Harman Patil (Editor)

Music of The Lord of the Rings film series

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Released
  
December 13, 2005

Label
  
Reprise

Length
  
180:35

Music of The Lord of the Rings film series

The music of The Lord of the Rings film series was composed, orchestrated, conducted and produced by Howard Shore. Shore wrote many hours of music for The Lord of the Rings, 10 hours of which have been released in the Complete Recordings CD/DVD boxed sets. Additional music, including alternative and unused compositions, was released with the book The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films in 2010.

Contents

Shore composed the music in an emotional, operatic way, threading through the scores over 90 identified leitmotifs, which are categorized by the Middle-earth cultures to which they relate. Shore began his work on the music for The Fellowship of the Ring in late 2000 and recorded the first pieces of music (the Moria sequence) in spring of 2001. Additional music for the extended DVD version was recorded in March 2002. A similar pattern was followed for The Two Towers and The Return of the King, with the final sessions taking place in Watford on March 20, 2004.

The music was performed primarily by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Voices, with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra contributing some of the early Moria music. A wide variety of instrumental and vocal soloists, including members of the films' cast, contributed to the scores as well.

The scores for The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King won Academy Awards in 2002 and 2004. The latter film also won an Oscar statuette for Best Song, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. Shore's music for The Lord of the Rings has become the most successful composition of his career and one of the most popular motion picture scores in history.

First appearance in The Fellowship of the Ring

  • "The History of the Ring": a minor-key string melody plays over the Lord of the Rings title card for all three films. Shore hints in the production commentary for the film that it is a theme pertaining, in fact, to Gondor.
  • "The Ringwraiths" motif: fast-paced, parlous, operatic music featuring roaring chorals. It is first heard in the Battle of the Last Alliance in the prologue.
  • "Mordor/Sauron (The Evil of the Ring)": menacing, "ethnic" flavored theme, associated with Sauron and Mordor. It is played on the rhaita.
  • "The Threat of Mordor"
  • "The Pity of Gollum": a slow, gloomy piece which acts as a theme for Gollum. It is first heard in the prologue when Smeagol discovers the Ring.
  • "The Shire and the Hobbits", also known as "Concerning Hobbits": the theme for the Shire. On the soundtrack, it starts with a solo tin whistle, followed by a solo fiddle and then the complete orchestra repeating the same phrase. The track then quietens down and the solo tin whistle plays a second melody, again followed by the orchestra. The track ends with the violin and then the tin whistle repeating the first theme. There are four settings:
  • "The Rural Setting": usually heard only in the Shire.
  • "The Pensive Setting": a reflective version of the theme.
  • "The Hymn Setting": first heard when Frodo and Sam set out.
  • "A Hobbit's Understanding": used when the Hobbits come to understand the hardships and struggles of their journey.
  • "The Seduction of the Ring": a slow, melancholic choir sun in Quenya and is also hummed.
  • Rivendell: a theme formed by a series of arpeggios, usually in strings and often with choral accompaniment.
  • "Isengard/Orc" theme: industrial-themed, suspenseful and brisk, usually accompanied by a 5/4 rhythm in the percussion and extensive usage of anvil.
  • "Five Beat Pattern"
  • "Arwen"
  • "The Diminishment of the Elves ("Gilraen's Song")"
  • "Nature's Reclamation" (commonly referred to by fans as the Nature theme): the theme was first heard while Gandalf was trapped in Isengard when a moth serving as a messenger for the Eagles arrived at the pinnacle of Orthanc; the moth and the Eagles represent nature here as well. The theme has a grander version in "The Two Towers" during the "Last March of the Ents". A more heroic and robust brass version is heard in the third film when the Rohirrim leave Edoras for Dunharrow and also during Théoden's "Ride now!" speech before the Rohirrim charge at Pelennor Fields.
  • "Dwarrowdelf"
  • "Realm of Gondor" theme: the basic version of this was established during the Council of Elrond in the "The Fellowship of the Ring", and also existed in the Extended Edition of "The Two Towers". It occurs in several variants, including Realm of Gondor in Decline and Realm of Gondor in Ascension.
  • "The Fellowship of the Ring" theme: a heroic, sweeping piece using principally brass and orchestra. It is heard in various versions during the first film, but after "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm," the last time that the entire Fellowship is together, it can only be heard infrequently and sparingly throughout the next two films until the remainder of The Fellowship charge the Black Gate "The Mouth of Sauron" and "For Frodo". This theme is commonly known as the main theme of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
  • "Minas Tirith" theme: the basic version of this was established during a scene with Aragorn and Boromir in Lothlórien in "The Fellowship of the Ring".
  • "Moria"
  • "The Heroics of Aragorn"
  • "The Watcher in the Water"
  • "The Cave Troll"
  • "The Balrog"
  • "The Journey There"
  • "Dangerous Passes"
  • "Evil Times"
  • "The Fall of Men"
  • "A Noble End"
  • Lothlórien: a soft, ethereal chorus accompanied by cellos in the Phrygian mode. A more hard-edged, brass-driven version of the theme appears in the second film during the battle of Helm's Deep.

