"I feel as if I was inside a song"The Presence of Music in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth and Songs and Poems set to Music

The Presence of Music in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth and Songs and Poems set to Music

Media Sources


Rahman, A.R.: The Lord of the Rings: Original London Production, A.R. Rahman, Värttinä, Christopher Nightingale, Kevin Wallace Music 2008 (CD+DVD) = LotR M.

Shore, Howard: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - The Complete Recordings, London Symphony Orchestra, ..., Reprise 2005 (3CD+DVD) = LotR FotR.

Shore, Howard: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - The Complete Recordings, London Symphony Orchestra, ..., Reprise 2006 (3CD+DVD) = LotR TTT.

Shore, Howard: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - The Complete Recordings, London Symphony Orchestra, ..., Reprise 2007 (4CD+DVD) = LotR RotK.

Swann, Donald: The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle, Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1967.

The Tolkien Ensemble & Christopher Lee: The Lord of the Rings: Complete Songs and Poems, Caspar Reiff, Peter Hall, Morten Ryelund, Hamburg: Membran 2006 (4CD) = TE.


Score Manuscripts


The following score manuscripts were used for the creation of score extracts, courtesy of the composer:

Hall, Peter: Oliphaunt, manuscript = Oliphaunt, 4.1.13.

Hall, Peter: Song of Durin, arr. Caspar Reiff, manuscript = Song of Durin, 4.1.4.

Hall, Peter: Song of Eärendil, manuscript, c2005 = Song of Eärendil, 4.1.3.

Reiff, Caspar: The Eagle’s Song: Full Score, arr. Gunner Møller Pedersen, manuscript, c2003 = The Eagle’s Song, 4.1.10.

Reiff, Caspar: The Eagle’s Song: Piano Score, manuscript = The Eagle’s Song, 4.1.10.

Reiff, Caspar: Elven Hymn to Elbereth Gilthoniel, manuscript = Elven Hymn to Elbereth Gilthoniel (I), 4.1.7.

Reiff, Caspar: Galadriel’s Song of Eldamar – Ai! Laurie Lantar..., manuscript, c1996-97 = Namarié, 4.1.1.

Hall, Peter: Gollum’s Song, manuscript = Gollum’s Song/Riddle, 4.1.15.

Hall, Peter: When Evening in the Shire was Grey, manuscript = Frodo’s Lament for Gandalf, 4.1.8.


Works from the Legendarium


Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel: The Book of Lost Tales 1, ed. By Christopher Tolkien [= The History of Middle-earth I], New York: Del Rey 1992 = LT1.

Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel: The Hobbit or: There and Back Again, based on the New Reset Ed 1995, London: HarperCollins 2006 = H.

Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel: The Lord of the Rings, based on the 5th Anniversary Ed 2004, London: HarperCollins 2007 = LotR.

Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel: The Silmarillion, New Ed London: HarperCollins 1992 = S.


Primary Literature


Adams, Doug: The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films, Van Nuys: Carpentier/Alfred 2010.

Reiff, Caspar: The Lord of the Rings: Complete Songs and Poems, CD-Booklet, Hamburg: Membran 2006 = Reiff.

Reiff, Caspar: Electronic mail conversation between Caspar Reiff and Tobias Escher, 7th August, 2011 = Reiff, e-mail 1.

Reiff, Caspar: Electronic mail conversation between Caspar Reiff and Tobias Escher, 8th August, 2011 = Reiff, e-mail 2.

Russell, Gary: The Lord of the Rings: The Official Stage Companion, London: HarperCollins 2007.


Secondary Literature


Amendt-Raduege, Amy M.: “Worthy of a Song”: Memory, Mortality and Music, in: Middle-earth Minstrel, ed. by Bradford Lee Eden, Jefferson: McFarland & Company 2010, 114-125.

Bratman, David: Liquid Tolkien: Music, Tolkien, Middle-earth, and More Music, in: Middle-earth Minstrel, ed. by Bradford Lee Eden, Jefferson: McFarland & Company 2010, 140-170.

Clarke, Arthur C.: Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into the Limits of the Possible, revised edition, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Wilson 1973.

Fisher, Jason: Horns of Dawn: The Tradition of Alliterative Verse in Rohan, in: Middle-earth Minstrel, ed. by Bradford Lee Eden, Jefferson: McFarland & Company 2010, 7-25.

Koolen, Ben: The Song of Durin, in: Tolkien in poetry and song [= Lembas Extra 2009], Leiden: Tolkien Genootschap Unquendor 2009, 74-85.

Larsen, Kristine: “Behold Your Music”: The Themes of Ilúvatar, the Song of Aslan, and the Real Music of the Spheres, in: Music in Middle-earth, ed. by Heidi Steimel & Friedhelm Schneidewind, Zürich: Walking Tree 2010, 11-27.

Linden, Steven: A Speculative History of the Music of Arda, in: Music in Middle-earth, ed. by Heidi Steimel & Friedhelm Schneidewind, Zürich: Walking Tree 2010, 75-90.

Maier, Norbert: The Harp in Middle-earth, translated by Heidi Steimel, in: Music in Middle-earth, ed. by Heidi Steimel & Friedhelm Schneidewind, Zürich: Walking Tree 2010, 107-124.

Martin, Gregory: Music, Myth, and Literary Depth in the “Land ohne Musik”, in: Music in Middle-earth, ed. by Heidi Steimel & Friedhelm Schneidewind, Zürich: Walking Tree 2010, 127-148.

Naveh, Reuven: Tonality, Atonality and the Ainulindalë, in: Music in Middle-earth, ed. by Heidi Steimel & Friedhelm Schneidewind, Zürich: Walking Tree 2010, 29-51.

Smith, Murray: “They Began to Hum Softly”: Some Soldiers’ Songs of World Wars I and II and of Middle-earth Compared and Contrasted, in: Music in Middle-earth, ed. by Heidi Steimel & Friedhelm Schneidewind, Zürich: Walking Tree 2010, 185-212.

Steimel, Heidi: “Bring Out the Instruments!”: Instrumental Music in Middle-earth, in: Music in Middle-earth, ed. by Heidi Steimel & Friedhelm Schneidewind, Zürich: Walking Tree 2010, 91-105.

Wilkin, Peter: Ǽfre me strongode longað: Songs of Exile in the Mortal Realms, in: Middle-earth Minstrel, ed. by Bradford Lee Eden, Jefferson: McFarland & Company 2010, 47-60.