#1 In the Beginning
What is this blog, and what is its purpose?
About Me (Ross!): Professionally, I am a choir director, musician, and teacher. I taught high school for 8 years and have been a church musician as a singer, director, and amateur organist. I am beginning work on a DMA in Choral Conducting at Louisiana State University.
I have been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works which I discovered in 2002 after accidentally seeing The Two Towers film with a friend. I say ‘fan’ casually, but I am quite obsessed and am delighted to discover the deep levels of scholarship around Tolkien. Through the Tolkien Society and other forums and other podcast communities, I have found that there are so many nerds like us!
Who is this blog for? If you are also an obsessed Tolkien fan, please excuse my generalizations, reductions, and omissions when it comes to the Tolkien content of this blog. When trying to convert someone to your religion, it is not helpful to get bogged down in the minutia of scripture (or drafts from The Book of Lost Tales). I will be dealing with the broad strokes. Many thanks in advance!
This blog is written for the audience of my fellow choral directors, singers, and composers. My attempt here is to show how the world of Tolkien can intersect with our choral profession. I feebly claim to have some experience both with Tolkien and choral singing, and I hope to set forth ideas and inspiration for composers to create, and choruses to perform on stage.
What am I trying to prove? The poetry, language, and moral lessons of Tolkien’s works are worthy for composers to set, and for our singers and audiences to experience.
My Purpose: But……I am not a composer!
My purpose is to be a Curator, documenting the ways the Tolkien and choral music have intersected up to this point in time.
My next purpose is to be an evangelist from the Tolkien world to the choral world and show the beauty of his poetry to composers who may be interested.
Finally, I want to commission new works as Tolkien’s writings become available per copyright. If a choir is willing to sing it, and a composer is interested in setting it, I am going to fund it. In the future, I would love to see a workshop where composers could submit scores to be sung by a festival choir.
Copyright………the biggest hurdle of this entire project (expect an entire blog post on that).
How shall the music be set? My focus here is somewhat narrow: Poetry and prose that can be set for choir. Specifically, I would like to see music that is accessible and attainable for high school, collegiate, and community groups. As much as I would love to hear a 200-voice chorus with full orchestra perform the Dagor Dagorath (the final apocalyptic battle at the end of history), that will never get more than one performance……if it gets one, at all.
I recognize that these Purposes will take many years to achieve. Fortunately, I am young and patient. If you are interested in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, or choral music, I would love to connect with you. Please feel free to comment on blog posts!
Finally, please take a listen to J.R.R. Tolkien reading a poem from Book 2 of the Lord of the Rings, Namárië. J.R.R. Tolkien recites “Namárië” (Galadriel’s lament) — YouTube
My first real blog entry will focus on possible settings for Namárië.
-Ross
Some of the topics I may cover in this blog:
The Evils of Copyright
How Tolkien uses Music in-universe
The Great Music of Creation (The Ainulindale)
The Music in Quenya and Sindarin (Elvish languages)
Poem: Namarie (Galadriel’s Lament)
Poem: Sing Ye People of the Tower of Anor (Psalm 24 and 33)
Poem: The Road Goes Ever On (and variations)
Review: The Road Goes Ever On, a Song Cycle by Donald Swann
Other Musical Adaptations of Tolkien
Addendum: I absolutely reserve the right to edit my posts for grammar, spelling, corrections, clarifications, and general oopsy-daisys.
