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Album cover
"Blackbeard" is a musical theme composed by Hans Zimmer for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. It appears on the film's complete soundtrack as track twenty of disc one and is 2:24 long.
Track description[]
The three new themes for Blackbeard and the Queen Anne's Revenge as heard in "Blackbeard".
The track begins by moving between the tomic and the flattened dominant notes, in this case D and Ab. The chimes are incorporated into this to give the music a creepy, eerie character. This is accompanied by a descending chromatic figure, which goes down two octaves before mving into the next phrase. This coprises of the six-note sixlet pedal figure first heard in "Queen Anne's Revenge", with fast chromatic passages in between.
The second setion begins with a bassline similar to the opening of "Jack Sparrow", placing the chords on the weak beats of 2 and 4. The only difference is the chord is diminished, mainting the Ab from the previous section. After two bars of this a dulled version of Blackbeard's theme begins to play over the top. This is followed by the first full statement of Blackbeard's theme, contructed with scale figure rising to Ab before falling chromatically back to D, using a II, II flat, I cadence. The first staement of this theme is treated delicately, played on a quavering cello and modifying the two penultimate chords to Cm and C#m, as opposed to E and Eb. The final chords are heavily accented. The second statement is more polerful, and incorporates the full string section to flesh out the melody. The section is finished with four repeats of the six-note figure heard before, the first two sublte and menacing, the second two powerful and terrifying.
The final section consists of two statements of the slightly varied Queen Anne's Revenge theme, accompanied by a tuplet arch-shaped ostinato. This section is ended like the last: with two powerful staements of the six-note figure.
In the film[]
The track plays during Blackbeard's first appearance, when he crushes the mutiny aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge by using the Sword of Triton.
Trivia[]
- This track is also known as "Blackbeard's Entrance" from the alternative track listing.
- This is the final track of the first CD of the complete score.
- This track is made up entirely of new material.
- This is the first appearance of Blackbeard's theme.
- The opening bars can be considered a minor motif for the character, as they are heard again in Ignorance Is Bliss.
- The first section of the official release track of the same name is comprised of this piece.