 (Beginning of phrase)
Wait "Easy now" p. 116 (Beginning of phrase)
Epiphany "all of the whole human race" p. 173 (Because in - G E F)
God, That's Good "fit for a" p. 229 (Is that a chair - F Bb C D)
Todd's Johanna "And are you" p. 246 (Beginning of phrase)
Turpin's Johanna "Johanna" p. 379 (Beginning of phrase)
JT inversion - F E D
The Ballad "By Sweeney" p. 7 (Beginning of phrase)
A Little Priest "when you have" p. 208 (I'll come again - A G A G)
JT retrograde inversion - D E F
Turpin's Johanna "Johanna" p. 378 (Beginning of phrase)
LI - D D D C# D C# D F Bb
No Place Like London "'Ow would you like a little muff, dear" p. 22 (Beginning of phrase)
Poor Thing instrumental p. 47
Ah, Miss "Alms, alms, for a miserable woman" p. 72 (Beginning of phrase)
Searching "Deedle deedle deedle Dumpling" p. 391 (Beginning of phrase)
LI altered - D D C# D C# D F F
Underscore instrumental p. 153
Turpin's Johanna instrumental p. 385
Searching instrumental p. 390
BW - F E B# C# D# C# B# E D#
No Place Like London "Alms, alms, for a miserable woman" p. 21 (Beginning of phrase)
Ah, Miss "Alms, alms, for a miserable woman" p. 71 (Beginning of phrase)
Wait "Alms, alms, for a miserable" p. 114 (Beginning of phrase)
LL - F E D C
Prelude instrumental p. 1
My Friends "home to find you" p. 53 (Well I've come - D C A)
Epiphany "never see Jo" p. 175 (And I'll - D C)
The Judge's Return instrumental p. 342
Final Scene "Lucy I've come home again" p. 352-353 (Beginning of phrase)
LL altered - F Eb Db C
Final Scene "loved you I'd be" p. 354 ('cause I - Bb Db)
JL - F Eb D C Bb C
Poor Thing "He had this wife, you see" p. 42 (Beginning of phrase)
Poor Thing "They figured she had to be daft" p. 49 (Beginning of phrase)
Green Finch and Linnet Bird "Green finch and linnet bird" p. 62 (Beginning of phrase)
JL inversion - Bb C Db Eb F Eb
JL retrograde inversion- Eb F Eb Db C Bb
Todd's Johanna "you beautiful and fair" p. 246-247 (C Db Eb - And are you)
JL altered 1 - F E D C B C
Ah, Miss "look at me miss oh look" p. 68 (Look at me - F E D)
JL altered 2 - F Eb Db C Bb C
Prelude instrumental p. 2
JL altered 2 inversion - Bb C D Eb F Eb
Poor Thing "So they merely shipped the" p. 44 (Beginning of phrase)
JL altered 2 retrograde inversion - Eb F Eb D C Bb
Prelude instrumental p. 3
AH - C Eb F
No Place Like London "I have sailed" p. 19 (Beginning of phrase)
Johanna "Johanna" p. 74 (I feel you - C Ab G)
Kiss Me "have a plan" p. 131-132 (I - Eb)
AH inversion - F D C
Kiss Me "mean tonight?" p. 134 (You - G)
AJ - A F E, A C D, F Bb C
Johanna "I feel you, Johanna, I feel you" p. 74 (Beginning of phrase)
Kiss Me "I'll steal you, Johanna, I'll steal you" p. 135-136 (Beginning of phrase)
AJ common truncation - A F E
Johanna "I feel you" p. 74 (Beginning of phrase)
Todd's Johanna "Johanna" p. 247 (Beginning of phrase)
AJ altered 1 - G F Eb
Kiss Me "is Todd. Todd," p. 147-148 (The name - G Bb)
AJ altered 2 - Ab F Eb
Pretty Women "Tis your delight" p. 160 (Beginning of phrase)
BC - C F C
Poor Thing "course, when she goes there, Poor" p. 44 (Of - C)
Green Finch and Linnet Bird "How is it you sing?" p. 62 (Beginning of phrase)
WQ - F Db Eb Ab, Ab Eb F Db
No Place Like London instrumental p. 19
Poor Thing instrumental p. 41
Pirelli's Miracle Elixir instrumental p. 80
God, That's Good! instrumental p. 213
Todd's Johanna instrumental p. 245
Searching instrumental p. 327
BA C Db C F
The Ballad instrumental p. 4
Transition Music instrumental p. 32
RM - Db F E D
No Place Like London instrumental p. 24
Leitmotifs are powerful. It's exciting to recognize them, and they amplify our involvement in the story. Let's take a look at the ultimate moment of dramatic irony in the show. Lucy and the orchestra have the Beggar Woman's leitmotif against Sweeney Todd's as she asks, "Don't I know you, Mister?" He responds with, "I have no time," shoves her into the chair, and hurriedly slits her throat. Look at what the orchestra does - it LAUNCHES into the Lucy Lyrical leitmotif, starting where the Beggar Woman's had begun on an F#. Both leitmotifs, as I already mentioned, begin with a descending half step. The orchestra had descended chromatically to an A# before this, so the launch, to be more precise, was an ascending minor 6th falling to a perfect 5th from the bass. This is one of the most beautiful and expressive intervals and resolutions possible; beautiful enough, in fact, to be Anthony's Johanna Barker leitmotif (I have not marked it in yellow, because this moment is more about Lucy and we don't hold the F# for ages). Leitmotifs, in the hands of a master craftsman, are not only a storytelling device, but have the power to make you feel what the composer demands. You could feel horror or love or sorrow or surprise or all of that, all at once. It's a stunning moment:
