Frozen
A heart locked away like ice begins, at last, to move when it meets song
At a glance 🔭💭
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The creators ⏳🌊
- ComposerRobert Lopez
After “Avenue Q” and “The Book of Mormon,” wrote the music for Frozen as one half of a husband-and-wife team.
- LyricistKristen Anderson-Lopez
Known for writing lyrics and melody hand in hand as one half of a husband-and-wife team.
- DirectorChris Buck
Co-directing with Jennifer Lee, set a new course for Elsa's character.
- ScreenplayJennifer Lee
In writing the screenplay, reimagined Elsa not as a villain but as a wounded soul.
- LeadIdina Menzel
As the voice of Elsa, brought Broadway belting to song on the screen.
- LeadKristen Bell
She voiced Anna, defining the character's bright, giddy nature through song.
I. Between ice and song
(Encounter) Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, a married couple, were approached by Disney to write the songs for an animated adaptation of Andersen's fairy tale “The Snow Queen.” Robert Lopez had already made his name on Broadway as the composer of “Avenue Q” and “The Book of Mormon,” and the couple had long been preparing, together, to carry the idiom of stage music onto the screen. (Sense of genre) They persuaded the filmmakers to let them write not mere background music but musical-theater numbers in which characters reveal their inner selves in song. As a result, “Frozen,” though an animated film, came to be filled with songs that keep intact the architecture of a Broadway number, the emotion swelling through verse, refrain and modulation. (Collaboration) The couple are known to write each song together, without dividing their roles sharply. This way of working is sometimes credited with influencing the musical films of the generation that followed. (Change of course) In the original script Elsa was close to a pure villain, but one song the couple wrote made the filmmakers see her differently and changed the direction of the entire story. That song is the one we will come to later.
II. Introduction - a song for cutting ice, the sisters' room
(Opening) The film begins with a work song sung by ice harvesters. The low, heavy chorus and its short, recurring phrase announce at once that this is a land where winter and ice have long been part of life. (Sisters) Then come the games of the young Elsa and Anna. Anna delights in the snow and ice her sister conjures with magic, but after an accident the palace shuts its doors tight and the sisters are torn apart. (Longing) Growing up alone, Anna sings of missing the sister beyond the bedroom door. Hiding loneliness inside a cheerful rhythm, the song is arranged to grow lower and simpler as the years pass, showing at once the passage of time and the depth of her solitude. (Foreshadowing) These two songs are secretly linked to Elsa's song to come — late in the film we meet the moment when the same figure returns with a different face.
The song that opens the film with a work song of ice harvesters, it becomes a quiet foreshadowing of Elsa's power later on.
- The low, heavy male chorus of the opening sounds as though it has carried the rhythm of chiseling ice straight into song.
- The short, warning refrain hints that the people of this land have long known how dangerous ice can be — a foreshadowing quietly tied to Elsa's power later on.
- Through ostinato, in which the same melodic fragment is repeated firmly and forcefully, the regular motions of the quarry are turned into music.
- It is also worth noting that an opening chant modeled on Norwegian folk choral singing is laid down as the film's very first sound.
Young Anna's longing for the sister beyond the door is drawn through an arrangement that sinks a little lower with the years.
- Beneath a cheerful melody, the arrangement grows thinner and slower with each passing year, depicting at once the passage of time and the depth of loneliness.
- The short, nursery-rhyme-like tune returns, played by instruments alone, when the sisters reunite, serving as a leitmotif (guiding motif) that recalls their bond without a word.
- It is often remarked that in the third verse the knocking on the door and the silence convey more feeling than the singing.
III. Development - the coronation gates open
(Excitement) On coronation day, when the castle gates open for the first time in years, Anna pours her longing to go out into the world into a buoyant song. A rhythm that quickens like her steps and a melody that soars upward capture exactly the release of someone long shut in. (Encounter) That day Anna meets a prince and falls in love in no time at all. Their duet is built as a dialogue in which each finishes the other's sentences; at first it sounds romantic, but the certainty that comes too quickly leaves a strange sense of peril. (Crack) Elsa dreads the very act of standing before people. Beneath the cheerful sounds of the festivities, low harmonies hinting at her anxiety brush past now and then. (Exposure) After a quarrel, Elsa's power is revealed, and she abandons the castle and flees to the mountains. The festive music stops in an instant, and only silence remains.
