Music of Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)

The music of the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica is a body of work largely credited to the composers Bear McCreary and Richard Gibbs.

The music of Battlestar Galactica displays a variety of ethnic influences and generally does not conform to the "orchestral" style of many science fiction scores.

A leitmotif is a phrase or melodic cell that signifies a character, place, plot element, mood, idea, relationship or other specific part of the story.

In his sleeve notes for the album, McCreary singles out two pieces for particular attention: the re-arrangement of Stu Phillips and Glen A. Larson's original theme for Battlestar Galactica to become the "Colonial Anthem" as it appears in "Final Cut"; and the string quartet "A Promise to Return", dedicated to the recovery of the lead violinist, Ludvig Girdland, who was severely injured in a car crash a month after the recording.

/ Battlestar Galactica Main Title" is related to its frequent interweaving with Number Six's Theme, and Cylon creation by Humans.

In season 4 the theme is also played on Scottish smallpipes, including a building march entitled "Farewell Apollo" in the episode "Six of One".

In its melancholy form, Apollo's theme underscored the destruction of the Olympic Carrier passenger liner in "33"; and in the revelations of Lee Adama's lost love on Caprica in "Black Market".

In a more positive mode, it plays as Apollo prepares to destroy the Cylon tylium mining facility in "The Hand of God".

The theme returns in season three's "Taking a Break from All Your Worries", when it plays as a drunken Lee – torn between his wife Dualla and Starbuck – loses his wedding ring and frantically searches for it in one of Galactica's corridors.

Introduced in season three's "Unfinished Business", this piece accompanies the tempestuous affair between pilots Lee Adama and Kara Thrace.

A tender rendition of it can be heard in "Maelstrom" as Lee offers support to the increasingly unstable Kara and the two reflect sadly on their troubled relationship.

In the third season soundtrack, it features in the tracks "Violence and Variations", where it is interwoven with the Opera House (Passacaglia) theme, and "Under the Wing."

In "Downloaded", when Caprica-Six is similarly haunted by a vision of Gaius Baltar, Number Six's theme is featured, but it has been digitally reversed, signifying the turning of the tables.

Originally composed for the gentle scenes in "Resurrection Ship, Parts 1 & 2", in which William Adama's caring for the dying President Roslin is most apparent, this theme becomes an obvious thematic marker for their subtle relationship.

It plays again as Roslin decides to concede the presidential election to Doctor Gaius Baltar in "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part 2".

Appearing in the first season soundtrack as "Passacaglia" after the Spanish and Italian musical form that it follows, the theme was first introduced over the opening montage of episode "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1".

He is informed by his internal Number Six that the mysterious infant he sees within — apparently Hera Agathon — is "the first of a new generation of God's children" and "the face of the shape of things to come."

In the third season soundtrack, it features in the track "Violence and Variations", where it is interwoven with Lee and Kara's love theme, and "Under the Wing."

The first theme was originally composed for "You Can't Go Home Again", as a triumphant cue for when Starbuck escapes from the red moon on which she was stranded, flying a captured Cylon Raider.

In fact, in "Flesh and Bone", this theme was given a dark variation as Starbuck mercilessly tortured Leoben and her motives for doing so became questionable."

— Bear McCreary A second theme was introduced in the opening episodes of the third season to accompany the love-hate relationship between Leoben and Starbuck.

The theme was further developed as a "destiny" cue in "Maelstrom", in which Starbuck, before her own apparent demise, appears to commune with Leoben and her deceased mother.

McCreary "wanted to create a musical idea that would represent both [Tigh's] strength and loyalty, as well as his unpredictable and dangerous nature."

The "Worthy of Survival" theme was developed as a melancholy variation of the "Prelude to War" cue used to score the combat scenes in "Pegasus" and "Resurrection Ship, Parts 1 and 2".

— Bear McCrearyTaking its title from a line of dialogue in "Resurrection Ship, Part 2", the theme was intended to play as Starbuck prepares to assassinate Admiral Helena Cain, but only a small fragment was used in the final cut of the episode.

The second-season episode "Scar" closes with Stanley Myers' classical guitar piece "Cavatina", most famous as the theme from the 1978 film The Deer Hunter.

Variations of the theme can also be heard by Saul Tigh in "He That Believeth In Me", the four of the final cylons revealed thus far in "Revelations", and Samuel Anders (who remembers playing the song on guitar) in "Sometimes A Great Notion" .

Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger states that Bear McCreary on Battlestar Galactica as well as Lost's Michael Giacchino do "transcendent work in an area [composing for television] that's too often underappreciated.

"[2] Joanna Weiss of The Boston Globe states that "visionary composer Bear McCreary... did much to create the rich atmosphere of Battlestar.

[15] Officially known as The Battlestar Galactica Orchestra and directed by Bear McCreary, the group performed three concerts in late July 2009 at the House of Blues in San Diego.