    • First appearance in The Two Towers

  • "Gollum's Menace": featuring the cimbalom.
  • Éowyn's theme: using open fifth intervals (lacking the third of the chord – this means that the chords cannot be defined as major or minor).
  • "The Rohan Fanfare": featuring the hardanger fiddle.
  • "Evenstar": a slow, serene piece.
  • "The White Rider in Nature": a waltz-time, sweeping, full-orchestra crescendo with heavy strings that represents Gandalf the White.

    • First appearance in The Return of the King

  • Mithrandir/Grey Havens theme: featured in "Into the West" by Annie Lennox.

    • Instrumentation

    Howard Shore made use of a large orchestra using the following instruments:

  • Woodwinds: 3 flutes (1st and 2nd doubling on alto flutes, 2nd doubling on piccolo, 3rd doubling on piccolo and optionally on Irish whistle, alto flute & pan flute wooden flute), 3 oboes (3rd doubling on English horn), 3 clarinets (3rd doubling on bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (3rd doubling on double bassoon)
  • Brass: 5 horns in F, 4 trumpets in C (piston and rotary valve), 3 trombones, tuba
  • Percussion (minimum 4 players): timpani, chimes, medium and large tamtams, 5 suspended gongs (6", 8", 10", 12", 14"), suspended cymbals: large and antique, piatti, 2 metal bell plates (14", 1" thick), distressed piano, snare drum, field (or side) drum, 2 bodhráns, Japanese taiko drums: small, medium and large, bass drum, 2 log drums, bass marimba, rattle
  • Keyboard: piano (doubling on celesta)
  • Strings: 2 harps, violins I and II, violas, violoncellos, double basses
  • Other: musette, hammered dulcimer, cimbalom, classical guitar
  • Non-Orchestral instruments: fiddle, double fiddle, anvil, accordion, Celtic harp, chains on piano wire, Hardanger fiddle, mandolin, monochord, ney, sarangi, low whistle, wood flute, rhaita, dilruba, hanging Tibetan gongs

    • Use of Tolkien languages

    The film score for The Lord of the Rings incorporates extensive vocal music blended with the orchestral arrangements. The great majority of the lyrics used are in the invented languages of Middle-earth, representing the various cultures and races in Tolkien's writings. These languages include Quenya and Sindarin associated with Elves, Adûnaic and Rohirric for Men, and Khuzdul of the Dwarves. Some of these languages had been developed extensively by Tolkien, while others were extrapolated by linguist David Salo based on the limited examples of vocabulary and linguistic style available. (Old English was used as an analog for Rohirric.) The lyrical texts were derived from several sources, including songs and poems written by Tolkien, as well as original and adapted material from screenwriters Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and others, all translated by Salo. The vocal music serves primarily to give texture and cultural aesthetic to the score; there is never any translation of the lyrics in the on-screen presentation, and in many cases only fragments of the source texts are used.

    Songs

  • "Aníron" (The Fellowship of the Ring) performed and composed by Enya
  • "May It Be" (The Fellowship of the Ring) performed and composed by Enya: nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song in 2001.
  • "To the Bottle I Go" (The Fellowship of the Ring) performed by Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Elijah Wood, and other Hobbit cast members
  • "The Song of Beren and Lúthien" (The Fellowship of the Ring) performed by Viggo Mortensen
  • "In Dreams" (The Fellowship of the Ring) performed by Edward Ross
  • "The Funeral of Théodred" (The Two Towers) performed by Miranda Otto
  • "Gollum's Song" (The Two Towers) performed by Emilíana Torrini is musically related to Gollum's Pity Theme. The lyrics are by Fran Walsh. The song was to have been performed by Björk, whose name actually appeared in the closing credits of the film as shown in theaters; Björk had to decline because of her pregnancy, however, and Torrini was credited in the DVD. This track is also titled "Long Ways to Go Yet," in The Complete Recordings. This version of the track includes additional instrumental music at the end, making it a medley of themes to cap off the album. Artist Geoff Keezer has released a jazz piano version of the song. Unrelated to the song of the same name in the book.
  • "The Green Dragon" (The Return of the King) performed by Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan
  • "Arwen's Song" (The Return of the King) performed by Liv Tyler
  • "The Edge of Night" (The Return of the King) performed by Billy Boyd
  • "The Return of The King" (The Return of The King) performed by Viggo Mortensen
  • "Into the West" (The Return of the King) performed by Annie Lennox: won the Academy Award for Best Song in 2004.

    • Deleted tracks

    There exist several pieces of music written by Howard Shore that never made it into the final cut of the film trilogy or any existing soundtrack. Among these are various pieces written for battles throughout the film. There was also a special musical arrangement written for the trailer for The Return of the King, which primarily consisted of principal leitmotifs along with movie trailer-like music. Additionally, there was a song entitled "Use Well the Days" sung by Annie Lennox, which can be found on a supplementary DVD included with The Return of the King soundtrack in some packages released in 2003.

