“Then the voices of the Ainur, like unto harps and lutes, and pipes and trumpets, and viols and organs, and like unto countless choirs singing with words, began to fashion the theme of Ilúvatar to a great music; and a sound arose of endless interchanging melodies woven in harmony that passed beyond hearing into the […]

“There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made. And he spoke to them, propounding to them themes of music; and they sang before him, and he […]

In the beginning of J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel The Silmarillion, he compares the creation of Middle-earth to a song. My research goal for this summer is to produce an original, full-length interpretation of what that song might have sounded like. The orchestration of my composition will contain a separate instrument for each of the […]