It would be remiss of me to conclude this analysis without mentioning the little counterpoint echoes throughout the score, so we'll end with a game of Where's Waldo. See if you can find the instrumental versions of these lyrics where they don't match a vocal part. Can you do all 12 examples in 15 minutes?
p. 42 "beautiful"
p. 42 "for the world on a string"
p. 69-70 "Look at me look at me miss...," "sailed the world..."
p. 42 "beautiful"
p. 42 "for the world on a string"
p. 69-70 "Look at me look at me miss...," "sailed the world..."
p. 72 "Green finch and linnet bird..."
p. 73 "Hey! Hoy! Sailor boy!..."
p. 117-118 "brighten up the room... might relieve the gloom"
p. 153-154 "Kiss me!"
p. 165 "Make haste, and if we wed..."
p. 184 "For what's the sound of the world out there?"
p. 117-118 "brighten up the room... might relieve the gloom"
p. 153-154 "Kiss me!"
p. 165 "Make haste, and if we wed..."
p. 184 "For what's the sound of the world out there?"
p. 232-233 "The crust all velvety and wavy, that glaze, those crimps..."
p. 336-337 Look at me look at me miss...," "sailed the world..."
p. 356 "The history of the world, my pet"
p. 336-337 Look at me look at me miss...," "sailed the world..."
p. 356 "The history of the world, my pet"
CHAPTER 9: MIDTERMS
Please memorize these three new words I learned while doing this project:
- ContrafactumThe substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music
- Denouementthe final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved
- Diegetic(of sound in a movie, television program, etc.) occurring within the context of the story and able to be heard by the characters
This is an open book exam, and you may work in groups with your friends.
CHAPTER 10: THE NUMBERS PART I
If you passed (≥ 80), please open your score to p. 1.
We're going to watch several productions as we follow along.
Here is a brief summary of what you should already know:
DI, DIR - these are our Dies Irae leitmotifs, and they're everywhere.
ST, JT, LI, BW, LL, JL, AH, AJ, BC - these are our character leitmotifs.
WQ, BA, RM - these are our storytelling leitmotifs, important in scene changes and transitions.
BH, Song Titles - why, these aren't leitmotifs at all!
The list below is a guide showing how many times each of the numbers appears throughout the score and when. My notes and song titles are typed in gray instead of black so they don't get confused with the original printing in the score.
The show opens with an Organ Prelude and a blackout. The first Prelude is the longest version, and features a good deal of BH; in fact, the very first notes we hear are LL accompanied by BH. JT and JL make their mark, but not as significantly as two full real statements (as opposed to tonal statements) of DI in the treble. Looking ahead, there are only three more places to find full real statements of the DI: one in each of the two full versions of The Ballad, and one in an inner voice of Epiphany. Weirdly enough, there's also a full tonal DI in inversion in The Contest on p. 103.
The blackout is broken by The Ballad ABACA, which gives us three sections with BA. The message here is more or less," Welcome to the play about Sweeney Todd. We'll describe him a bit." The first A section develops ST for the first time. We have a bit of ST, a bit of JT, and a lot of death. The B section is more or less a homorhythmic tonal statement of DI, and the C section introduces two phrases that work well in counterpoint with one another so that they can build into something more layered and threatening. The first phrase is mostly derived from filled in thirds and fourths with some DI, and the second is the neighbor figure I unofficially called the Pirelli neighbor. Sondheim is very cute on p. 16-17, because the full real statement of the DI comes with the line, "What happened then, well that's the play, and he wouldn't want us to give it away." In case you're curious (for you won't be by the time we get to the end of this), the lyrics for the final real statement on p. 374 under the DI are, "To seek revenge may lead to hell, but everyone does it if seldom as well." I've also marked an obsessive retrograde ST in the the accompaniments of the layered C section and the beginning of final A.
