#3 Namarie (Farewell)
The story in context:
The song Namarie (or Galadriel’s Lament) appears in Chapter VIII, Farewell to Lorien, in Book II of the Lord of the Rings.
The Fellowship is taking leave of the wooded realm of Lorien where time seems to stand still, and an image of an earlier age is preserved. Galadriel, the Lady of Lorien, gives the Fellowship rest, provisions, and gifts before they set out. The last interaction they have with her is hearing her sing Namarie.
From the chapter:
“But now she sang in the ancient tongue of the Elves beyond the Sea, and he (Frodo) did not understand the words: fair was the music, but it did not comfort him.
Yet as is the way of Elvish words, they remained graven in his memory, and long afterwards he interpreted them, as well as he could: the language was that of Elven-song and spoke of things little known on Middle-Earth.”
Below is the text as Galadriel sang it in Quenya.
Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen,
yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!
Yéni ve lintë yuldar avánier
mi oromardi lisse-miruvóreva
Andúnë pella, Vardo tellumar
nu luini yassen tintilar i eleni
ómaryo airetári-lírinen.
Sí man i yulma nin enquantuva?
An sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo
ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë,
ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë;
ar sindanóriello caita mornië
i falmalinnar imbë met, ar hísië
untúpa Calaciryo míri oialë.
Sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar!
Namárië! Nai hiruvalyë Valimar.
Nai elyë hiruva. Namárië!
Note: Tolkien includes diacritic marks (ë) over vowels that are to be pronounced separately from their neighbors, as diphthongs. These marks are not actually a part of Quenya but are very helpful for us non-native speakers.
Here is the poetic translation:
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!
The Fellowship has just spent a month resting and recuperating in the realm of Lorien, so on the surface, this song appears to be a sort of benediction or farewell. However, Galadriel decides to make it about herself, singing in Quenya which nobody understands (although Frodo did a few weeks of Duolingo, so he figured it out later).
Galadriel is an exile from the far western land of Aman. Her folk once lived among the gods, but chose to leave that paradise to pursue their enemies and rule their own kingdoms. Galadriel uses her power to create a microcosm of paradise-on-earth within Lorien. Have you ever had a grandparent go on about choices they regretted or things they miss from childhood? Same energy.
Why should Namarie be set for choir?
This is the longest bit of the Quenya language we get from Tolkien, and because Quenya is the more elevated of the two main elvish languages, it is that much more noble, other, and faerie-like.
As I said in blog post #2, the language itself is inherently musical: Fluid, lyrical, and full of tone. Singers and composers need not be scared of another foreign language!
It helps that in Quenya, pronunciation stress is very similar to Latin: Two-syllable words emphasize the first syllable, and three-syllable words emphasize the first or second. Longer words usually emphasize the penultimate syllable. Also, the IPA guide in Gary Leonberger’s dissertation makes it even more attainable. It’s so easy, even a troll could learn it!
There is also the English version ‘translated’ by Frodo. This text is also beautiful, but I prefer the original. Perhaps a composition could use snippets of both Quenya and English, but I leave that to better composers than myself (as in, all of them).
Namarie can and should be set in several different ways according to each composer’s strengths and interpretations. A straightforward benediction or ‘farewell’ demeanor would be on the nose, but appropriate. A more pensive or regretful concept could reflect Galadriel’s thoughts and her deep history which is barely touched in The Lord of the Rings.
As Lorien means ‘Golden Wood’ and Galadriel means ‘maiden crowned with a garland of radiance’, there are make cues of light and gold to be taken. No matter the direction the composer takes, the audience should be stunned in awe, getting a glimpse of a world that is far off, and not our destiny to truly see.
The Challenges:
This is the fine print. The ‘catch’ that might make somebody say “No thank you, I’ll just write another Gloria.”
I see two challenges with Namarie.
The meter of this song is very irregular, and each line is quite long. The first line is 11 syllables, the second 12, the third 10, the fourth 12……were you hoping for 8.6.8.6?
