It Began with a Letter

"It Began with a Letter" is a musical composition by Yoko Shimomura that is first heard in Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts
In Kingdom Hearts, "It Began with a Letter" is used once during "The King's Letter" cutscene at Disney Castle

Composition
"It Began with a Letter" is approximately one minute and thirty-two seconds long. It has a time signature of 3/4 time, and a tempo of 96 beats per minute. The piece has a four bar introduction, but no conclusion, allowing for smooth transitions between loops. Each loop is twenty measure long. The instrumentation consists of: strings using pizzicato, a music box, and synthesizer.

The piece is composed in a very simplistic and smooth or flowing style. Being short in length, the piece relies upon the main melody of eighth notes, as played by the music box, to mix with the accompanying parts in order to create a usable composition. The strings and synthesizer play the longer, chordal accompanying part consisting of quarter notes and half notes. Meanwhile, the music box enters with the main melodic, flowing line of eighth notes, mainly following a stepwise pattern.