Wonder and awe are often considered to be synonyms. But though these emotions are similar, a more nuanced look at their musical representations reveals that they are not entirely the same. This thesis examines the difference between musical wonder and awe in music from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, a 2005 film about siblings who find a magical world in a wardrobe. After a review of the literature on musical wonder, the music from two scenes is analyzed. The wardrobe scene, in which the youngest child discovers the land of Narnia, depicts wonder visually. Certain musical characteristics, both harmonic transformations and non-harmonic factors, correspond with this visual representation. The other scene analyzed is the battle scene, in which the children fight against the army of the evil White Witch. Visually, this scene is more complex and represents a variety of emotions, including power, fear, and awe. Again, both harmonic and non-harmonic factors contribute to a musical cuing of awe. This research finds that, in music from this movie, a major difference between wonder and awe is a difference in scope.
Level of Degree
Department of Music
First Committee Member (Chair)
Second Committee Member
Third Committee Member
emotion, wonder, awe, film music, transformational theory, neo-Riemannian theory
Steiner, Laura. "Musical Wonder and Awe in Narnia: Comparing Two Related Emotions." (2020). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/mus_etds/32