Brief Introduction to Main Theme Songs part1

In several musicals, there is a shared characteristic of their music, which is that throughout the whole musical, there may be some similar rhythm recurring repeatedly, but comes out in different lyrics and is sung by different characters. Generally, though it differs in many factors from its every occurrence, it passes on identical emotions and feelings, such as suspicion, anger, or passion, etc.

Today I’m going to talk about one of the main theme songs in Les Mis, and since its first appearance in this musical is The Work Song, I call it The Work Song theme song in the sake of convenience.

This song takes on a trait of suspicion, opposition, and judgment; every time the rhythms are played, Javert is usually present in the scene, which implies Javert’s characteristic traits and illustrates him as a man who never allows or even believes anything obeying his creed.

The song The Work Song manifests the officers’ mistrust of the guilty, which indicates the cruelty and corruption of the government and the turbulence in society.

And in the songs, The Confrontation and Javert’s Suicide, they both present the opposition of two sides, love and ruthlessness, hope and distrust, which conveys the main contradiction of the story. And in the end, it tells us that love will always win.