Has The Lord of the Rings ever influenced your musical choices or preferences?

Started by LKB, August 13, 2022, 06:31:13 PM

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LKB

Thread title says it all: Has The Lord of the Rings ever influenced your musical choices or preferences?
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen...

Karl Henning

Quote from: LKB on August 13, 2022, 06:31:13 PM
Thread title says it all: Has The Lord of the Rings ever influenced your musical choices or preferences?

I don't believe so.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

LKB

Thanks, Karl.

Some explanation may be warranted... during my first year in college l was fortunate enough to be introduced to both symphonic Bruckner and Tolkien, and in close proximity. As a result l invariably experience the Bruckner symphonies as a sort of imaginary soundtrack for Tolkien's work, and l was just wondering if there might be others who might have enjoyed the same happy accident.
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen...

Wanderer

Now you're being more clear. I was exploring Mahler's Symphony No. 2 during the time oh, so many years ago when I was reading The Two Towers. The Scherzo has been my imaginary soundtrack for Fangorn Forest ever since.


Jo498

I don't think so. I read LotR for the first time at 20 years old (I had read the Hobbit in translation years earlier, maybe with 14 or so, not as a young child, the books were known in 1980s Germany but not as well known as later, fantasy overall more niche, I read far more crime mystery and (realist) adventure as a teenager) and I was already listening to classical music for years then and I don't remember any association with romantic or heroic or "landscape" music. I re-read the book several times although I am not one to read it every year or two and the last time could be many years ago and I don't remember any strong musical associations later on either.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

LKB

Quote from: Jo498 on August 13, 2022, 11:27:11 PM
I don't think so. I read LotR for the first time at 20 years old (I had read the Hobbit in translation years earlier, maybe with 14 or so, not as a young child, the books were known in 1980s Germany but not as well known as later, fantasy overall more niche, I read far more crime mystery and (realist) adventure as a teenager) and I was already listening to classical music for years then and I don't remember any association with romantic or heroic or "landscape" music. I re-read the book several times although I am not one to read it every year or two and the last time could be many years ago and I don't remember any strong musical associations later on either.

I think in my case proximity was the most important factor. Bruckner and Tolkien entered my experience at very nearly the same time, and l think the somewhat archaic aspects of the Bruckner symphonies resonated very well with Tolkien's mythology.
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen...

vandermolen

Sibelius's 4 Legends for Orchestra comes to mind, although I discovered Sibelius before Tolkein.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

LKB

Quote from: vandermolen on August 14, 2022, 12:36:15 AM
Sibelius's 4 Legends for Orchestra comes to mind, although I discovered Sibelius before Tolkein.

I need to hear the Sibelius anyway, and you've now supplied extra motivation.  8)

Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen...

staxomega

Does Tolkien discuss music in the books or is it just the general atmosphere of them that has parallels to music?

LKB

Quote from: hvbias on August 14, 2022, 06:45:05 AM
Does Tolkien discuss music in the books or is it just the general atmosphere of them that has parallels to music?

I recall at least a couple of musical episodes in The Fellowship of the Ring, with the Hobbits singing in Tom Bombadil's house and some of the Elves in Rivendell playing instruments. There may well be more which escape me.
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen...

Mandryka

Quote from: LKB on August 13, 2022, 06:31:13 PM
Thread title says it all: Has The Lord of the Rings ever influenced your musical choices or preferences?

Yes. When I was a teenager I read quite a bit of Lord of the Rings in a tent in the wilderness in the High Peak in Derbyshire, with my mates Martin Weinberg, Paul Clark and Nick Smith. Where are you now guys? We listened to lots of Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Ganondorf

Quote from: hvbias on August 14, 2022, 06:45:05 AM
Does Tolkien discuss music in the books or is it just the general atmosphere of them that has parallels to music?

Not in LOTR but in Silmarillion the world (the same world as in LOTR) is created through Music of The Ainur.

Karl Henning

Quote from: LKB on August 14, 2022, 07:13:33 AM
I recall at least a couple of musical episodes in The Fellowship of the Ring, with the Hobbits singing in Tom Bombadil's house and some of the Elves in Rivendell playing instruments. There may well be more which escape me.

There are songs strewn throughout The Hobbit & LotR, sometimes with a brief description of the music's character or emotional effect. Not really anything for a composer to run with.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: Ganondorf on August 14, 2022, 07:45:20 AM
Not in LOTR but in Silmarillion the world (the same world as in LOTR) is created through Music of The Ainur.

Aye, a beautiful passage, indeed.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Lisztianwagner

It certainly has; reading The Lord of the Rings made me fond of Norse mythology and Middle Ages legends, so when I started listening to classical music and, after some time, I discovered there were operas based on Norse myths (Wagner's Ring), I was irresistibly curious to explore them; good thing, because it made me discover and fall in love with Wagner, that is now my favourite composer.
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." - Gustav Mahler

SimonNZ

I was worried this thread was asking if Howard Shores soundtracks shaped your idea of what is Classical. Glad it's not.

I haven't read Tolkien, but can't think of any work of literature where I've associated it with a work of music, or vice versa.

I know my first serious experience of Proust and the Beethoven piano sonatas happened at exactly the same time, but even then I don't associate one with the other now.

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: SimonNZ on August 14, 2022, 05:14:08 PM
I was worried this thread was asking if Howard Shores soundtracks shaped your idea of what is Classical. Glad it's not.

I've never read the books, only seen the movies so my answer was going to be Howard Shore! Joke is no good now, you beat me to it.

KeithE


Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot