Musical Analysis of One Winged Angel

Figure 4. Portait of Nobuo Uetmatsu.

One Winged Angel is the name of the track that plays when the player fights Sephiroth. The composer of the piece, Nobuo Uematsu, designed the game’s entire soundtrack using a Roland SC-88 synthesizer. Although the game’s soundtrack was well received, with critics especially favoring the piece “One-Winged Angel”, many stated they felt the MIDI sound weakened the overall quality of the track.  This suggested that MIDI’s characteristic lack of soundstage, clarity, and inarticulate or ‘fuzzy’ timbre detracted from the realistic atmosphere of the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6UB8JfC8Jg

Uematsu was inspired by Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, to make a more classical piece, but was also influenced especially by rock from the ‘60s and ‘70s, specifically Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” to add rock elements, creating a “destructive piece,” more adapted to the qualities of the character the track symbolizes. These elements show in the use of the booming drums and the prominent backbeat, both techniques widely utilized in rock music. Uematsu also based the vocals from medieval poetry by Carl Orff, from his Carmina Burana, specifically, Estuans Interius, O Fortuna, Veni, Veni, Venias and Ave FormosissimaThese pieces are fitting as the poems, especially O Fortuna, heavily parallel Sephiroth as a character. The poem is a lament to the goddess of fortune and how she holds power over the fates of gods and men alike, trapping them in their destiny. Use of opera for vocals is fitting as the pitch and quavering of the voice used helps provide an air of mystery and sadness, fitting of a character who remains separate from others,  and how he has no friends, no allies, the only comfort he gets being derived from believing that he is following his dead mother’s legacy.