#4 Arise, Alliteration!
The story in context:
We are going to pivot away from the fluid, musical language of the elves, and go to the horse-lords of Middle-Earth: The Rohirrim. The riders of Rohan are a kingdom of horse warriors allied to the kingdom of Gondor. Tolkien avoids using one-to-one representations of real-world cultures in Middle-Earth, but the Rohirrim come the closest. They are essentially Anglo-Saxons with a horse culture.
When the Rohirrim enter the story of The Lord of the Rings, new Beowulfian themes are injected into the narrative. The kingdom of Rohan is currently in decline. They are surrounded by enemies and traitors, and the willpower to fight back is at odds with their despair. Tolkien applies the concept of “Northern Courage” (found in Beowulf and elsewhere) in The Lord of the Rings, especially with the Rohirrim. This is a literary idea that the hero will face insurmountable odds for the defense of their community or self, knowing and accepting that they will die. For the Rohirrim and their old king, Theoden, each battle is begun knowing that victory is near impossible, and if it is had, it will probably be temporary.
Why should these verses be set for choir?
Linguistically, the Anglo-Saxon element that is relevant to musicians is the Alliterative Verse. While Tolkien uses end-rhyming frequently, he also uses alliterative verse which frontloads the rhyming stress, and is identified by consonant clusters. Nearly all the alliterative verses in The Lord of the Rings pertain to the Rohirrim. This type of text gives the composer, choir, and audience a chance to experience music that is not just simple rhyming. Additionally, the themes of heroism, despair, and inevitability set the stage for a potentially epic piece of music.
Like all poetry, the best way to feel the language is to speak it aloud. For more information on the general rules of alliterative verse and how Tolkien studied it and composed it, see Tom Shippey’s 2009 article, and James Shelton’s 2018 paper.
Here be dragons, all the instances of alliterative verse concerning the Rohirrim.
ARISE NOW
“Arise now, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Dire deeds awake, dark it is eastward.
Let horse be bridled, horn be sounded!
Forth Eorlingas!”
Before this moment, King Theoden is in a bleak, despairing state. The wizard Gandalf inspires him to meet the moment of fate head-on, even if the odds of surviving are slim. Theoden is not only inspired and elevated, but also stands a little taller and tosses away his cane. He is too old to be a useful soldier but now decides to ride out to war with his men. Northern courage, indeed! As the Riders of Rohan ask Theoden to command them, his nephew and heir Eomer cries Westu Théoden hál!, a bit of Old English meaning ‘good health to you.’ (the word wassail is related). This short heraldic cry of Theoden could have some interplay with Eomer’s Rohirric response. As with all of these verses, composer and choir alike have ample opportunities to accentuate the consonant clusters.
The second variation of ‘Arise now’ is just before the Battle of Pelennor Fields, when Theoden leads his 6,000 horsemen right into the flank of Sauron’s armies.
Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
Do yourself two favors: Go read the last few paragraphs that follow this verse, Chapter V of Book VI. The description of Theoden leading the charge, full of battle-fury, outriding his vanguard to what will be his death…. absolute chills. Then, go watch this scene in The Return of the King. You will feel like you can run through a wall!
So many possibilities here! Violently accented consonants come to my mind. Some fragments of lines could be repeated in short rhythmic motifs. I feel that meters of 12/8 or 9/8 would capture a galloping feel, but there could also be moments of angular asymmetric measures. At the risk of getting too grand, drums and obbligato brass instruments could accompany the texture.
FROM DARK DUNHARROW
From dark Dunharrow in the dim of morning
with thane and captain rode Thengel’s son:
to Edoras he came, the ancient halls
of the Mark-wardens mist-enshrouded;
golden timbers were in gloom mantled.
Farewell he bade to his free people,
hearth and high-seat, and the hallowed places,
where long he had feasted ere the light faded.
Forth rode the king, fear behind him,
fate before him. Fealty kept he;
oaths he had taken, all fulfilled them.
Forth rode Théoden. Five nights and days
east and onward rode the Eorlingas
through Folde and Fenmarch and Firienwood,
six thousand spears to Sunlending,
Mundberg the mighty under Mindolluin,
Sea-kings’ city in the South-kingdom
foe-beleaguered, fire-encircled.
