Channels, Fall 2017

Page 114 Sulka • J.R.R. Tolkien and the Music of Middle Earth to it and sounds as though it could have been recorded in a cathedral. 9 While there are modern elements to it, this portrayal of the song seems to follow the criteria of the novel more closely – it is a tune that seems as though it could be “old as the hills.” However, taking into account the fact that Tolkien agreed to Swann’s portrayal of the song, it is interesting to see what a different view he had of Middle Earth in comparison to the filmmakers. This is especially striking when he edited one of Swann’s later settings of “Namárië” to sound more like a Gregorian chant. As will be discussed later, this is meant to show how elven culture is different from hobbit culture – one has a Medieval-like music tradition while the other has an overwhelmingly folk-like music tradition. Despite Tolkien’s input into the cycle, the filmmakers did not necessarily reflect the hobbit culture accurately in editing one of their folk songs to sound more like chant, though it is artistically very effective in the movie. In this case, Swann’s portrayal should be considered the more accurate one, especially since the movie’s edition took the song out of its original context, and the two traditions of folk music and Gregorian chant can easily be seen as equally valid interpretations of the description of a song “as old as the hills.” In the Willow-Meads of Tasarinan The third song, “In the Willow-Meads of Tasarinan,” is sung by Treebeard while he is walking through the forest in The Two Towers , the first of the songs in the collection not originally from The Fellowship of the Ring. 10 As Tolkien writes, “Treebeard fell silent, striding along, and yet making hardly a sound with his great feet. Then he began to hum again, and passed into a murmuring chant. Gradually the hobbits became aware that he was chanting to them.” Swann seems to have paid close attention to Tolkien’s description as he composed. While the walking songs had simple chordal accompaniments and quarter note rhythms, the piano accompaniment for this piece is far more complex, and Swann neglects to write guitar chords in as he did for the first two songs simply because it would be impossible for a guitarist to play if he did not know how to read a piano score. 11 This increase in complexity coincides with a relaxing of complexity in the vocal line – for most of the piece, the vocalist’s melody remains on one pitch, though there are more melodic sections, especially in the beginning when the poetry evokes images of spring and good days. As the poetry describes winter, the piece becomes increasingly chant-like – as the performer sings, “Ah! the wind and the whiteness and the black branches of winter,” he is only required to change pitch for a single syllable. While there are other settings of this piece – including one by The Tolkien Ensemble, a group given permission by the Tolkien family to create recordings of all music found in the novels – Swann’s is the only one approved by Tolkien himself. 12 However, The Tolkien Ensemble’s setting does include some important differences – two of the stanzas are spoken, and the instrumentation 9 J. Peter Burkholder, Donald Grout, and Claude Palisca, A History of Western Music (Eighth Edition) (New York City: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008), 3. 10 J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1967), 72. 11 Donald Swann and J.R.R. Tolkien, The Road Goes Ever On (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1967), 11-17. 12 Caspar Rieff, “The History of the Tolkien Ensemble,” The Tolkien Ensemble.