When You Wish Upon a Star

The melody opens with a wide, hopeful leap upward, a simple gesture that has become one of the most recognizable openings in American film music. In this orchestral arrangement, expect the tune to be stated tenderly at first, likely led by strings or a solo woodwind, before the orchestra fills out around it for a fuller, warmer treatment as the piece continues. The harmony stays gentle and consonant throughout, avoiding surprises, which is part of why the tune has traveled so easily from the movie screen into countless orchestral and pops arrangements over the decades. It is a short, warm piece meant to be immediately familiar rather than musically challenging.

Leigh Harline composed the music, with lyrics by Ned Washington, for Walt Disney's 1940 animated film Pinocchio, where it was sung over the opening credits and reprised at the film's close by Cliff Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Cricket. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1941 and went on to become an informal theme song for the Walt Disney Company itself, appearing in countless later films, television broadcasts and theme park attractions. It has since been arranged many times for orchestra and pops concerts; this performance uses an arrangement by Declan Postlethwaite.