Doom drove them on. Darkness took them,
horse and horseman; hoofbeats afar
sank into silence: so the songs tell us.
This is a epic song written about the ride of the Rohirrim to the Battle of Pelennor Fields. It is presented during their departure from Rohan before they complete the 100-league journey by horseback. In-universe, it is presented as a song (presumably sung by bards or other horse riders) created after the climactic events of The Lord of the Rings. It is a little long to be set for choir, but it is an excellent example of alliteration to practice reciting.
The Tolkien Ensemble has a classically modern setting of this verse for a cappella choir. It has some interesting twists and turns harmonically. The main challenge is that it is over nine minutes long (a moot point since this is just a recording, and unavailable as sheet music). Not exactly something you can pick up and program with your choir unless you want to give up that much time on your concert for one song. I don’t see publishers buying these longer texts.
EOMER’S LAMENT
Out of doubt, out of dark, to the day’s rising
I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing.
To hope’s end I rode and to heart’s breaking:
Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!
This short verse is spoken by Eomer, who has just witnessed the death of Theoden in battle. Additionally, Eomer believes his sister Eowyn to be dead, leaving him as the last member of his family. The enemy forces regroup and appear to have reinforcements entering the field. This text represents both an Anglo-Saxon lament, and the despair element of Northern Courage.
Once again, The Tolkien Ensemble paves the way. This setting is heavy with string accompaniment and very much leans toward the ‘lament’ feeling. To contrast this, I would love to hear an upbeat setting, as the battle still rages around Eomer. He has just seen his King and sister slain, and he laughed as he spoke these words. The battle lust returns to him. Surely, he was going to go down swinging.
As I write this, I have the wind band piece ‘Xerxes’ by John Mackey in my head. The melody is angular, the music is angry and nasty. There is a glorification of battle that comes through in the music. Maybe something here could inspire music for Eomer’s lament.
Xerxes by John Mackey:
SONG OF THE MOUNDS OF MUNDBERG
We heard of the horns in the hills ringing,
the swords shining in the South-kingdom,
Steeds went striding to the Stoningland
as wind in the morning. War was kindled.
There Théoden fell, Thengling mighty,
to his golden halls and green pastures
in the Northern fields never returning,
high lord of the host. Harding and Guthláf,
Dúnhere and Déorwine, doughty Grimbold,
Herefara and Herubrand, Horn and Fastred,
fought and fell there in a far country:
in the Mounds of Mundburg under mould they lie
with their league-fellows, lords of Gondor.
Neither Hirluin the Fair to the hills by the sea,
nor Forlong the old to the flowering vales
ever, to Arnach, to his own country
returned in triumph; nor the tall bowmen,
Derufin and Duilin, to their dark waters,
meres of Morthond under mountain-shadows.
Death in the morning and at day’s ending
lords took and lowly. Long now they sleep
under grass in Gondor by the Great River
Grey now as tears, gleaming silver,
red then it rolled, roaring water:
foam dyed with blood flamed at sunset;
as beacons mountains burned at evening;
red fell the dew in Rammas Echor.
Like ‘From Dark Dunharrow,’ this epic-style poem is too long to reasonably set, but it finishes out the alliterative verse based around the Rohirrim and the Battle of Pelennor Fields in Chapter VI of Book V. It’s another great poem to recite aloud to get the “mouthfeel” for the text, which is why I included it here.
Lastly, I leave you with this: Professor Tolkien reading the last paragraphs of Chapter V, alongside the adapted scene from Peter Jackson’s Return of the King. You will hear Theoden’s battle-cry, and some of the best prose from the entire book.
References:
Shippey, Tom. “Tolkien’s Development as a Writer of Alliterative Poetry in Modern English.” Lembas-extra 2009: Tolkien in Poetry and Song, ed. Cecile van Zon (Leiden Tolkien Genootschap Unquendor, 2009,) 64–75.
Shelton, James. “Eomer Gets Poetic: Tolkien’s Alliterative Versecraft” by James Shelton (valpo.edu)
The Tolkien Ensemble. “Lament for Theoden.”. Track #2, CD 4, of Complete Songs and Poems. Membran Music. 2006, Audio CD.
Tolkien, J.R.R, and Christopher. J.R.R. Tolkien Audio Collection. Caedmon. 2001, Audio CD.
