At times while on Spotify, I’ve come across these playlists that people have made that are named: songs that remind me of ___ and they name a character or, I suppose, even a person, which the songs in their playlist remind them of. This being said, not every song I come across reminds me of a character, however, there is one song in particular that, every time I listen to it, it reminds me of a Star Wars character very dear to me: Anakin Skywalker, and it’s not a Star Wars song. It happens to be the second movement: Adagio, of Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez.

Concierto de Aranjuez: II. AdagioYouTube

When I first heard it around a year ago, I was just so struck by it. It had such a beautiful tranquility and sorrow to it, but in the movement, the beautiful melody is blared by the brass winds that seems to disrupt the tone that was set in the beginning. One thing I love about music is that it often tells a story, whether through lyrics or just instrumentation, and, let me tell you, this song is so masterful at that. As the song progresses, the softer guitar and flutes are interrupted twice by the overwhelming brass presence, and this is where something interesting happens. The listener then enters a kind of limbo phase where the once melodic guitar is broken and darker, it’s not as joyful. This phase is stopped by the support of other instruments and a rather staccato section that follows where the guitar regains some of its past energy. It’s excited by potential, searching with wonder. It builds hopefully, but as it reaches up, it seems like it’s hope is smothered and it comes back to its depressed state for a brief second. However, it’s here, at around 7:02 with the version I listen to, that a very pivotal element is introduced. It’s this surge of promise that comes from the guitar. It’s hopeful, yet not with confidence. The guitar meanders a bit until it’s found something, and it gains all the confidence in the world and breaks out of its depths and summons the beautiful melody back for one last time, triumphant. The song builds back down once more for a time of fulfillment, and ends happily.

While to some it might be obvious based on what I described, the way I view this song is the way I view Anakin’s life. Just like the piece, Anakin had two events that drew him close to the dark side, the first being when he killed not just the men, but the women and the children too and the second being his fall into Vader where, like the guitar, it barely has evident meaning. As for when the guitar begins to regain its self, I always picture Vader on Bespin with his encounter with Luke and how that began his path back to the light. Just like the excited guitar, Vader is exited and curious about the fact that he has a living son who is his and Padmé’s child. I just think about Vader’s journey in the 2020 Vader comic series, or, at least what I’ve read so far. The guitar’s surge at the end parallels Anakin’s surge of love for Luke on the second Death Star where he re-emerges, triumphant. I don’t know if you actually agree when you listen to the song, but, to me, it is incredible how closely these two unrelated things mirror each other. If there is one song to summarize my favorite character it would be Joaquin’s Concierto de Aranjuez: II. Adagio.

If you haven’t already, you can listen to it, yourself, but now it’s your turn. When you think of your favorite Star Wars character or character you really like, is there a song that you associate with them, and, if so, what about that song do you think makes you remember that character? Heck, I’ll even expand it to art in general as long as the same pretense applies. This is as close to (if not already) off topic as you’re going to get, so try your best in keeping your thoughts Star Wars based!

Thanks guys,

-Infantry