What Les Miserables Can Teach Us About Music

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This video examines aspects of Les Miserables, and some of its greatest songs, including I Dreamed a Dream, One Day More, On My Own, and others. Sorry Russell Crowe.

[BakingItOnBroadway]

With "What Have I Done" and "Javert's Suicide, " it's actually not *just* the endings that match, but both songs are pretty much identical from starting note to ending note. And it's absolutely deliberate as those songs come to both men as they reach a moral crossroads that challenge their whole way of viewing the world. Valjean chooses life at the end of his song, Javert chooses death.

[joshward]

I get chills even listening to snippets of this stuff... I don't know much out there that even touches the emotional impact of les mis

[lemonmiranda]

One of my favourite instances of a repeating musical idea is the fact that Empty Chairs At Empty Tables is the same tune as the section with the bishop in the prologue (“come in sir for you are weary” etc). I’m not quite sure what it means but I love that a tune that signifies such unprecedented kindness and hope in the very first part of the show is then flipped on its head and used to show the futility of the students’ deaths much later on, in a song belonging to a completely different character. I think it makes Empty Chairs so much more emotional, because even subconsciously you recognise that tune and it feels like all the kindness and hope has left

[andrewwest]

Phillip Quast as Javert is an absolute win.

[ralelunar]

The score of Valjean's death makes me cry, even without the lyrics.

[lemuelaarongonzales]

Please do The Prince Of Egypt!!! I think its the most underrated soundtrack ever that doesn’t get enough credit. The legend that is Stephen Schwartz and Hanz Zimmer. Songs like “Deliver Us”, ”All I Ever Wanted”, “Through Heaven’s Eyes” and of course, “When You Believe!!! It would be great for you to analyse the latest Prince Of Egypt London Soundtrack! It’s INCREDIBLE.

[caydilemma]

This musical never fails to give me chills. Thanks so much for talking about it and reminding me to watch it again.

[IanZainea]

The guys that wrote Les Mis also wrote Miss Saigon, and that's it, no other musical theater. They were just like "eh, I'll dabble, drop a few masterpieces, then peace out"

[thomashartwell]

Another thing I find fascinating about Les Mis is how these moments of musical symmetry you mention were often borne out of sorta hasty last-minute rewrites and additions. For instance, the prologue as a whole didn't exist in the original French production, so "Javert's Suicide" existed entirely as Javert's piece--and you can hear how the song is built out of his musical material. You mention the constable motif towards the end of the song, but the opening bars ("who is this man/what sort of devil is he...") can also be heard in "Javert's Intervention" ("another brawl in the square/another stink in the air..."). It then gains this new meaning when they give the song a new lyric and give it to Valjean for the newly-added prologue (which, you'll notice, as a result of it being added so hastily, consists entirely of pre-existing musical material).

Similarly, "On My Own" was not originally Eponine's song, but a song for Fantine entitled "La Misere", underscoring the focus on the poor and downtrod--hence why it has such prominence in the score. But in the translation to English, they struggled to find an adequate direct translation and decided instead to adapt the song to fit a different moment in the show. Dramatically, this really shouldn't work, but Trevor Nunn is a savvy dramatist and placed it in exactly the right spot that Eponine's plight can be mirrored with that of the barricade boys (helpfully made explicit later by a soldier telling them "You're on your own..."). What ends up being brilliant about Les Mis is how much it's born out of the rushed and hasty nature of musical theatre, but manages to create all of these subtle meanings and recurrences in the final product.

[mrplatink]

On a vocal level, this musical more than another I can think of resembles the closest to opera. It is very rare a word is spoken throughout (outside the dramatic bursts) but rather there is recitativo, secco, but most accompagnato. As “musical-opera, ” it’s a curious mix of Verdi’s “singable tunes”, Wagner’s transformation melodies and harmonies, and even Gilbert and Sullivan’s tongue and cheek. Wonderful analysis!

[MydieLy]

What kills me every time when watching or listening to it, is the sequencw you play at 11:30 and onward. The climax of "Bring him home" - and it sounds just as you see Enjolras' body slumped across the barricade after the final battle.
No, this young man and many others won't come home. Someone else's ardent prayer was left unheeded.
I break every single time.

[flodschiez.]

(Disney's) hunchback of notre dame, the newer version. Though it doesn't resemble the Disney film, it follows more the Victor Hugo novel. Quite dark and tragic and the music is breathtakingly intense! I think it's Alan menkens best score!

[lilplant]

If I ever start listening to any song in Les mis, I just continue from there on to the end

[umbrastar]

Les Mis is my favorite musical. The music is so moving. Thank you for Doing a video about it.

[voidify]

ALSO!! After the barricades fall, all the songs are reprises— except for three songs. Every Day, The Wedding Chorale, and Dog Eat Dog. and Marius, Cosette, and Thenardier are the characters who live on at the end...

[LillanT]

I was so lucky so I got to see Les Miserable with the orginal cast. A few years later I was back to London with some friends and we went to see Les Mis. When the music started, the tears began to roll. It was/is such a beatiful musical/music ! Wilkinson is THE best Valjean, others are good but not like him.

[thomashartwell]

I'm so glad you mentioned "At the End of the Day", as I always think about how the lyrics so neatly match the tone of the song (interestingly this isn't true for the original French lyrics, so it was Herbert Kretzmer that decided on this when it was translated into English). I think a lot of credit has to be given to the show's original orchestrator, John Cameron, who created that unique blend of orchestra and synthesizer that the show uses so effectively, and who's responsible for so many of the various shifts in tone and texture throughout a given song. Criminally his work is no longer in the show, as they re-orchestrated everything for the 25th anniversary and don't even allow the original version to be licensed for production. A damn shame, as at least personally I *far* prefer the sound of Cameron's orchestrations.

[movingforwardLDTH]

In 1989, my then-employer bought a huge block of tickets to the first national tour’s stop in Chicago. We knew far enough in advance that I was able to read the unabridged version of Hugo’s masterpiece. It was especially poignant to sit in the historic Auditorium theatre & watch the performance knowing that, in real life, the people of China were being massacred as they fought for their freedoms in Tiananmen Square.

A heart-wrenching memory that floods back any time I hear that amazing music. Thank you for helping me understand even more what makes Les Mis so powerful.

[TechnicalHydra]

It still astounds me that critics initially panned Les Mis. It's a modern masterpiece!

[CelShadedMusicTheory]

Absolutely brilliant. You put into words exactly what makes Les Mis so uniquely special. I would probably never have experienced it if I hadn't played in the pit orchestra for a local performance many years ago. Every time we rehearsed I discovered something new in the music, some new connection that I had never made, some emotional epiphany. I adore this musical and it's so satisfying to hear it celebrated in the same way in which I appreciate it.