Anna, long shut in, sings of her excitement at stepping beyond the castle gates for the first time on coronation day.
- A melody that rises as if quickening its steps and an orchestra that grows ever fuller carry over exactly the release of a character long shut in.
- Passages sung by Elsa and Anna at the same moment, with different feelings, overlap, letting us hear their mismatched hearts at once.
- Some also note that Kristen Bell's singing brings out Anna's bright, giddy nature well.
A duet for the scene in which Anna falls instantly in love with the prince; it sounds romantic but reads differently later.
- The contrapuntal lyric structure, in which the two complete each other's sentences, gives the impression that they have understood each other for ages.
- The lilting, waltz-like rhythm and bright harmonies sound romantic, but the overly smooth agreement reads differently when set against the later story.
- The Lopezes are reported to have said they intended this song as an overly smooth love song.
IV. Turn - a song sung on the mountain
(Liberation) Standing alone in the blizzard, Elsa at last reveals the power she has kept hidden and sings of casting off the rules that bound her. This became the most widely sung song of the entire film. (Craft) The song begins in a restrained low register, then follows the classic structure of a musical-theater ballad, the range climbing and the accompaniment thickening with each refrain. The passage in which the late high notes are flung out in a belt pushed up from the chest is especially famous. (Reading against the grain) What is intriguing is that the song does not sound like a pure song of triumph alone. It is a moment of liberation and at the same time a moment of choosing isolation, so when its melody returns later in a different context, its meaning reads a little differently. (Awards) The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and was dubbed into many languages around the world, with each country's version drawing attention of its own. As it came to be sung across generations like a children's playground song, the composer couple themselves said the response was one they had never anticipated.
Elsa's song of revealing her hidden power and casting off the rules that bound her, and the film's signature song.
- Beginning in a restrained low register, it follows the classic structure of a musical-theater ballad, with range and accompaniment growing at each refrain.
- The final high note, flung out in a belt pushed up from the chest, is the moment when a voice honed over Idina Menzel's stage career made its way to the screen.
- It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and as dubbed versions in dozens of languages worldwide drew attention, the interpretations of singers from each country became objects of comparison.
- It sounds like a song of liberation but is also a moment of choosing isolation, so it is often cited as a point where interpretations diverge.
V. Climax - climbing the snow-covered mountain
(Companions) Anna sets off into the mountains in search of her sister, and Kristoff, his reindeer and Olaf the snowman, all met along the way, become her companions. A comic song slips into the journey to lighten its weight — the chorus the trolls sing, insisting that even people with flaws can be loved, is as merry as music at a country feast. (Reunion) Reunited with her sister, Anna tries to recover their old tenderness, but Elsa's power is now beyond control. Between their words, the song of longing heard earlier drifts back in passing. (Crisis) As ice seeps into Anna's heart, the story grows urgent. Here the music drives the tension forward without explanation, through nothing but the characters' faces and footsteps. (What the repetition means) The song of excitement sung on coronation day briefly returns, but this time colored by a different harmony, showing that the same melody can carry an entirely different feeling. How this passage is handled is best left undisclosed, to protect the pleasure of a first viewing.
A comic chorus in which the trolls sing that even people with flaws can be loved, it offers a breather just before the climax.
- A lively rhythm reminiscent of country-feast music and a choral layout in which many voices cut in by turns paint the warm, bustling air of the troll village.
- A comic number set among the serious episodes of the story, it also gives the audience a chance to catch their breath before the weighty climax.
- Many voices trade a short, simple refrain back and forth like a round, giving the impression of an entire community singing together.
The excited melody of coronation day returns in low, dark harmonies, heightening the tension of the story.
- The excited melody sung on coronation day returns intact, but this time colored by low, dark harmonies, showing that the same tune can hold an entirely different emotion.
- The passage in which the once-major song leans toward the minor and hope turns over into fear is the moment in this film when modulation (key change) intervenes most directly in the story.
- Exactly what decision this passage leads to is best left unstated, to protect the pleasure of a first viewing.
