Well, there isn’t a Hogwarts choir, really. But in the third film, director Alfonso Cuarón created one for the Welcoming Feast. The choir members are inexplicably holding very large toads as they sing. The director is Professor Flitwick.
The music that the choir sings was written for the film version of Prisoner of Azkaban by John Williams. The words come from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I. These are the words spoken by the “weird sisters,” the three witches who turn up every so often as the story of Macbeth unfolds, foretelling his fate and creating various awful spells and brewing potions in their cauldron. The phrase “By the pricking of my thumbs / Something wicked this way comes” is spoken by the Second Witch and is a reference to Macbeth himself, who knocks on the door immediately thereafter.
It should be noted that the witches in Macbeth are really nothing like the witches of the wizarding world any more than they are like the humans of our world. They are two different fictional creations, sharing little more than the name “witch” and a fondness for cauldrons. In fact, Macbeth’s witches seem to be similar to Hags in the Potter universe.
The “weird sisters” from Macbeth also lend their name to a popular musical group in the wizarding world.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Lyrics: William Shakespeare
Music: John Williams
Transcribed by: Steve Vander Ark
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble
Something wicked this way comes
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing –
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble
Something wicked this way comes
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Fillet of a fenny snake,
Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf
Sung in each rhythm
(Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.)
a tempo
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Something wicked this way comes
The notes are written above each word. The key is Dm. The basic guitar chords are written below, with a simplified interlude.
A – G – A A – G – A Bb G A A A G-F-G E E E A A
Double double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble
Dm A7 Dm
D – E – F D – E – F G E A A C# C#-C# C# C# C# C# C#
Dou–ble dou–ble, toil and trouble, something wicked this way comes!
Dm Gm A7
D C# C# C C Bb Bb
Eye of newt and toe of frog
Dm Gm
Ab G G F F E E
Wool of bat and tongue of dog
Gm A7
C# C – C Bb Bb A A
la la-la la la la la
Gm A7
MUSIC INTERLUDE
[Dm Dm Gm Dm Dm A7 A7 Dm Dm Dm Gm Gm A7 A7 A7 A7]
A – G – A A – G – A Bb G A A A G-F-G E E E A A
Double double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble
Dm A7 Dm
D – E – F D – E – F G E A A D D – E E A A D D
Double double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron…..bubble!
Dm Gm A7 Dm
D D D D C# C# D
Something wicked this way comes!
Gm A7 Dm
Commentary
Notes
The Harry Potter Wiki suggests that the choir may have been founded in response to all the letters sent to Hogwarts by Celestina Warbeck's mother when the future singing superstar was a student. The letters demanded that Hogwarts create a choir, a theatre troupe, and dance classes to provide training to her daughter (Pm).