This has all been getting us in the mood, and now it's time to meet Anthony and Sweeney Todd from the good ship Bountiful. Major traids! Added seconds and major sevenths, a jaunty little dance rhythm in the bass, and the WQ to set the scene at the docks with No Place Like London. It's Anthony, full of hope and love and optimism and AH! In this case, I believe the WQ mean, "The place was London, the time was 1785."
Enter Sweeney Todd, with his brooding ST and distracted RM, only to be interrupted with the introduction of the Beggar Woman. She wastes no time: BW, LI, BW, LI, BW right away. And then, right then and there, the orchestra reveals LL as Anthony says, "She was only a half-crazed beggar woman"! That's six leitmotif statements to tell us what's going on with her, and we haven't even finished the overpriced drink we bought in the lobby. She exits the stage, and with the spotlight back on Sweeney Todd, he does his semi-recit There's A Hole/RM and life story There Was A Barber/Wistful BA, filled with lots of ST and RM. The melody of There Was A Barber is mostly made from ST, but its first notes are JT. The orchestra plays several yearning AJ before a presto percussive BA with some offset BH, which lead us to Fleet Street to meet Nellie Lovett.
The Worst Pies in London introduces Nellie perfectly. It begins with the descending minor seventh that I keep trying to not acknowledge, and Mrs. Lovett's patter speech is front and center. Remember in my first chapter when I explained that Christopher Bond gave iambic lines to Johanna and Anthony, but not to lower class characters? The spacing of accents here is unpredictable, funny, and charming.
The rest of her part is filled with DIR, and so are all of her songs. This makes perfect sense, because she's a bad guy! Maybe the baddest guy! She plays a huge roll in the murders, and even suggests the killing of innocents Anthony and Tobias. Sweeney Todd has his hand at the razor, but who's worse? There's a reason I named my bakehouse after her. Angela Lansbury and the subsequent Lovetts, with their pigtails and patter speech, play a huge hand in forming the Demon Barber of Fleet Street in the first place. Nellie is a perfectly adorable, massively psychopathic villain.
The B section of the song emphasizes a very slow descending tetrachord over a beautiful harmony outlined by a chromatically descending bass, but it is not the LL. It's very close; in fact, it's LL in retrograde inversion. I consider this the Lovett Lucy Lyrical, and it comes back on p. 354 right before Nellie gets thrown into the oven. Passionately, her part there reads, "I loved you! I'd be twice the wife she was! I love you! Could that thing have cared for you like me?" Of course my alliance lies with Lucy for I am not a psychopath, but as I've already admitted the admiration I have for Nellie, I can't pretend this moment isn't moving as well. #NotBeingAMantisShrimpProblems.
Mrs. Lovett continues to steal the spotlight, as the WQ begin her There Was A Barber/RM in Poor Thing. Here, I believe the WQ mean, "A long time ago..." Her retelling of the tale features the BL as well as BC, which represent the "year old kid." With these two leitmotifs worked so heavily into this score, Poor Thing makes the perfect choice for the material behind My Jo, My Jing in the appendix. The audience can imagine that Johanna heard these themes as a baby, and grew up to rework them into her aria, Green Finch and Linnet Bird. You already know this, but the horrifying flashback in the middle of Poor Thing on p. 47 features the party minuet, which is of course LI. Mrs. Lovett explains that Lucy had taken arsenic, which I believe is true. The implication that Lucy died from arsenic was false.
Once Sweeney Todd understands what has happened in his fifteen year absence, he says, "Let them quake in their boots - Judge Turpin and the Beadle - for their hour has come." Mrs. Lovett presents his razors, and he nearly goes into a trance with My Friends, a gentle dreamy piece built out linking chains of of DI and ST. For a few brief moments I have marked LL, which appears under the lyrics, "Well, I've come home to find you waiting," but alas - his longing to be reunited with his family has been replaced with a new obsession. The orchestra echoes chains of DI building up to a fortississimo, and cuts out for Sweeney Todd to announce, "My right arm is complete again!"