(Both Tolkien and Donald Swann sort of wave their hand at this by treating it as a Gregorian chant. It is beautiful but…….more could be done!)
The other challenge is the sheer amount of text. Could a composer use excerpts? I think that would be hard to justify. The poem is set in 4 main parts, Long-Short-Long-Short. The last short part could be used as an excerpt (Namárië! Nai hiruvalyë…).
I imagine that a choral setting of Namarie will be through-composed. That may make the song less accessible to a choir, but hey….that’s why I’m not the composer. I just wanted to give you a leg up on the prep!
What in the world are these words? A TMI glossary
Varda- The Queen of the Valar (gods) who kindled the stars, and is revered by all elves
Valinor- The realm of the Valar, where in ancient times many of the elves journeyed to. This is the paradise or Eden that Galadriel departed from long before ruling Lorien. Also known as the Undying Lands, or the continent of Aman.
Calicirya- The cleft of light. A pass through the mountains of Aman that divide Valinor in the west from the Sea in the east.
Oiolossëo- An utterly fantastic Quenya word, which translated means Mount Everwhite. This is the tallest mountain in the world, where Varda generally hangs out.
Valimar- The city of bells, in the plains of the Valinor.
West- Refers to Valinor/Aman/the Undying Lands/Valimar.
Basically, these words refer to various places in Galadriel’s motherland, before she was exiled. This whole vibe reminds me of my college town before the soulless mixed-used buildings replaced the funky shops and dive bars.
Existing Adaptations:
Hopefully, by now you have listened to the audio recording of Tolkien reciting Namarie. It makes sense to next listen to Donald Swann’s setting, which is one part of his song cycle The Road Goes Ever On. Swann directly collaborated with Tolkien on this project (can you imagine??? So cool….). Tolkien envisioned Namarie as a chant, which is no stretch given his devout Catholic background. He sang his ideas to Swann, who just polished it up and put it on paper.
Here is Swann’s setting:
Finally, two settings by The Tolkien Ensemble, led by Danish mezzo-soprano Signe Asmussen. There is a beautiful, modal version of the English translation……
…and an ethereal, subdued version in the Quenya. Simple, sublime.
I would love to know your thoughts on Namarie! Thanks for reading.
EDIT: February 10, 2024
For my first DMA Conducting Recital at LSU, I asked my friend and cohort colleague Devin Bureau to look at Namarie and consider setting it. They jumped on it and within a month, I was studying the score and preparing it for rehearsal. It is set for SSA a cappella. Devin uses a mode similar to natural minor but with a raised 4th scale degree. Devin’s background as a singer and their knowledge of the English repertoire is evident in the harmony and lyricism of this setting. The sense of bitter acceptance in Devin’s setting reminds me of the palpable grief that Herbert Howells (a contemporary of Tolkien) channeled into his choral music.
I hope you enjoy listening to this composition of Namarie by Devin Bureau, sung by the Louisiana State University Chamber Singers, condcuted by Ross Cawthon.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V7zCVFPE_-h-v0cUtzSfX2Kboj4Jbvah/view?usp=drive_link
References:
Ardalambion. NAMARIE (uib.no). https://folk.uib.no/hnohf/namarie.htm
Hammond, Wayne, and Christina Scull. J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator.
Leonberger, Richard Garrett. A Swann’s Song in Middle-earth: An Exploration of Donald Swann’s “The Road Goes Ever On” and the Development of a System of Lyric Diction for Tolkien’s Constructed, Elvish Languages.
The Tolkien Ensemble. “Galadriel’s Song of Eldamar, I sang of leaves…”. Track #6 of An Evening in Rivendell. Focus Recording.1997, Audio CD.
The Tolkien Ensemble. “Galadriel’s Song of Eldamar, Ai! Laurei lantar…”. Track #7 of An Evening in Rivendell. Focus Recording. 1997, Audio CD.
Tolkien, J.R.R. Appendix E ‘Writing and Spelling’. The Lord of the Rings.
