Why "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is Called a Masterpiece: Decoding Through Musical Structure

If asked what their favorite Disney movie music is, many people would likely name "A Whole New World" from Aladdin or "Let It Go" from Frozen.

However, among those well-versed in Disney music, a sentiment is heard repeatedly: "In terms of music alone, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is overwhelmingly the best."

Honestly, this film, released in 1996, does not have a very high profile in Japan. You will rarely see Quasimodo at the park's merchandise shops. Yet, why is it called a "masterpiece"?

In fact, the soundtrack for this film features a musical design that is clearly distinct from other Disney works. This time, rather than leaving it at "it's just amazing," I would like to verbalize its true nature one point at a time.

To begin with, what makes it different from other Disney music?

The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. The works of the golden age known as the Disney Renaissance all had catchy, singable melodies as their greatest weapon.

The music of The Hunchback of Notre Dame deviates completely from this path.

The composition was handled by Alan Menken, who supported this very golden age. The lyrics were written by Stephen Schwartz, who would later achieve global success with Wicked. The "musical palette" this duo chose for this work was a fusion of 19th-century Romantic orchestral music and medieval Catholic liturgical music, something one would hardly expect from a Disney film.

The profound orchestration of the French Romantics, like Berlioz and Saint-Saëns. Layered upon that are Latin chants with the resonance of Gregorian plainsong.

And this choir is one of the biggest factors that makes the music of this work special. In typical Disney films, the chorus is merely "background" to enhance the atmosphere of a scene. However, the choir in this work functions like the "chorus" in Greek tragedy, acting as a moral witness to the story and as "another character" that speaks for the will of the cathedral itself.

Design philosophy packed into a 6-minute opening

"The Bells of Notre Dame," which graces the beginning of the film, is a song with an unusual length of over six minutes.

Actually, this opening was initially designed as a standard narration. However, it was judged to be "too flat" during the testing phase, and Schwartz proposed a major shift. He placed Clopin, the leader of the gypsies, as the narrator and remade it into a "mini-opera" format where dialogue and song are seamlessly integrated to unfold the story.

Based in D minor, Clopin's suspicious tenor, Frollo's cold baritone, and the dignified vocals of the Archdeacon, who symbolizes the cathedral's conscience, intersect, forming a thunderous crescendo with a 100-member choir and pipe organ, leading toward the final question: "Who is the monster and who is the man?"

Menken himself said in a later interview regarding this introduction, "It's probably the best opening number I've ever written."

The intellectual dual structure hidden in "Hellfire"

One cannot avoid mentioning "Hellfire," known as the darkest villain song in Disney history, when discussing the music of this work.

The core of this song lies in counterpoint.

The strict Judge Frollo sings of his uncontrollable desire for the dancer Esmeralda and the self-deception that prevents him from admitting it. The moment Frollo shouts, "It's not my fault!", the choir in the background is solemnly singing the Catholic liturgical "Confiteor" (Prayer of Confession).

When Frollo sings "It's not my fault," the choir is singing "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa" (Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault).

Regarding this vivid contrast, lyricist Schwartz reflected on his official website, saying, 'The process of constructing this dual structure was incredibly intellectual and enjoyable.'

In terms of music theory, it is layered with the Phrygian mode, which heightens darkness and tension to the limit, the ominous sound of diminished seventh chords, and organ pedal tones (sustained bass) that symbolize desires crawling up from the ground.

In other words, the musical structure itself is meticulously designed so that just by listening, you feel that it is 'somehow scary, somehow amazing.'

Sounds recorded by a real choir in a real church

The recording environment also contributed significantly to the extraordinary sense of depth in this film's soundtrack.

The main orchestra was recorded at the large film scoring studio 'Todd-AO Scoring Stage' in Los Angeles. However, the recording of the choir and pipe organ was moved to London. About 100 elite members of the Royal Opera House Chorus performed at St. Paul's Church in Knightsbridge.

The natural reverb provided by the high ceilings and marble is captured in the recording as 'air vibrations' that cannot be fully reproduced digitally. The acoustic space you feel while watching the movie, as if you are inside a cathedral, utilizes the acoustic characteristics of actual church architecture.

By the way, while you may see claims online that it was 'recorded at Notre-Dame Cathedral in France,' this is not true. The production team visited Notre-Dame in Paris for location scouting to gain inspiration, but the actual recording took place in London.

Why is it 'a masterpiece but not well-known'?

Despite the high artistic quality of the music, there are several specific reasons why it is considered to have low name recognition, especially in Japan.

First, there is the issue of the title used for the Japanese release. The term 'Hunchback' in the original title, 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame,' is avoided in Japanese media as discriminatory language, so the Japanese title was changed to 'The Bells of Notre Dame.' It has been pointed out that this weakened the connection to the gothic and profound image of the original novel.

In addition, the weight of the themes within the work itself also had an impact. The opening, which begins with an attempted infanticide, religious persecution, and a villain who sings about his twisted obsession with the heroine—it was far too removed from the 'bright entertainment for the whole family' that was expected of Disney films at the time.

Looking at the box office, it was a success on its own with about $325 million worldwide, but the difference is clear when compared to 'The Lion King' at about $968 million or 'Beauty and the Beast' at about $424 million. The soundtrack also performed well, reaching number 11 on the Billboard 200, but it was far from the number 1 spot held by 'The Lion King.'

In short, because the artistry of the music was too high, it did not lead to a massive popular hit. This paradox may be what has created the strange situation of it being 'a masterpiece that is not well-known.'

Even so, there are objections to it being a 'masterpiece'

For the sake of fairness, I will also touch upon critical perspectives.

The biggest criticism of this soundtrack is thelack of tonal consistency. Immediately after a spectacular villain song like 'Hellfire,' the comical number 'A Guy Like You,' sung by the gargoyles, is suddenly inserted. This structure, where a lighthearted Broadway comedy unfolds while Frollo is driven by madness and setting fire to Paris, has been pointed out since its release as 'undermining the serious artistry of the work.'

Even on professional film music review sites, praise for it being 'the most sophisticated and peak score Menken has ever written' exists alongside the assessment that 'the constraints of a children's brand tear apart the perfection of the score.'

What is interesting is that this weakness was resolved in the later stage musical version. Since the 2014 US performances, 'A Guy Like You' has been completely cut, and it has been clarified that the gargoyles are 'hallucinations in the mind' born from Quasimodo's loneliness. The 2016 Japanese premiere by Shiki Theatre Company also follows this direction.

In other words,'The music of The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a masterpiece, but the packaging of the film version had some wasted potential' is likely the current common understanding that takes both pros and cons into account.

"Most popular" and "best" are different things

When this work is called the "greatest masterpiece of Disney music," it does not mean it is the "most loved by the most people."

In terms of hummability, Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin might be superior. Frozen might be better for getting a crowd going at karaoke.

However, in terms of the complexity of harmonic design, the richness of orchestration, the literary depth of the lyrics, and the precision of the leitmotifs (variations of the main theme) that run through the entire film, this work is considered to be on a clearly different level from other Disney films.

It is a compromise-free classical perfection reached by letting go of a certain degree of mass-market catchiness. That is the basis for why professional musicians and film music experts use the term "masterpiece."

If you have not yet listened to this soundtrack, please start by listening to the opening track, "The Bells of Notre Dame." For six minutes, put your phone down and use headphones.

You will surely be able to hear the true nature of that "something amazing."