The company enters with TheBallad BA/BA fortissimo in four parts, which bring us to Johanna's window sill. We stay there to meet Rapunzel and Anthony, and hear all of the Romeo and Juliet songs. The bits of BH from TheBallad B go away for a little while so we can stop being scared.
Johanna introduces herself with JL and BC in a rather impressive way; Green Finch and Linnet Bird was not written for people who can't sing. Aside from the virtuosic trill, there are incredible leaps, tricky accidentals, sustained notes, and a few high G's, one of which is a whole note. Her number takes us straight into Anthony's. So far he's not quite as impressive, but more mentally stable. The introduction to Ah, Miss is the beginning of No Place Like London. In a state of breathless wonder, he works AH together with JL, and Johanna joins him with Green Finch and Linnet Bird, but our attention is quickly turned to the Beggar Woman and her BW, followed by LI in the orchestra part. We're being told who the Beggar Woman is all over the place, all the time! Anthony asks Lucy who Johanna is, gives her some money, and shoos her offstage. He buys Johanna a bird and presents AH, slowed down and filled with love and promise in his song, Johanna. AJ, with its slower rhythms, sustained notes, and quartal and quintal harmonies, is full of inspiration. Judge Turpin and The Beadle come by to ruin the moment, but only temporarily. The underscore keeps Anthony's Johanna going, and he concludes the scene with an impassioned second verse. Remember how I said "so far" he wasn't quite as impressive? Well, by now, he's had an ascending tritone in m. 13 and several large leaps (7th m. 17, 9th m. 31, 8ve m. 33), the last of which goes into a 19 beat note. Looks like we have a worthy suitor after all.
I'll conclude this section with the reminder that Tim Burton chose an androgynous waif who was the lead singer in a punk rock band to play this part. I have no qualms with androgynous waifs, nor with punk rock bands, but one Anthony Hope they do not make. I suppose one could change my mind on the first of the two charges, but it hasn't happened yet.
CHAPTER 11: THE NUMBERS PART II
If you were following along, you would know we're on p. 80 now.
We've met the main characters and their leitmotifs, so now it's time for a bit of fun. Pirelli and Tobias are in the house! WQ take us to the bustling streets of St. Dunstan's market. Some time might have passed as our characters have settled in, or WQ might have simply been used to help change the mood and setting. We're away from Judge Turpin's quiet house and the disturbing Pie Shop, and out in the hustle and bustle of the streets! I always think of the WQ as scale degrees 3-1-2-5 in a major scale. Sondheim did something clever here - he started with some 3-1-2-5's in the key of D major, F# D E A, and then rearranged the last 3 notes to E D A for a bass line throughout p. 81 in A major. This is a catchy little number without many leitmotifs in Toby's part, but there's a little DI reference worked into the main melody, and the chorus is full of DIR in various rhythmic patterns. Pirelli's Entrance and The Contest have a bit of DI and DIR, in addition to many more Pirelli neighbors. But returning to the story, Sweeney Todd challenges Signor Pirelli to a contest of shaving and tooth pulling in a comic relief song. Their judge Beadle Bamford announces Sweeney Todd as the clear winner, once Signor Pirelli has had ample time to show off his vocal range, which is substantial.
The Ballad C takes us to to Judge Turpin's house, where we spy on the old lecher. His song Johanna is in the appendix on p. 377, and naturally it's full of JT and BH, but he's unsavory enough to have gotten his song cut, at least in the original production. In this case, we would have moved straight along to the Pie Shop, where Mrs. Lovett shoos away the Beggar Woman. But if we have just seen the Judge, we might have been able to recognize that BW contains two statements of JT.
Mrs. Lovett calms Sweeney down with Wait. In this scene, Nellie has the line, "It was me poor Albert's chair, it was. Sat in it all day long, he did, after his leg give our from the dropsy." This is the only time we ever hear anything of her backstory, and this's why she is Mrs. Lovett and not Ms. Lovett. Sweeney Todd is feeling very impatient at the moment, so Mrs. Lovett has to be soothing. Wait is a song where the melody is built from JT statements starting on each of the first four notes of DI. I only marked the original JT, so they wouldn't get confused with the ones in retrograde inversion. Can you find the 6 unmarked JT on p. 116? Why do I say there are no more than 6 unmarked JT? At first glance, there seems to be. Our loss of not being mantis shrimp is your gain, if you like pop quizzes.
After I've collected your papers, please turn to the next page, where ST shows up in the accompaniment of the B section, and the melody is an altered ST with a raised 4th degree. (This new altered motif will be used quite soon in A Little Priest! More mantis issues.) Wait ends with the gillyflowers quote I mentioned when first introducing the ST. Gillyflowers, by the by, are carnations.
