Music in Middle-earth

From the Grand Theme that the Ainur played before Iluvatar at the beginning of the world, to the various songs and melodies performed by the characters of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the world that J.R.R. Tolkien created contains numerous references to song and music. Indeed, these songs form an integral part of the narrative. It is therefore surprising that little mention of this aspect of Tolkien's sub-creation has so far been made in secondary literature. The papers collected in this volume set out to address this important gap. The scope of music related to Middle-earth has more recently been further extended by various attempts to either set Tolkien's song texts to music, or to create derivative musical works. Such creations range from the songs and music of the films and radio adaptions to such phenomena as Tolkien-inspired Black Metal. Music in Middle-earth presents 14 papers, each addressing a different aspect of this topic.

From the Grand Theme that the Ainur played before Iluvatar at the beginning of the world, to the various songs and melodies performed by the characters of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the world that J.R.R. Tolkien created contains numerous references to song and music. Indeed, these songs form an integral part of the narrative. It is therefore surprising that little mention of this aspect of Tolkien's sub-creation has so far been made in secondary literature. The papers collected in this volume set out to address this important gap. The scope of music related to Middle-earth has more recently been further extended by various attempts to either set Tolkien's song texts to music, or to create derivative musical works. Such creations range from the songs and music of the films and radio adaptions to such phenomena as Tolkien-inspired Black Metal. Music in Middle-earth presents 14 papers, each addressing a different aspect of this topic.