by Jarrett Hoffman
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Apologies to 14th-century Italian composer Francesco Landini, but today’s edition of this musical almanac seems like a good day to focus on someone who was not a musician, but whose name invariably makes you think of music. That would be J.R.R. Tolkien, who died on September 2, 1973 in Bournemouth, England.
Depending on how you’ve experienced the tale of The Lord of the Rings, the music that comes to mind will be different. For many, it has to be that of Howard Shore, who scored the film version of the trilogy (released from 2001 to 2003), winning three Oscars and four Grammys in the process.
Even if you haven’t seen the movies, you probably know the music, considered among history’s greatest film scores. Most memorable is the Fellowship Theme, representing the cast of characters who come together to destroy that darn, evil ring. Depending on the strength of that fellowship, the music waxes and wanes in emotional and instrumental power — when it’s epic, it’s epic.
A close second is the Shire Theme, which often shows the Hobbits thinking back to their simple and fun-loving home, back before they got involved in any dreadful adventure. If the wistfulness and then the playfulness of that theme aren’t enough to charm you, then your soul might need a tune-up.
The London Philharmonic was responsible for most of the soundtrack. And if you ever wondered how it would fare in the hands of The Cleveland Orchestra, well, you were almost in luck. They were planning to play it as part of a live screening of The Fellowship of the Ring this summer at Blossom before COVID entered the fray. It’s been rescheduled for 2021.
Enough about the movies — in his books, Tolkien was truly a world-builder with his Middle-earth, and the details he thought up included many songs. As a reader encountering his stanzas of lyrics, you had two options, depending on your tastes: try to invent some sort of music in your head, or turn the page impatiently. (To be fair, there were a lot of songs, and I was, like, 12.)
Fortunately, composer Donald Swann came along and set several of those texts to music in a song cycle called The Road Goes Ever On, a collaboration with Tolkien. The cycle mostly follows an English folk style that probably pleased the writer — some say he wasn’t a fan of mid-20th-century “modern music.” In any case, it’s a stark and fascinating contrast with the film scores. Here’s a playlist of the songs on YouTube featuring bass-baritone William Elvin, who sang in the original recording in 1967 with Swann on piano.
According to this archived post from Cleveland State University’s official Tumblr, voice professor Eileen Marie Moore was planning to perform Swann’s cycle during a 2012 performance titled “An Evening of Music from Middle-earth.” But the Internet doesn’t seem to have any more information about that — perhaps one of our readers knows more?
EDIT: We’ve just discovered that tonight at 7:30 pm on Facebook Live, Moore will give a program titled “Maidens of Middle-earth VII: Treaty Brides.” As she writes, “this song-cycle tells the stories of women given in marriage to form alliances and seal treaties during the Third Age of Middle-earth.” Read more and hear the concert on her Facebook page.
Many other musicians have taken inspiration from Tolkien’s works — as a starting point, here’s a handy Wikipedia page for anyone interested in exploring.
TODAY ON THE WEB AND AIRWAVES:
In addition to Eileen Moore’s Tolkien-inspired concert mentioned above, there’s “Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra” (Wagner and Brahms) and the Met Opera’s nightly archival stream (John Adams’ Nixon in China). Another event to check out tonight: a live stream from the Silver Hall Series and the Maltz, in which “one-woman ghost choir” Uno Lady (Christa Ebert) will handle vocals, electronic effects pedals, and unconventional instruments.
More details in our Concert Listings.