IthilLuin

The blue moon over Middle Earth sets with a red dawn.

(I am rewriting Music of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, that's what the following is)

Music of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

The music of the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was composed, orchestrated, conducted and produced by Howard Shore. Shore wrote nearly 12 hours of music for The Lord of the Rings, 10 hours of which have been released in The Complete Recordings CD/DVD boxed sets. (The remaining 2 hours are comprised of alternate, unused compositions, and are set to be released in late 2008.) Shore composed the music in an emotional, operatic way, threading through the scores over 80 specific 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 London on March 20th, 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, though a few other groups also participated. A wide variety of instrumental and vocal soloists contributed to the scores as well (see below).

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 Globes for Best Original Score - Motion Picture and Best Original Song. Shore's music for The Lord of the Rings has become the most successful composition of its composer's career, and is one of the most popular orchestral film scores of all time.

Themes

• Gollum:

• Pity of Gollum
• Menace of Gollum

• The One Ring:

• The History of the Ring
• The Evil of the Ring
• The Seduction of the Ring
• The Fate of the Ring

• The Shire and The Hobbits:

• Pensive Setting
• Rural Setting
• Hymn Setting
• A Hobbit's Understanding
• Playful Setting
• Lullaby Setting
• Hobbit Accompaniments:

• Hobbit Outline Figure
• Hobbit Two Step Figure
• Hobbit Skip Beat
• Hobbit End Cap
• Hobbits' Antics

• The Elves:

• Rivendell
• Lothlórien
• Arwen
• Evenstar
• The Diminishment of the Elves

• Dwarves:

• Moria
• The Dark Places of the World
• Dwarrowdelf
• Moria Voices

• Men of the West:

• Gondor:

• Realm of Gondor:

• Gondor in Ascension
• Gondor in Decline

• Minas Tirith (Silver Trumpets)

• Rohan:

• Rohan Fanfare

• Éowyn:

• Éowyn Shieldmaiden of the Rohirrim
• Éowyn and Théoden
• Éowyn and Aragorn

• The Fellowship of the Ring:

• The Fellowship of the Ring Theme
• The Heroics of Aragorn
• The White Rider (In the Fellowship)
• The Fellowship in Rohan

• Isengard and The Orcs:

• Five Beat Pattern
• Gríma Wormtongue
• Isengard/Orc Theme
• The Cruelty of the Orcs

• Mordor:

• Mordor/Sauron (The Evil of the Ring)
• The Ringwraiths
• Mordor Accompaniments:

• Descending Third
• Skip Beat
• The Mordor Outline Figure
• The Threat of Mordor

• The Ents:

• The Ents

• Nature:

• Nature's Reclamation
• The White Rider (In Nature)

• Middle-earth:

• Ring Quest Themes:

• The Journey There
• Dangerous Passes
• Evil Times

• All Shall Come to Darkness

• The Fall of Men
• Nameless Fear
• A Noble End
• Gandalf's Farewells

• Other:

• Boromir's Redemption, Wounding, and Death
• The Dead Marshes
• The Mûmakil
• Lament for Haldir
• The Fragrance of Ithilien
• The Morgul Host
• The Heartbeat of the Shire
• Hobbits at Play

Songs

• "Aníron" (The Fellowship of the Ring) performed by Enya
• "In Dreams" (The Fellowship of the Ring) performed by Edward Ross
• "May It Be" (The Fellowship of the Ring) performed by Enya: nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song in 2002.
• "Gollum's Song" (The Two Towers) performed by Emilíana Torrini
• "The Edge of Night" (The Return of the King) performed by Billy Boyd
• "Elendil's Oath" (The Return of the King) performed by Viggo Mortenson
• "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 principle leitmotifs along with movie trailer-like music. Additionally, there was a song entitled "Use Well the Days" sung by Annie Lennox. The song can be found on a supplementary DVD included with the Return of the King soundtrack in some packages released in 2003.

It has been announced that alternate compositions, alternate takes, synth mock-ups, session footage, etc. will be presented on a bonus DVD(s) released with the book, The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films, by Doug Adams, due around November, 2008.

Soloists

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

Vocal

• Isabel Bayrakdarian
• Sheila Chandra
• Ben Del Maestro
• Renée Fleming
• Elizabeth Fraser
• Annie Lennox
• Enya
• Edward Ross
• Emilíana Torrini
• Mabel Faletolu
• Sissel Kyrkjebø
• Miriam Stockley
• Hilary Summers

Cast performers

• Billy Boyd
• Viggo Mortensen
• Miranda Otto
• Ian Holm
• Ian McKellen
• Liv Tyler
• Dominic Monaghan
• Elijah Wood

Instrumental

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