Anthony comes to the shop and explains that Johanna has given him the key. He asks Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd if he can bring Johanna to Fleet Street later that night, and Sweeney agrees. Anthony runs off and Mrs. Lovett suggests, "that's the throat to slit, dear." Tobias and Danny O'Higgins with all of his neighbors (you know that meant Pirelli and his unofficial leitmotif, right?) enter the stage. Mrs. Lovett gives Toby a pie downstairs while Danny foolishly recites, "Benjamin Barker, later transported to Botany Bay for life. So, Mr. Todd - is it a deal or do I run down the street for me pal Beadle Bamford?" Mr. Todd takes it well and strangles him. Toby comes running upstairs, having remembered Pirelli's appointment with a tailor, and Sweeney deftly throws Danny into a trunk. For a middle aged corpse, this guy is all muscle. I can only imagine that before he died, there was a barber and his wife and he was beautiful. There's some tension on stage as Toby narrowly misses discovering Pirelli's hand hanging out of the trunk, but before too long, Sweeney has sent him down for another meat pie and nice big tot of gin. (Looks like someone just figured out what we're having for dinner on February 5th after the show.) Pirelli gets slashed.
TheBallad AB/BA take us to Judge Turpin and his friend Beatle Bamford. We cannot wait to find out what they're up to, for the last time we checked in, the Judge was violently masturbating to the vision of a young child through a peephole. This time, he is ending his work day at court with, "I have no alternative but to sentence you to hang by the neck until you are dead."
On his walk home, he tells The Beadle that he's decided to marry Johanna on Monday with the underscore of Ladies in Their Sensitivities. Elsewhere on stage, lights come up in Johanna's room, where Anthony's sitting on a couch and listening to her panic about the arranged marriage with DI and DIR in Kiss Me.
Our good old fashioned lover boy responds in Kiss Me with his Johanna and Ah, Miss! That means AH and AJ, but now that we've established which leitmotifs are in which songs, I'll proceed from here on out without any more leitmotif reviews. They kiss, for who wouldn't with all that counterpoint, and our focus is shifted back to Judge Turpin and The Beadle. Both vocal sections of Ladies in Their Sensitivities are presented for the first time. The A section repeats several tonal DIR in retrograde, and the B section delivers a wealth of real DIR, which require flats and end up sounding a little nauseating in our key of D major. The accompaniment is punctuated with DI. The Beadle, having convinced the Judge to spruce up, walks him to the shop and takes on AJ as Kiss Me begins again. This time, Kiss Me is not only combined with Anthony's Johanna and Ah, Miss, but also with Ladies in Their Sensitivities. This is so much counterpoint that the lovers "sink onto the couch, embracing." I would, wouldn't you?
The Judge's underscore, containing LI and JT, warns us that the Judge has nearly arrived at the Tonsorial Parlor on Fleet Street. Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd have a quick exchange of what happened with Danny ("He tried to blackmail me, half my earnings forever." "Oh well, that's a different matter! What a relief, dear! For a moment I thought you'd lost your marbles."), and she runs offstage to let Sweeney and the Judge have their moment. The Judge begins Pretty Women with the A section of Ladies in Their Sensitivities. This is repeated at the bottom of a bass' range under the lyrics: hums ad lib "bum bum bum bum..." It has just a dash of DI and DIR. Sweeney Todd cheerfully begins the A section of Pretty Women, which outlines AJ. The Judge does his bumbling from Ladies in Their Sensitivities once more, and then Sweeney Todd sings My Friends to his razors. In the moment where Sweeney Todd could have killed the Judge, he offers us a second act by singing the B section of Pretty Women instead. It's a jolly uplifting set of DIR, taking the occasional breather for ST and DI. Suddenly, Anthony bursts in, telling Sweeney that Johanna loves him with a few lines of Kiss Me! Disaster.
The Judge huffs out, and we get Sweeney Todd's solo, a masterpiece: Epiphany. Epiphany begins with swarms of ST. Mrs. Lovett enters with Wait over Psycho chords (not quite Bernard Herrmann chords, but close). She doesn't get very far before Sweeney yells at her and begins There's A Hole over the relentless feroce ST. Full repeating statements of DI appear. JT and ST link up and intertwine. LL changes the time signature and four repeated statements take the stage per entrance, all cantabile. Exaggeratedly spaced out dissonant JT/ST chords leave space for Sweeney Todd to break the fourth wall and threaten to kill the entire audience.
