For the musical, Les Misérables, what elements of the music, such as the tempo, influence the historical characteristics of the play?

Though written and directed more than a decade later, the
musical, Les Misérables, written and produced
in 1985, is very reminiscent of the rock music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber for Jesus
Christ Superstar in 1971. The composer for Les
Misérables, Claude-Michel Schonberg, used similar
chords, tempo, and electronic instrumentation that Andrew Lloyd Webber used to make
Jesus Christ Superstar so famous.

Though the play
is set during the July French Revolution of 1830 and the student-led uprising of 1832,
the Webber-like rock music and tempo gives the play a modern flare that has made it one
of the best loved musicals of today, as well as the third longest running Broadway
production.

The tempo runs from slow and dark to moderate and dark and
serves to emphasize the story line and the dark historical period. The prologue can be
characterized as slow and dark, while songs like "At the End of the Day" can be
characterized as moderate and dark.

Other elements in the music also
serve to set the historical time period. For instance, in the beginning of the prologue,
one can hear the chime of bells, reminiscent of historical church bells. The sounds of
the orchestra, particularly the brass section, also lend a classic tone that shapes the
allusion to the historical period. However, in the prologue, and in much of the music,
you can also hear an electric keyboard that adds a modern flare and is reminiscent of
the rock music Andrew Lloyd Webber used in Jesus Christ Superstar
that made the play so famous.