Our countdown of the most-viewed scores of 2025 continues with number eight, and while it’s been popular this year, it’s a timeless piece of music. “Hedwig’s Theme” serves as the main theme for the Harry Potter film series. It first appeared in the opening credits of 2001’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” and has been etched into the minds of fans, young and old. 

While there are many versions of the song on MuseScore to choose from, the most popular was Hal Leonard‘s Easy Piano arrangement, which pares the song down for everyone to enjoy. However, the original score even had the most seasoned players raising their eyebrows.

Warner Bros. contacted John Williams to write a piece of music for a promotional reel for Harry Potter, which had no music. He wrote a score, sight unseen, that would become “Hedwig’s Theme.” 

“I remember first hearing Hedwig’s Theme. It was so clear that this was it—it felt exactly right,” director Chris Columbus recalls. “It was sufficiently majestic and magical.”

Williams wanted the musicians recording the piece to look at the music ahead of time, which they knew was a sign that it would be difficult. 

“Nobody in the orchestra is sent the music in advance, normally, for film sessions,” said orchestra leader Marcia Crayford. “When the violins first turned up to the recording session and  saw all [the notes on the page], suddenly there was a flurry of everyone practicing very hard.”

What made the orchestral parts so demanding was Williams’ sophisticated compositional choices, which account for the theme’s uniqueness.

“Hedwig’s Theme” begins with an instantly recognizable melody played on the celesta, which is a keyboard instrument with bell-like tones. The instrument’s timbre evokes a whimsical mood, setting the stage for the film’s themes of wizardry, wonderment, and adventure. That sense of magic is also built into the harmony.

The song is in 3/8 and written in the key of E minor, but it has some unusual twists and turns. The first five bars of the central theme feature an E pedal note to anchor our ears in the sound of E minor. In bar six, Williams throws a curveball.

“Taken together, the notes of bar 6 are B-D#-F-A#, which is similar to E minor’s dominant seventh chord, B-D#-F#-A,” Film Music Notes explains. “Had Williams given us the actual dominant seventh, the music would have been within the realm of the ordinary. But by substituting F# with F, and A with A#, he instead creates a chord that cannot be fully explained, much like the workings of a wizard’s magic.”

Beyond that one chord, Williams uses chords from outside of E minor’s diatonic choices, including G minor and F minor. The melody is also complex to pin down in some spots, as it utilizes every note of the chromatic scale.

Aside from the films’ popularity, the blend of accessibility and sophistication has made “Hedwig’s Theme” a timeless piece of music, inspiring musicians to perform it for nearly a quarter of a century.  

Get the sheet music for “Hedwig’s Theme” and get lost in the magic of music.