"Hedwig's Theme" is an orchestral piece composed by John Williams for the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which serves as the de facto main title track for all eight films in the Harry Potter film series. The theme first appears in the beginning credits of the first film in the "Prologue" track, a shortened version of the full five-minute theme, which itself is not featured until the end credits of the first film.
Since being featured in the original soundtrack, the piece's main theme has been further developed by Williams for the second and third films, and by Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper, and Alexandre Desplat for the following five films. The theme has also been featured in James Newton Howard's title tracks for the spin-off Fantastic Beasts films, as well as in various video games based on the franchise, including Hogwarts Legacy, and throughout The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal theme parks. Having been heavily featured in the Harry Potter franchise, "Hedwig's Theme" is now widely regarded as one of the greatest and most iconic film themes of all time.
Background
Warner Bros. and Christopher Columbus, director of the first film, initially wanted to get an idea of which composer was best suited to compose the film's score by giving different composers the task of creating a theme for a promotional short for the film. Williams, without having seen any footage from the film, composed the first draft of Hedwig's Theme for the short, which he presented to Columbus on piano.
Composition
The piece in its entirety is in ternary form. The first section is the most recognizable and is built around the titular Hedwig's Theme, which John Williams uses as a leitmotif to represent the magical world. The second section is built around the faster "Nimbus" theme, which Williams uses as a leitmotif to represent Harry's broomstick, the Nimbus 2000, and more generally, to represent fast-paced mischief and adventure. The third section restates part of the Hedwig's theme in a more intense manner than it was originally stated before leading into a coda that primarily uses material not already introduced in the piece.
First Section: Hedwig's Theme
The first section is in time with the tempo direction "Misterioso" and generally follows the key of E minor. The piece opens with a solo played on the celeste that introduces the main theme upon which the rest of the section is built. The introductory development of the main theme largely follows E minor, as indicated by the repeated E in the left hand, but in the sixth bar (not including the pickup bar), the theme momentarily enters E-flat minor, with the left hand playing an A, the enharmonic equivalent of B, which is the fifth of E-flat minor. This creates tension that is then resolved in the seventh bar when the theme returns to E. The figure from the first two bars then repeats, this time leading into a series of chords — G minor, F minor, A minor and F 7 — before resolving back to E.