Other scholars cite these spaced out dissonant chords as ST, because it's a good reduction of the 8-note version with all the bells and whistles, but my 3-note version of ST contains the skip, so this reads as JT to me. I will say that the 8-note version was developed to stress the JT lurking within ST; notice that sweeney green and dark blue are fairly well related. Epiphany concludes with a lot of BH and a lot of drama.
After the masterpiece comes the earworm. Mrs. Lovett begins A Little Priest with the beginning of The Worst Pies in London, establishing her DIR right away. This starts to cheer up Sweeney Todd, who alters his motive with a raised 4th. We heard this musical idea on p. 117 of Wait, but I left it unmarked so it wouldn't be confused with the real ST. I tend to treat ST with "real answer" standards, but the new leitmotif comes out to play in each of A Little Priest's four A sections, and I marked them here. We're always struggling with the mantis problems. For the cherry on top, we have just a trifle of BH.
We want to send the audience off to Intermission in good spirits, so that's really all the leitmotifing we're up to at the moment. It's a song filled with too many verses, witty lyrics, comic relief, cannibalism, and the rhythm of a cheery waltz.
Curtain.
CHAPTER 12: THE NUMBERS PART III
Today we're starting in Act II, which begins on p. 213.
WQ take us to another morning in the near future to see how everyone's faring. Todd's Johanna is introduced first with Anthony's Johanna, as Anthony searches the streets. When we get back to Sweeney Todd, he's going about his business, slashing throats left and right in the most calm and uplifting way. His melody begins with JT, but having been placed on the third scale degree of our key, Ab major, they're content and disguised (not phrygian or locrian in the slightest). The Beggar Woman enters to sing her version of City on Fire before we've even been introduced to it! Her harmonies are mostly clusters and bitonal chords, and the version to come instead has quite a few rhythmically offset BH. She "shuffles off" and a new day begins. Anthony is still singing his Johanna, and he finds her in Fogg's Asylum singing Kiss Me. It's a trio for a moment with Anthony, Johanna, and Sweeney and their songs. The Beggar Woman enters with her City on Fire once again, ending with a very truncated version of BW. Just as The Beadle had taken AJ in the Kiss Me Quartet, Sweeney Todd takes it over here, joining Anthony to end the number with forever-long notes.
Anthony finds Johanna at Fogg's Asylum, with an underscore of BC and Green Finch and Linnet Bird. Disconcertingly, the Prelude with its LL, BH, and JT, brings us back to Mrs. Lovett's Parlor. The Prelude is an excellent choice here because the organ uses an upper manual to introduce one of the upcoming Parlor Songs on top of the Prelude. (Composers work very hard to keep all of us comfortable. We never like hearing something for the first time, which is why we've already heard the Beggar Woman's version of City on Fire twice, a few scenes and 70 pages too early.) Now that we're back in the shop, Mrs. Lovett sings her weird love song to Sweeney Todd, By The Sea. I don't really think it's necessary, but maybe some of us didn't know she was in love with him before now. I'm not sure how that would be the case. By The Sea opens with her mantis 7th leitmotif and the introduction of Worst Pies in London. Her rather unattractive proposal to her unrequited love naturally has a bit of DIR and DI.
Anthony bursts in to tell Sweeney that he's found Johanna. At once, her father realizes, "Johanna is as good as rescued," and so begins the Wigmaker Sequence. The orchestra introduction is the A section of Ladies in Their Sensitivities, and Sweeney Todd enters with the A section of Pretty Women. The Ballad C takes over with a 5 part chorus while Anthony learns everything he can about wig-making, and after the return to Pretty Women A, the orchestra concludes with fragments of The Ballad C.
As soon as Sweeney Todd sends Anthony off, he writes The Letter. Do you remember how I listed off a bunch of songs that are catchy and consonant? This one did not make that list. This is a sparsely accompanied vocal quintet starring ST and JT. There's a hint of DI and a bit of AJ for luring purposes, and as previously mentioned, double BH. Sweeney Todd hand delivers the letter himself. If you got this as a singing telegram, you might be simultaneously impressed and very frightened.