VI. Afterglow - what remains where the ice melted
(Resolution) Where the knots of the story come undone, the music does not proclaim its conclusion at full voice. Instead, the short melodies heard earlier overlap at a low volume, quietly affirming the present moment in which the sisters are together. (Cycle) “Vuelie,” the opening chant that began the film, rings out once more at the end, announcing that the seasons and the heart have come full circle. Joining beginning and end with the same sound shows that this work used song not as ornament but as a tool for designing the story. (Legacy) After the success of “Frozen,” the Lopezes went on to write the theme song for “Coco” and to continue their work into the sequel, “Frozen II.” Their way of planting stage technique in screen song is credited with carrying over into many later movie musicals. (Reverberation) Exactly which choice brings the story to its close is not revealed here. Let it simply be noted that the music playing at that moment is simpler and quieter than any song heard up to then.
Lesser-known stories
In early drafts of the screenplay, Elsa was drawn as a character closer to someone who, because of a curse, would try to harm Anna. When the Lopezes first wrote a demo of a song depicting Elsa's liberation and played it for the team, the filmmakers decided that the character in that song could not be a villain and rewrote the script itself — so several making-of documentaries have reported. It is often cited as a case of a single song changing a character's fate, yet the details of how that demo was recorded were not widely known at the time of release. The chant-like chorus at the film's opening was created with reference to the musical idioms of Norway and the Sápmi region, and it was later pointed out that elements of Sámi culture had been borrowed in the process without formal consultation. The issue was taken up more seriously during preparations for the sequel than at the time of release, and in making “Frozen II,” Disney set up a process of formal consultation with the Sámi Parliament. This backstory from the first film remains relatively little known, overshadowed by the glamour of its box-office success. The song that survived several brushes with deletion during production was “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” It was cut and restored again and again for being too sad and too expository, but studio staff insisted it be kept, and it survived into the final cut.
Notes on terms 📚🔎
Leading motive (leitmotif)
(In film·musical scores) A technique in which a short melodic fragment denoting a particular character or emotion is repeated throughout the story. Hearing only that tune, the audience naturally calls the character or feeling to mind. It is like a particular whistle signal agreed on in advance for when a close friend approaches at school — just as you can tell who is coming from the sound alone, in music the melody serves as a character's name tag. (Elsewhere) In literature, it is also used to refer to a recurring symbol or image.
Ostinato
(Literal meaning) It comes from the Italian word for “obstinate.” The name was given because a rhythm or melody, once set, is obstinately repeated until the piece ends. (In film·musical scores) A technique in which a short rhythm or figure is repeated endlessly in the accompaniment to express tension, labor or recurring motion. Like feet stamping on and on at the same beat while jumping rope, the ostinato treads the same spot tirelessly and holds up the whole piece.
Belting
(In film·musical scores) A vocal technique characteristic of musical theater in which the chest voice is pushed straight upward to shout out powerfully even on high notes. Unlike a thin, light falsetto, it produces a thick, solid sound and is often used at moments when emotion swells. Think of the husky, forceful sound that comes out when you sing a cheering song at the top of your lungs on school sports day.
Modulation (key change)
(In film·musical scores) Changing the reference pitch — that is, the key — to a different one partway through a piece. Even the same melody feels completely different when the key changes, so a bright song can suddenly sound heavy. It is like how a game with the same rules can feel entirely different when the setting or the opponent changes.
Counterpoint
(Literal meaning) It comes from a Latin phrase meaning “to set against.” It means arranging different melodies side by side so that they sound together. (In film·musical scores) A compositional technique of weaving two or more independent melodies so that they blend at the same time. It creates moments when two people sing different songs and yet their harmonies fall into place. It is easiest to understand as a more intricately crafted version of a round in which several people each take a different part.
Bridge
(In film·musical scores) The section between a song's verse and chorus, or before the chorus repeats, that briefly switches to a different melody and harmony. It acts as a bridge that pushes the emotion up one more time before returning to the familiar chorus. It has an effect similar to a storybook that, just before the climax, briefly shifts to another character's point of view and then returns. (Elsewhere) In architecture or everyday speech, it simply refers to a bridge, or to anything that connects two things.