    Soloists

    For the three films Shore worked with many vocal and instrumental soloists.

    Vocal

  • Isabel Bayrakdarian
  • Sheila Chandra
  • Ben Del Maestro
  • Renée Fleming
  • Elizabeth Fraser
  • Annie Lennox
  • Enya
  • Edward Ross
  • Emilíana Torrini
  • Blake Heslop-Charman
  • Mabel Faletolu
  • Sissel Kyrkjebø
  • Miriam Stockley
  • Hilary Summers
    • Cast performers
  • Billy Boyd (Peregrin "Pippin" Took)
  • Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn)
  • Miranda Otto (Éowyn)
  • Ian Holm (Bilbo Baggins)
  • Ian McKellen (Gandalf)
  • Liv Tyler (Arwen)
  • Dominic Monaghan (Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck)
  • Elijah Wood (Frodo)

    • Instrumental

  • Dermot Crehan – Hardanger fiddle
  • Sir James Galway – flute, tin whistle
  • Ulrich Herkenhoff – pan flute
  • Edward Cervenka – cimbalom

    • Original soundtracks

    Recordings of the score were originally issued on single-disc albums, that closely followed the theatrical release dates of the films. All soundtrack albums of the trilogy have been released through Reprise Records, Enya's label at that time of the first soundtrack's release. While the cover art for The Fellowship of the Ring uses an original compilation of film characters, the covers for The Two Towers and The Return of the King reflect the respective film posters.

    The Complete Recordings

    Starting in 2005, a year after the extended release of The Return of the King, Reprise Records began to release one multi-disc set for each part of the trilogy. These annually published collections, titled The Complete Recordings, contain the entire score for the extended versions of the films on CD, along with an additional DVD-Audio disc that offers 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround mixes of the soundtrack. Each album also comes with extensive liner notes by music journalist Doug Adams which reviews all of the tracks and provides information about the process of composing and recording the score, as well as a detailed list of all musical instruments, people and organizations involved. These Annotated Scores have been made freely available by New Line on the promotional website for the soundtracks (see below). The cover artwork uses common elements for the three albums like the film series' logo and an inscription in Tolkien's tengwar letters. The background of each album cover differs though in that it shows an aspect from the map of Middle-earth drawn by Christopher Tolkien that fits the title of the release and the location of the plot: The Fellowship of the Ring depicts the The Shire, Rhudaur and Eregion in dark red, the cover for The Two Towers shows Rohan and Fangorn in dark blue while The Return of the King shows a map of Gondor in dark green.

    The Fellowship of the Ring

    The Complete Recordings for The Fellowship of the Ring span just over three hours of music on three CDs. The set was released on December 13, 2005.

    Track listing

    The Two Towers

    The Complete Recordings for The Two Towers span over three hours of music on three CDs. The set was released on November 7, 2006.

    Track listing

    The Return of the King

    The Complete Recordings for The Return of the King span almost three hours and fifty minutes on four CDs. The accompanying DVD-audio disc is double-sided to accommodate all of the material. The set was released on November 20, 2007 and is currently the only of the three to be available for digital download.

    Track listing

    The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films

    The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films (ISBN 978-0-7390-7157-1) is a book which was written by Doug Adams and released on October 5, 2010. The book contains a detailed look at the themes and leitmotifs in the films' music. It also contains snippets of sheet music and illustrations. The book was released with a companion CD, The Rarities Archives. The CD has 21 tracks of previously unreleased music created for the films, as well as an audio interview with Howard Shore.

    Awards

    The scores and soundtrack albums of the film trilogy have won several awards:

    Symphony

    Following the theatrical release of all three films, Howard Shore reworked the film scores of the trilogy into The Lord of the Rings Symphony, a more structured six-movement work for orchestra and choir. This has been performed in various concert halls around the world, accompanied by a light and visual art show by Alan Lee and John Howe. A DVD titled Howard Shore: Creating the Lord of the Rings Symphony—a composer's journey through Middle Earth has been released. The 50-minute-long DVD features extensive excerpts of the concert given by Shore and the Montreal Orchestra and Grand Choir at the "Montreal en Lumiere" Festival, interspersed with spoken commentary by Shore, who recounts his approach in composing the music for the three films and then reworking it into the LOTR symphony.

    On September 13, 2011, Shore released "The Lord of the Rings Symphony" on CD and MP3 format. The double-album was recorded in Lucerne, Switzerland and performed by the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus under the direction of Ludwig Wicki.

    Track listing
    1. "Movement 1" - 11:25
    2. "Movement 2" - 34:04
    3. "Movement 3" - 18:15
    4. "Movement 4" - 10:28
    5. "Movement 5" - 15:26
    6. "Movement 6" - 26:13

    Live to Projection

    Live to Projection was a series where The Lord of the Rings films (which only had dialogue and sound effects) were projected while the music is performed live in sync with the films. It was conducted by Ludwig Wicki and Erik Eino Ochsner and was performed around the world, including Switzerland, Australia and the United States.

    References

    Music of The Lord of the Rings film series Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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