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MohicanLand Musical Musings: The Music of The Last of the Mohicans
"The Courier" is one of the few pieces in an optimistic major key, E-flat major, which is odd in that the scene is about
a courier running for his life while many of the enemy chase him through the forest. But the sprightly attitude makes
it seem like the courier is playing with his enemy, that he's in it for the challenge. This piece
consists of two sections (A and B sections), giving it an A-B-A-B-A structure (where A is the first section and B
the second). The A section opens calmly on a single note of E-flat which is then joined by a low
chord. Shortly after, the guitar begins picking out a jaunty melody and the strings in the orchestra pick up a
counter-melody. This section contains several measures in a hard-to-distinguish 3/4 time (and possibly a more
complex measure) followed by several measures of 4/4 time, leading up section B.
Section B is dramatically different and while it appears to be much faster than the A section, the beat is in fact
exactly the same. The meter changes, however, from a simple 4/4 time signature to a complex quadruple time.
In fact, this
section consists of two separate melodies or themes, each with a separate time signature.
One is played by the strings of the
main body of the orchestra, playing one note to the beat. The other melody is in the guitars, which are playing in
triplets (three notes to each beat). It seems easiest to count the orchestral melody in sets of 8 beats,
and to count the guitar melody in sets of 12. This means for every 2 beats of the orchestral melody, there are 3 beats
in the guitars. (This is known as a hemiola––the musical device of playing two notes in the time or three
or three notes in the time of two.) The key signature could be 12/8, but this is a guess without seeing
the actual score.
The B section is played twice. The first time through, it consists of three measures of 8 beats, followed
by a repeat of the A section. After that, we hear the second occurrence of the B section––this
is where we pick up with "The Courier" in the VHS version, as Uncas says, "Tight weave?" and Hawkeye responds,
"Another forty yards." The B section this second time around consist of the same three measures of 8 beats
plus an additional repeat of the first two sets of 8 beats. (If this is confusing, another way to think of it
is to think of the first measure as B1, the second measure as B2, and
the third measure as B3. The first time we hear the B section,
we hear only B1-B2-B3, while the second time through we hear B1-B2-B3-B1-B2.)
The piece ends with a single chord held for a long measure, carrying us in suspense (just as with the end of the "Elk
Hunt", which was by Trevor Jones) as Hawkeye aims Killdeer and prepares to shoot, and then the orchestra drops out as he fires. The jaunty
melody in the guitars carries on alone as the courier dashes away through the forest.
Copyright ©1999 - 2001 by Sarah F. Melcher - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |
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This piece is wonderfully complex, perhaps representative of the amount of action in this scene: the
English and the French in the diversionary battle, the courier leaping and racing through the forest, the French
and Indians chasing the courier, and Hawkeye and Uncas at the top of the fort rifling down the couriers' pursuers.
This piece is intriguing in its playfulness during what is essentially a scene fraught with danger.
But perhaps the music reflects the fun of the challenge, a sense of "thumbing their noses" at
the French.