Back on Fleet Street, tender hearted Tobias promises that nothing's gonna harm sweet ol' Nellie in Not While I'm Around. He doesn't trust Sweeney Todd, so his song makes frequent use of DI, ST, and DIR. Her response to his affection is to sing 8 bars of his melody and lock him into the basement so she can have him killed later. The Prelude lurks under the trapping of Tobias and vamps until Mrs. Lovett's unwanted jam session with The Beadle, in which they perform the diegetic Parlor Songs. Both Parlor Songs, Sweet Polly Plunkett and The Tower of Bray, are extremely funny parodies of the English folk ballad and have no leitmotifs. Stephen Banfield writes, "Sondheim's gift for stylistic pastiche is never more delightful than in 'Parlor Songs': in 'Sweet Polly Plunkett' he recalls not only the Sullivan 'madrigal' convention with its pert cadences... but also the rambling melodiousness of eighteenth-century song and even the renaissance madrigal or lute song itself with his touches of Lydian and Mixolydian modality... to which the Dorian mode is added in 'The Tower of Bray.'" Were it up to me, I'd sooner cut By The Sea than these beauts. During Parlor Songs, the Prelude takes over for a short time, and our attention is drawn to Tobias down in the bakehouse. The poor boy gets traumatized by the sudden arrival of Beadle Bamford's bloody body. Imagine.
The Ballad AC/BA starts up again, and by the time we're in the C section, it really outdoes itself with very scary "Swee-he-he-he-neys" in a solo quartet over sustained BH in the chorus and orchestra. BC and Green Finch and Linnet Bird are added to BH, which continue in the orchestra under Anthony's rescue of Johanna, which ends with her shooting Fogg. Suddenly, with "euphoric excitement" we've begun our final sequence, City on Fire! This time, it's sung by "the lunatics" with a driving presto rhythm. Lucy had prophesied this, and the melody is based on fragments of BW. I haven't marked them because they're broken up, but there's a lot of chromatic movement and stepwise JT motion. There's also a LL emphasized with eighth rests. Johanna starts chattering Kiss Me, the lunatics are scampering about, and the WQ make one last appearance as Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd search for Toby with Not While I'm Around. In this final case, I believe the WQ mean, "time is running out." (Sweeney Todd tries to kill both Toby and Johanna, the Judge is on his way, and imminently come the falling of Lucy, Turpin, Lovett, and Todd.) The lunatics' City on Fire comes back before and after another entrance of the ever present Beggar Woman and her BW, as she tries to find the recently murdered Beadle.
Johanna approaches her childhood home for the first time, and the orchestra reminds her of her whereabouts with There Was A Barber/RM. She doesn't want to be left in the Tonsorial Parlor alone, but Anthony reassures her with their sunny plans and dumb optimism in Ah, Miss and No Place Like London. Lucy approaches the shop, and the orchestra echoes There Was A Barber/RM for her as well. Johanna hides in the Pirelli trunk while Lucy calls for the Beadle with LI. The optional song My Jo, My Jing, based on Poor Thing would take place now.
Everything happens so fast right here. Lucy gets killed over the swarms of ST from Epiphany, the BW and LL leitmotifs combine, and before we can dwell on it, the Judge has arrived and the two old guys are singing the B section of Pretty Women again. Sweeney Todd takes his revenge at last! He sings My Friends to his razors, "Rest now, my friend. Rest now forever. Sleep now the untroubled sleep of the angels." Sweeney Todd realizes it's time to kill Tobias and heads down the stairs. Having forgotten his razor, he returns to the Tonsorial Parlor to find Johanna, dressed like a sailor, trying to escape. He starts towards her, but gets distracted by the screams of Mrs. Lovett down in the bakehouse. As he runs down the stairs, the company has a brief but dramatic Ballad B.
Sweeney Todd arrives down at the bakehouse and realizes what he's done on p. 351. Compare this to the example on p. 341 under Lietmotifs Conclusion in Chapter 8.
Although it's a weird theater thing for the characters to come back to life to join the company, I've always appreciated it, because I simply cannot bear the idea of Lucy being killed. The Beggar Woman's line, "He Kept A Shop in London Town" happens on p. 364 within that first A section, maybe for people like me.
CHAPTER 14: FINAL PROJECT
Your final project is to carve out 90 minutes to watch this London Weekend Televeision documentary. It's divided neatly into 3 segments, and you'll get to see Harold Prince working with the 1980 London cast, Christopher Bond, and Stephen Sondheim.If you're either an overachiever, or an underachiever who originally scored < 80 on your open book midterm with friends, please also set aside 75 minutes to watch the Sweeney Todd section of the Library of Congress interview with Sondheim. It begins at 4:28:15 and ends at 5:45:29. You can also read the edited transcript in the Horowitz book referenced below.
