HOB - Chapters into Scenes Weekly

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Sauron, good observation on the anachronism of clarinets* in the Dwarven instrumental ensemble. In his essay on musical instruments in Middle-earth (footnote on reed woodwinds), David J. Finnamore writes:

Tolkien called them "clarinets", an instrument not invented until the time of Bach and not in widespread use until the time of Mozart; I take him to mean something like "crumhorns," or "chalumeaus," the medieval ancestor of the clarinet.

The flutes that are named by Tolkien may well be what we now call recorders; I'm not sure he would necessarily have meant a transverse flute, at least not in its modern orchestral form.

If any of you know the BBC version of the Hobbit, what is your opinion of the music used for the Dwarves there? I find it hard to believe that a race with such precise and exquisite craftsmanship would play off-key. In a different system of tonality, yes, that is very much possible, just as we have different systems in various cultures of our world. But I cannot imagine them to be bad musicians! Anyone who takes his instrument on a trip of that magnitude has to be dedicated and must have developed some skill in playing it.

So, to answer your question, I would give the Dwarves a different tonal system, slightly haunting perhaps, to make their music sound foreign to our ears as it must have sounded to Bilbo. And I would like to see the comical "plates" song used in as much length as possible, then have the other one begun a bit later and perhaps echoed at various points of the story, as it fits into the action or flashbacks. It could even have a "leitmotif" function for the Dwarves during the whole movie.


*I suspect that Tolkien chose clarinets just for the fun of having them "hidden" between the walking sticks! That could make for a cute image in a movie.