36

In-universe, during the time of Palpatine's reign over the Empire, was there a preferred musical theme designed to accompany Imperial troop displays and marches?

Praxis
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    This YouTube clip is a classic. – Joe L. Nov 13 '15 at 03:35
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    Follow up question based on the answer: Why didn't people realize that Palpatine was a Sith when he made a Sith anthem the official marching song of the Imperial military? – Wad Cheber Nov 13 '15 at 04:49
  • @WadCheber: How would they know? (How many people alive today would recognize the anthem of Nazi Germany if they heard it? Now remember that the Sith Empire had been gone for centuries, if not millennia.) – Mason Wheeler Nov 13 '15 at 15:18
  • @MasonWheeler Quite many, I would say, since the tune is the same as Germany's current national anthem; but I get your point ;-) – Angew is no longer proud of SO Nov 13 '15 at 16:01
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    Huh I was expecting at least one of those links (^) to be Cloud Cantina music. – Lightness Races in Orbit Nov 13 '15 at 18:10
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    @MasonWheeler - It ?might? be different in the Star Wars universe as well, but you can't get away with anything today thanks to the internet. Today all it takes is one person recognizing it and posting a comment on Facebook or a blog and it would spread like wildfire until the news was reporting it... – Odin1806 Jan 27 '18 at 17:48
  • @WadCheberstandswithMonica He probably sugarcoated it with some appeal to "cultural diversity". Much more intriguing: Why do all the races through the galaxy hear in the same audio range and have sound-processing brain modules that can even make sense of human music (as opposed to hearing a cacophony of unrelated noises and screeching?) – David Tonhofer Nov 30 '20 at 14:45

3 Answers3

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According to Wookieepedia, referenced to Star Wars Rebels, the answer is yes:

The Imperial anthem was a patriotic musical piece adopted by the Galactic Empire. During Empire Day parades, an upbeat version of the anthem was played, representing everything that the Empire stood for. By 3272 LY, on the Outer Rim planet of Lothal, the Imperial anthem was also played before official grav-ball championship matches, as well as on the Empire's fifteenth annual Empire Day.

The in-universe Imperial anthem is a variation of the considerably more famous out-of-universe Imperial March by John Williams.

Rand al'Thor
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7

I went through the comments and all the links are either dead or, y'know, loljokes. So I found a video that I'm 99% has the correct in-universe Imperial Anthem, from Rebels:

It's basically the Imperial March, but shrill, pompous, and awful.

TheLethalCarrot
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user7201984
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5

The First Order has a jazz rendition as elevator music

In the short film Reflections, Captain Phasma and two First Order Stromtroopers ride in an elevator that has a jazz rendition of the Imperial Theme.

Admittedly, the short film is a tech demo for new ray tracing framework for the Unreal game engine, and as such may not be considered canon. However, there isn't anything in the film that conflicts with canon, so why not?

Thunderforge
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