'Elven Music in Our Times', Mira Sommer

[Faramir Jones]

Anyone with an interest in how Elvish music in Tolkien’s works, in particular in The Lord of the Rings, is interpreted by modern musicians, will find ‘Elven Music in Our Times’ by Mira Sommer a good read. She tries to answer these questions:

But how do composers today imagine such music? How do modern musicians interpret the culture of the Elves? And how great is the part which the Elvish languages play in the timbre and tone of the music? (Music, p. 255)

Ms. Sommer’s overview is divided into two main parts. First, those musicians who directly interpret Elvish music, divided into two sections, one dealing with Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films, and the other looking at ‘Tolkien’s Elves in General Musical Interpretation’. (pp. 255-277) Second are what she calls ‘More “Elvish Musicians”’, where she looks at musicians who are inspired by Elvish music, but who do not directly interpret it. (pp. 277-280)

Looking at the Jackson films, the author starts with The Fellowship of the Ring, which contains the largest number of interpretations of Elvish music of the three. At the start, I was interested to read that the ‘Elvish Lothlόrien Theme’ as spoken by Galadriel was a rendering of text translated into Sindarian, then performed in Quenya. (pp. 255-256)

Also particularly interesting to read was that the ‘Song of Lúthien’ was translated into Sindarian, and with an ‘a capella melody…composed and performed by Viggo Mortensen’. (p. 258) Good for him!

Other bits worth particular reading are those dealing with ‘Aragorn and Arwen’s Theme’, a song both written and sung by Enya, (pp. 260-261) and ‘Caras Galadhon and Galadriel’s Mirror’, the latter discussing the choral singing of the elves of Lothlόrien: 'The songs are really reminiscent of the measured notes of Gregorian choirs and have a meditative, almost intoxicating effect in conjunction with the instruments'. (pp. 262-264)

I was intrigued to read that the instruments used in the above included the ‘monochord’, the ‘Ney flute from Egypt’ and the ‘sarangi’ from classic Indian music. (p. 264)

In The Two Towers, I liked learning that in ‘Arwen’s Fate/The Grace of the Valar’ a UK singer of South Indian background, Sheila Chandra, was used. Not so great was the reminder that it was the background to a silly piece where Elrond persuades Arwen to leave Middle-earth, telling her that it she remains with Aragorn, he will die and she will be left alone. (pp. 266-267) As if she hadn’t known this, and had made her decision a long time ago!

Finishing with The Return of the King, I also liked learning that Renée Fleming was the one who sang ‘Twilight and Shadow/The Grace of Undόmiel’, but was unfortunately reminded of the nonsense of that part of the film, involving Arwen leaving Middle-earth, then having a vision of her son, changing her mind and returning to her father to tell him of her final decision to be with Aragorn. (p. 268)

Overall, I enjoyed reading about the production of the Elvish music in the Jackson films, music which I like listening to very much; but some of the pieces reminded me of parts of the films that were badly adapted, which the quality of the music does not conceal, like beautiful wrapping paper concealing an ugly present.

In looking at ‘Tolkien’s Elves in General Musical Interpretation’, the author looks at the work of The Tolkien Ensemble, the group that made the first complete musical interpretation of all the poems and songs in LotR. (pp. 270-277) I’ll let the reader find out what she says, but will say that it’s a good introduction to people who don’t know them and their work.

In dealing with musicians who find Elvish music an inspiration, though they do not directly interpret it, the author gives us an overview of some such people and bands: David Arkenstone, Enya, Jessica Butler, Qntal, Nightwish, Enam, and The Fellowship, admitting that her selection is limited. (pp. 277-280)

She reaches this conclusion regarding the interpretation of Elvish music by modern musicians:

In spite of all the different interpretations, the motifs share a basic simplicity and musical tone: they are all spherical, transcendental, and mystical. They seem to long for countries far away and appear as a deeply moving story. (p. 280)

I agree with this conclusion, with the qualification that the musicians discussed aim for the above mentioned goals. Whether they have succeeded or not in this is a matter for the individual listener.

That said, I warmly recommend this article as a very interesting overview of how Elvish music has been interpreted by musicians in the last number of years.