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Originally Posted by Ibrîniðilpathânezel
So it's possible that "music" might be used by the wizards in the form of recitation, the words providing meter and rhythm and tone, if not specific diatonic or modal pitch.
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Many real-world languages rely on
pitch accent (no pun intended
) or
tone rather than stress. I'm not sure I quite understand the difference between the former two, but both seem to have to do with the use of musical pitch to semantically distinguish words which are otherwise homophones. Maybe there was something of the like in the Elvish languages - doesn't Tolkien mention somewhere that plain Elvish talk sounded like singing to mortal ears? In this case, it would be relevant that the two or three 'spells' we hear Gandalf using are in an Elvish tongue (
Naur an edraith ammen, naur dan i ngaurhoth, etc.).
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Originally Posted by Ibrin
I should go look at the text, but it seems to me that there are indications that some of the songs in LotR are "sung" in this way (I'm thinking of the Song of Luthien, the Song of Durin, and Bilbo's song about Earendil).
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I'd imagine that the rhymed songs would have been sung to a melody, whereas alliterative verse (such as the Song of the Mounds of Mundburg or Malbeth the Seer's Words) was rhythmically declaimed, with or without musical accompaniment.
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Originally Posted by Ibrin
If such is the case, then it would make sense that during this mission, the music of Istari was the music of carefully chosen words, spoken in particular meter and tone.
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In this context, it seems noteworthy that Saruman's power (or at least the only part of it which we see him using in the narrative) is so intimately connected with his Voice.