"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

It would be absolutely impossible to in a single paper address all musical works claiming to bring Tolkien’s creations to life in a manner true to the author. In the field of musical works based on The Lord of the Rings, there are, however, four very important works³, in which composers have tried to make the music of Middle-earth audible. These works all are officially licensed and approved by the owners of the rights to Tolkien’s Legendarium and will form the basis of this analysis. What these works have in common is that clearly the artists responsible for their creation have carefully studied Tolkien’s writings as well as his background rather than only loosely basing their art on Tolkien’s universe. A short overview of these works is in order to establish chronology and gather some general information before dealing with the author's clues as concerning music as well as ultimately applying this information to specific parts of the works mentioned.