Week 2 TASK 1: Musical theme analyses

a) Elves of Rivendell theme

The Elf themes are unique in the musical world of Middle-earth. Elvish culture hit its zenith centuries before the story of the Lord of the Rings, and
appropriately, Elf music feels as if it is from another era. The writing is awash with chromatic harmonies, Eastern influences, and distinctive
instruments. Shoe favors female voices and the most transparent tones in the orchestra clean figures devoid of plush harmonisations, tidy, artful
worlds of music. A vein of stately timelessness runs through the material, as well as a sadness that speaks to the end of an age.
Rivendell begins with a comforting tone of opulence and respite, then becomes darker and more tenebrous as Middle-earth is abandoned by the
Elves.
The Elves of Rivendell are more open to outsiders than other Elvish societies, so while their musical material is still touched with a shimmer, it is less
exotic than Lothlorien. Here, more familiar orchestral instruments flourish in layers of writing that place an acclivous figure for female chorus and a
series of arcing arpeggios amidst glinting chimes, harps, and string harmonics. Both the descending figure in the chimes and the rising and falling
arpeggios are built out of the same vaulting shape. There is a sense of age, wondrous probing, and openness in the writing. (Quote from The Music
of the Lord of the Rings Films, pages 42-43).
b) Rohan theme

The Rohan music is steeped in Nordic influences. While the Gondor music abounds in leaping, column-like melodic shapes, Rohan creates a
latticework of repeated, interweaving phrases, much like the cultures art and architecture. The nations strength often lies in its connection to the
natural world.

The Rohan Fanfare appears most naturally in a regal and sturdy setting for mid-range brass though Shore uses a Hardinger fiddle to represent a
fragile rural side of this struggling culture This melody is as much attached to the people of Rohan as it is to the land itself. (Quote from The Music
of the Lord of the Rings Films, page 61).
c) The Fellowship theme

The fellowship theme strikes a unique posture. It is receptive and sympathetic, but at the same time steely and unaffected a theme for a
benevolent yet steadfast mission. Though the writing is harmonically inventive (the melody itself is in a minor mode while its harmonization is
major), the theme suggests the relics of Middle-earths ancient glory. (Quote from The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films, page 73).