"A Speculative History of the Music of Arda", Steven Linden

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Linden works within the tradition of authorial intention. He, in rejecting David Finnamore's use of chaos theory as possible grounds for speculation, says that Tolkien thought "entirely in terms of western music".

That sounds a plausible POV - if and/or when it is the authorial intention we're after. And it would make it understandable also why peole keep imagining Middle-Age European music to the ME.

My question came initially from the fact that I myself have always thought the music of the ME being more like the music of our real world with all its different traditions and colours.

So we're once again face to face with the question of interpretation: should we try to understand the author and his intentions or should we make the most out of it (or should we try to find the hidden "Truth" concealed from the author and us)?

But in this case it comes with a twist as it's not a straightforward question like "is the story and romance of Aragorn and Arwen an allegory of Jesus Christ?", or "did Tolkien have a green agenda?", but a general question concerning things in the world he created but gave not too many hints into what he thought of them - or whether he had thought of them in the first place.

Like what was the first thing Gollum saw when he awoke on the fourth day coming back from Mordor? Or how the haradians brought up their children and what kind of games they played?