Who wrote the music for The Road Goes Ever On song cycle?
Donald Swann wrote the music for The Road Goes Ever On. He began composing the settings in Ramallah, near Jerusalem, in 1965, and completed the nine settings over a period of twelve years.
Questions about The Road Goes Ever On
Short answers, pulled from the story.
When was The Road Goes Ever On first published?
The first edition of The Road Goes Ever On was published on the 31st of October 1967 in the United States. An LP record titled Poems and Songs of Middle Earth, recorded on the 12th of June 1967, accompanied the release.
What is the song Namarie in The Road Goes Ever On?
"Namárië" is a song in the Quenya language drawn from Book 2, chapter 8 of The Lord of the Rings. Its melody was provided by Tolkien himself, who hummed a tune resembling Gregorian chant when Swann performed an earlier version he found unsatisfactory.
How many songs are in The Road Goes Ever On song cycle?
The original 1967 release contained seven songs, with a ninth, "Lúthien Tinúviel", placed in an appendix. Subsequent editions added "Bilbo's Last Song" in 1978 and "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" and "Lúthien Tinúviel" formally in the 1993 third edition.
What role did J. R. R. Tolkien play in creating The Road Goes Ever On?
Tolkien approved the song cycle and contributed the melody for "Namárië" by humming it for Swann. He also wrote notes and translations of the two Elvish poems in the book, and decorated every page of sheet music with elvish script.
What label released the LP record for The Road Goes Ever On in 1967?
Caedmon Records released the LP as TC 1231 under the title Poems and Songs of Middle Earth. The record featured Tolkien reading poems on side one, with Donald Swann on piano and William Elvin singing the song cycle on side two.