For chant nerds who are also Tolkien nerds
  • Ben_WhitworthBen_Whitworth
    Posts: 90
    Listening to the magnificent 1981 BBC radio dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings, I was struck by Stephen Oliver's moving setting of "The road goes ever on and on". The text itself is in Ambrosian measure (iambic tetrameter quatrains), but Oliver pushes it even further into Gregorian hymn territory by placing a slightly longer pause between the second and third lines of each quatrain; and the rhythm reflects the isosyllabic interpretation of Gregorian hymnody as advocated by (among others) the late Professor John Stevens of Cambridge University. I am not sure I could point to a single hymnodic source for the melody, but Jesu dulcis memoria was the tune that came to mind.
    Thanked by 1Andrew_Malton
  • Andrew_Malton
    Posts: 1,189
    In Donald Swann's song cycle it's mentioned that the melody for "Namárië" was provided to the composer by Tolkien himself, who "always heard it as Gregorian chant". The melody is a reciting tone perhaps in mode I, not a metrical tune, but I cannot read the passage (near the end of book 2 of the Fellowship) without hearing Tolkein's chant.
    Thanked by 1Ben_Whitworth
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    Dr. Ford... paging Dr. Ford...
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    I have a wondrously charming duet for Christmas by Donald Swann. It's called Jesu parvule and would be an exquisite addition to prelude music or communion music at a Christmas mass.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
Add a Comment