When was The Road Goes Ever On song cycle composed by Donald Swann?
Donald Swann composed the song cycle titled The Road Goes Ever On in 1965. He set various texts by J.R.R. Tolkien to music and requested permission to perform the work.
Donald Swann composed the song cycle titled The Road Goes Ever On in 1965. He set various texts by J.R.R. Tolkien to music and requested permission to perform the work.
J.R.R. Tolkien recorded his spoken readings on the 15th of June 1967 at his home on Sandfield Road in Oxford. William Elvin sang the songs from The Road Goes Ever On on the 12th of June 1967 under Tolkien's phonetic guidance.
The recordings feature two Elvish languages: Quenya and Sindarin. These were recited by J.R.R. Tolkien himself or sung by William Elvin with phonetic notes tailored to their voices.
Caedmon Records issued the vinyl LP on the 18th of October 1967 in the United States. They released it in the United Kingdom on the 28th of March 1968.
Pauline Baynes designed the cover art for the LP sleeve as a triptych view of a Middle-earth landscape. Her illustration had previously appeared on the slipcase of the deluxe three-volume edition of The Lord of the Rings published by Allen & Unwin in 1964.