Happy Hobbit Day and the first day of Autumn!!
In remembrance of J.R.R. Tolkien today, our little hobbits will be enjoying all the comforts of home, "food and cheer and song." I imagine food and cheer will be in abundance for many families' Hobbit celebrations, but I would invite you to follow in Tolkien's hairy footsteps and include the beauty of song as well.
Though J.R.R. Tolkien came from a family of piano manufacturers, he had little musical training. His love of music was not absent however. In one of his remaining letters to composer Carey Blyton, Tolkien confided, "Music gives me great pleasure and sometimes inspiration, but I remain in the position in reverse of one who likes to read or hear poetry but knows little of its technique or tradition, or of linguistic structure." Despite his lack of talent for musical performance, thankfully Tolkien heeded the example of his literary mentor, George MacDonald, and filled his many stories with moving songs.
Although there is no officially written music for Tolkien's Middle-Earth songs, in the same correspondence with Blyton, he was hopeful that his writings would one day excite the creation of musical compositions. Lucky for us, in 1967 these aspirations came to fruition.
The Road Goes Ever On is a song cycle in the ilk of Austrian, Romantic composer Franz Schubert. In collaboration, Donald Swann set seven of Tolkien's poems, mostly from The Lord of the Rings. All of the pieces are lovely and worthy of a listen, but most intriguing to me is the fifth song, "Namárië," based on a tune by Tolkien himself and sung in Elvish. The sixth song, "I Sit Beside the Fire" is another favorite taken from The Fellowship of the Ring.
Following Tolkein's death, Donald Swann added two other songs, "Bilbo's Last Song," and a poem from The Silmarillion entitled "Lúthien Tinúviel." Several others have also gone on to compose settings of "Bilbo's Last Song."
You can listen to The Road Goes Ever On as the original song cycle here:
This is "Bilbo's Last Song" with a short introduction by Donald Swann:
I also came across three recordings of Tolkien himself singing music from his books. They include "Chip The Glasses And Crack The Plates" found in The Hobbit, Samwise Gamgee's troll poem, "Troll Sat Alone On His Seat Of Stone," and "Namárië" in Elvish from The Lord of the Ring: The Fellowship of the Ring. You can find the Youtube playlist of them and an English translation of "Namárië" below:
"Namárië"
Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind,
long years numberless as the wings of trees!
The years have passed like swift draughts
of the sweet mead in lofty halls beyond the West,
beneath the blue vaults of Varda
wherein the stars tremble in the song of her voice, holy and queenly.
Who now shall refill the cup for me?
For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars,
from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds,
and all paths are drowned deep in shadow;
and out of a grey country darkness lies
on the foaming waves between us,
and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever.
Now lost, lost to those from the East is Valimar!
Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar.
Maybe even thou shalt find it. Farewell!
In honor of Tolkien, I have also provided a {FREE} music appreciation lesson, suitable for all ages, to help you add his music to your Hobbit Day in an even more meaningful way. Sign up below, to download your {FREE} lesson.
Add Music Appreciation
to your Hobbit Day
celebration!
How will your family be celebrating Hobbit Day? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.
Blessings,
