Was Ride of the Valkyries used as part of the Star Wars music?

Answer 1

Honey, let me tell you something. "Ride of the Valkyries" is a bombastic piece by Richard Wagner, not some Star Wars jingle. Now, if you're talking about "The Imperial March" by John Williams, then yes, that's the Darth Vader theme we're all familiar with. So, to answer your question, no, "Ride of the Valkyries" wasn't part of the Star Wars soundtrack, but nice try.

Answer 2

John Williams, the composer for a lot of the music in Star Wars (and Jaws), is known in the composers circle as someone who tends to "borrow" a lot of themes and progressions from other composers. I am not a Star Wars fan, so I don't know if they used any Wagner, but I know John Williams did a lot of the music and I know he isn't very original at times.

AnswerAll of the music in the Star Wars Movies was written by John Williams. Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" was not used in those films. In the film "Apocalypse Now" the "Ride of the Valkyries" was famously played by American helicopter pilots to shake up the people on the ground during a military operation.

While it is true that John Williams receives credit for the score of the "Star Wars Theme," there is no doubt that he borrowed heavily from Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries," so much so that had Wagner been alive at the time of the movie's release, there is a very good chance he would have been able to successfully sue for copyright infringement.

I believe the closeness of the scores was intentional on Williams' part, though, as much of the story of Star Wars borrows heavily from Wagnerian tales. Here is one site that might help put this in focus:

http://www.geocities.com/viennaonline/feature/starwars.HTML