CHAPTER 15: CONCLUDING REMARKS
When I turned 18, I started working for music summer camps between the academic years. I must have been about 20, half my current age, when I became a camp counselor at Point Counterpoint Camp in Leicester, Vermont. I was probably listening to Into the Woods when one of my campers noticed and asked me if I had ever heard of Sweeney Todd. I had not, so she let me borrow her CD and booklet. My campers, by the way, were about 11 years old. The next day during our quiet time, the hour after lunch, I started reading through the libretto and listening to the soundtrack. I was immediately hooked, and it was not because I'm smart enough to start identifying leitmotifs on a first time hearing. I'm not. If any of this analysis registered with me that afternoon, it did so on a very subconscious level. Yet when I got to the end, I couldn't wait to start it all over again. It was love at first sight.Mom, George, and Tins, I hope my analysis has given you more to hold onto when we watch it together this February. I think it's a more immersive experience when you know more about what you're listening to. With all of that in mind, I'd like to emphasize the fact that a score that's fun to analyze doesn't make it great music. The music itself must hold its own independently, and it does. Sondheim didn't write this to be a big word search, hoping we'd all go home with scores and highlighters. He just wrote a show.
Sondheim's mantra in teaching composition has three parts:
Content dictates form and style
Less is more
God is in the details.
He always crafts pieces with exciting counterpoint and clever lyrics. He always expresses the characters with precision and clarity. He writes with enough predictability to get hooked on a first hearing, but enough variation to keep you on your toes. Throw in his driving rhythms and suspension-filled harmonies, and what's not to like?
("Suspension-filled harmonies" might be oversimplified. Joseph Swain convincingly explains, "It is no accident that Sondheim counts Ravel, Prokofiev, Copland, and Britten among is most important models, for his harmonic language derives from the nonfunctional progressions of early twentieth-century impressionism and its derivatives. In Sweeney Todd, except in the parody numbers, there is an almost complete absence of harmonic function, conventionally ordered progression, on the low level of structure.")
Circling back, the "content dictating form and style" must have something to do with what makes Sweeney Todd, especially, resonate with me. I must love leitmotifs and horror film harmonies and underscores and operettas. But also, Sondheim himself was genuinely drawn to this project, and I think it shows. In response to Charlie Rose's question, "Why did you want to do this?" Sondheim responded, "Twice in my life I’ve seen something and wanted to musicalize it. One was Sweeney Todd, which I saw at a small theater outside of London, and this, which was a movie called Passione D’amore, which I saw in 1983…” The following year, Jeremy Isaacs asked, "What attracts you to a subject?" Sondheim explained, "It’s very hard to tell. Most of the shows I’ve done have been brought to me; I’ve been dragged kicking and screaming into a couple of them, some of which turned out extremely well, like Pacific Overtures, which Harold Prince practically forced me to do. But the ones that attracted me that I started myself were, I saw Stratford East’s production of Sweeney Todd here, the play by Christopher Bond, and I knew I wanted to sing that...” Those interviews took place about 15 years after the premier of Sweeney Todd, which was enough time for Sondheim to write two film scores, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, a significant revision Follies, Into the Woods, Assassins, and Passion. Altogether, he wrote 25 musicals. As notated in Horowitz' book, Sondheim explained,
It [Sweeney Todd] was such an easy show to write, I can't tell you. It just wrote - as Barbra Streisand would say -"like buttah." The first twenty minutes, the first seven songs - right up to Pirelli - I just had a good time, because I was writing a horror movie and that's one of the things I love...
I'll end with a quote from p. 72 of Christopher Ceccolini's undergraduate thesis, because I found this interaction so amusing.
When I told him I intended to devote my undergraduate thesis solely to the study of Sweeney Todd, Sondheim was surprised. Not because the effort was ambitious, but quite the opposite. In his mind, there wasn’t enough to write about. Sweeney Todd was a cheap thriller, he said, comparing my efforts to “writing a thesis on Hamlet.” How are we to take this very paradoxical statement? On the one hand, he asserted that Sweeney Todd was not even worth the attention of a whole thesis. And yet, he made the point by comparing the musical to Hamlet, a play which has certainly been the subject of numerous theses and dissertations.
Thank you for making it all the way through our class about my favorite cheap thriller. I hope you'll come watch it with me, and I hope you'll be able to hear all the things we've talked about. There's a nice big tot of gin in it for you.
CHAPTER 16: UNLINKED REFERENCES
Banfield, S. (1993). Sondheim's Broadway Musicals. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Horowitz, M. (2019). Sondheim on Music. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Swain, J. (2002). The Broadway Musical. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
McGill, C. M. (2014). “It might have been sophisticated film music”. Studies in Musical Theatre 8:1McLaughlin, R. (2016). Stephen Sondheim and the Reinvention of the American Musical.
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
