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#1 | ||
Late Istar
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,224
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Of course, resting an argument on inferences about Tolkien's thoughts and intentions invites all manner of (the dreaded) canonicity issues. As a matter of fact, when it comes to canonicity I'm a Text (rathern than Author or Reader) person, so I am myself a bit uncomfortable with that argument. I do think a weaker argument to the same effect can be made from the texts themselves; to wit, all of the instruments mentioned (as far as I can recall) are western instruments (fiddles, viols, clarinets, flutes, harps, etc.) I grant that 'flute' and 'harp' can refer to a variety of non-western instruments beside the western varieties; moreover, we are probably not to understand these instruments to be identical to their modern counterparts. Rather, names like 'clarinet' are translations of the original, Elvish or Westron, names for instruments that no longer exist. But this does, at least, suggest that those instruments resembled western instruments more than they did those of any other culture. I confess this argument is not a supremely forceful one; and one could construct a history of music in Middle-earth that is not so firmly based on European music. But taken together with such things as Tolkien's Gregorian chant version of 'Namarie', his English folk song version of Sam's troll song, and the generally European character of Middle-earth in general, I at least am convinced that its music resembled western music more than it did any other modern tradition. I should perhaps say 'the music of the Elves and Edain' - for I do think it would be quite in keeping with the spirit of Middle-earth if the Easterlings and the Haradrim, for instance, had rather non-western music. Last edited by Aiwendil; 01-25-2013 at 12:50 PM. |
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#2 | |
Flame of the Ainulindalë
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Wow. I for one didn't know we have the author here... Well great! (And added reason to get my hands on the text)
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What I've been thinking just by myself is that the edain (and the hobbits) shared the Western tonality - with the major and minor scales, 7/12-note system etc. - but that other "races" might have something of their own. I know it is a sham to say that the Haradians would have something like music of the sub-Saharan Africa and the Easterlings might have Far-Eastern music. It may be unimaginative or shallow but might fit also Tolkien's world-view? So the enigma becomes the music of the elves - and the great prize, the music of the Ainur! The latter could be interpreted in the Pythagorean / Platonic / Hellenistic / Boethian fashion as to be "music of the spheres" not audible to human ear but of which the music we can play and hear is a vibration or reverbation of. I think Tolkien must have been aware of these theories from antiquity as the whole of creation in the Ainulindalë seems to echo that metaphysical understanding of music as the organizing-principle of reality. But what about the music of the elves? To me it has always been more of a mystical thing... I would hate to think it along the lines of the corpus of the Western "classical music", or the Western tonality.
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Upon the hearth the fire is red Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet... |
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#3 |
Princess of Skwerlz
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles)
Posts: 7,500
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The one piece of music we have that came directly from Tolkien is his melody for Galadriel's "Namarië", which is in the western tradition, but certainly not "classical" - it is Gregorian chant. However, like language, this is our "translation", and the original could have been considerably more exotic. Perhaps some Asian influence could be imagined for Elven music.
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...' |
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#4 |
Late Istar
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,224
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Nogrod - I think I more or less agree with you. I certainly don't think that the music of the Elves (or even the Edain or Hobbits) should sound exactly like western music of any variety. I just think that if one is going to take aspects of music of the real world as starting points and try to extrapolate to Middle-earth, western music is the place to start.
It's interesting you mention tuning systems, as this is a topic that has long held a certain fascination for me, though I mention it only briefly in the essay. I have thought that perhaps the Elves would have a system with more than 12 tones, but likely one of which the 12 tone system is a subset. Perhaps when humans sought to imitate Elvish music, they could not quite grasp the subtleties of the Elvish system and ended up with the 12 tone scale. I also rather wonder what system(s) of intonation they used (equal temperament, just intonation, etc.). I imagine Maglor probably wrote a treatise or two laying out the mathematics of the various systems. |
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#5 | |
Curmudgeonly Wordwraith
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Ensconced in curmudgeonly pursuits
Posts: 2,515
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And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision. Last edited by Morthoron; 02-09-2010 at 09:30 AM. |
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#6 |
Stormdancer of Doom
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"Have you ever been called home by the clear ringing of silver trumpets?"
"I have seen the great essay.... long ago." "One day we will go there...." |
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#7 |
Stormdancer of Doom
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Somewhere in Tolkien-- I think it was the conversation between Finrod and Andreth-- I came across a reference to the Final Music. And ever since then, this has always reminded me of that:
"Mortals join the mighty chorus Which the Morning Stars began Father -love is reigning o'er us Brother love joins man to man."
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...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve. |
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#8 | |
Cryptic Aura
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 6,003
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But I'm not telling. Have to suss it out for yourself. I will only say that they aren't the spambots. ![]()
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I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away. |
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