The Road Goes Ever On
Encyclopedia
The Road Goes Ever On is a song cycle
that has been published as sheet music
and as an audio recording. The music was written by Donald Swann
, and the words are taken from poems in J. R. R. Tolkien
's Middle-earth
writings, especially The Lord of the Rings
.
The title of this opus is taken from "The Road Goes Ever On", the first song in the collection. The songs form a song cycle
, designed to fit together when played in sequence.
song "Namárië
," which was based on a tune by Tolkien himself and which has some affinities to Gregorian chant
.
This book has been valued even by those uninterested in the music, since it helps Tolkien's readers to better understand the culture
s of the various mythological beings presented in Middle-earth, and helps linguist
s analyse Tolkien's poetry. For example, it contains one of the longest samples of the language Quenya
(in the song "Namárië"), as well as the Sindarin
prayer "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" with grammatical explanations.
Also, in addition to the sheet music, the book includes an introduction that contains additional information about Middle-earth. Prior to the publication of The Silmarillion
, this introduction was the only publicly available source for certain information about the First Age
of Middle-Earth.
An LP record
of this song cycle was recorded on 12 June 1967, with Donald Swann on piano and William Elvin singing. Side one of this record consisted of Tolkien himself reading five poems from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
. The first track on side two was Tolkien reading the Elvish prayer "A Elbereth Gilthoniel
". The remainder of side two contained the song cycle performed by Swann and Elvin. This LP record, entitled Poems & Songs of Middle Earth, is long out of print and very difficult to find.
The second edition of The Road Goes Ever On, published in 1978, added music for "Bilbo's Last Song
." This song was also published separately.
The third edition, published in 1993, added music for "Lúthien Tinúviel" from The Silmarillion
, which had earlier appeared in The Songs of Donald Swann: Volume I. The third edition of The Road Goes Ever On was packaged with a CD
that duplicated the song cycle (but not Tolkien's readings) from the 1967 LP record. The CD also included two new recordings. The third edition was reprinted in hardcover in 2002 by Harper Collins (ISBN 0-00-713655-2); this had the same text and CD as the 1993 edition.
On 10 June 1995, the song cycle was performed in Rotterdam under the auspices of the Dutch Tolkien Society, by the baritone Jan Krediet together with the chamber choir EnSuite and Alexandra Swemer on the piano. A CD of this concert was published in a limited edition.
The following additional songs were added after the first edition, but do not form part of the song cycle itself:
Song cycle
A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
that has been published as sheet music
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
and as an audio recording. The music was written by Donald Swann
Donald Swann
Donald Ibrahím Swann was a British composer, musician and entertainer. He is best known to the general public for his partnership of writing and performing comic songs with Michael Flanders .-Life:...
, and the words are taken from poems in J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's Middle-earth
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
writings, especially The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
.
The title of this opus is taken from "The Road Goes Ever On", the first song in the collection. The songs form a song cycle
Song cycle
A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
, designed to fit together when played in sequence.
Musical and lyrical content
With Tolkien's approval, Donald Swann wrote the music for this song cycle, and much of the music resembles English traditional music or folk music. The sole exception is the QuenyaQuenya
Quenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...
song "Namárië
Namárië
"Namárië" is a poem by J. R. R. Tolkien written in Quenya, a constructed language, and published for the first time in The Lord of the Rings...
," which was based on a tune by Tolkien himself and which has some affinities to Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
.
This book has been valued even by those uninterested in the music, since it helps Tolkien's readers to better understand the culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
s of the various mythological beings presented in Middle-earth, and helps linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
s analyse Tolkien's poetry. For example, it contains one of the longest samples of the language Quenya
Quenya
Quenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...
(in the song "Namárië"), as well as the Sindarin
Sindarin
Sindarin is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called the Eledhrim or Edhellim in Sindarin....
prayer "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" with grammatical explanations.
Also, in addition to the sheet music, the book includes an introduction that contains additional information about Middle-earth. Prior to the publication of The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
, this introduction was the only publicly available source for certain information about the First Age
First Age
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the First Age, or First Age of the Children of Ilúvatar is the heroic period in which most of Tolkien's early legends are set...
of Middle-Earth.
Publication history (book and audio recordings)
The first edition of The Road Goes Ever On was published in 1967.An LP record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
of this song cycle was recorded on 12 June 1967, with Donald Swann on piano and William Elvin singing. Side one of this record consisted of Tolkien himself reading five poems from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is a collection of poetry written by J. R. R. Tolkien and published in 1962. The book contains 16 poems, only two of which deal with Tom Bombadil, a character who is most famous for his encounter with Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring...
. The first track on side two was Tolkien reading the Elvish prayer "A Elbereth Gilthoniel
A Elbereth Gilthoniel
A Elbereth Gilthoniel is an Elvish hymn to Varda in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.-The Hymn:There are three versions of this hymn, the first of which being the largest portion of Sindarin found in the novel:-Musical Versions:...
". The remainder of side two contained the song cycle performed by Swann and Elvin. This LP record, entitled Poems & Songs of Middle Earth, is long out of print and very difficult to find.
The second edition of The Road Goes Ever On, published in 1978, added music for "Bilbo's Last Song
Bilbo's Last Song
"Bilbo's Last Song" is a poem by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was given by Tolkien as a gift to his secretary Joy Hill in 1966. After Tolkien's death in 1973 Hill showed the poem to Donald Swann, who liked the poem so much that he set it to music and included it in the second edition of The Road Goes Ever...
." This song was also published separately.
The third edition, published in 1993, added music for "Lúthien Tinúviel" from The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
, which had earlier appeared in The Songs of Donald Swann: Volume I. The third edition of The Road Goes Ever On was packaged with a CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
that duplicated the song cycle (but not Tolkien's readings) from the 1967 LP record. The CD also included two new recordings. The third edition was reprinted in hardcover in 2002 by Harper Collins (ISBN 0-00-713655-2); this had the same text and CD as the 1993 edition.
On 10 June 1995, the song cycle was performed in Rotterdam under the auspices of the Dutch Tolkien Society, by the baritone Jan Krediet together with the chamber choir EnSuite and Alexandra Swemer on the piano. A CD of this concert was published in a limited edition.
List of songs
The complete list of songs in this song-cycle is as follows:- "The Road Goes Ever OnThe Road Goes Ever On (song)"The Road Goes Ever On" is a title that encompasses several walking songs that J. R. R. Tolkien wrote for his Middle-earth legendarium. Within the stories, the original song was composed by Bilbo Baggins and recorded in The Hobbit...
". From The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
vol. 1, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter 1 - "A Long-expected Party". - "Upon The Hearth The Fire Is Red". From The Lord of the Rings vol. 1, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter 3 - "Three is Company".
- "In the Willow-meads Of Tasarinan". From The Lord of the Rings vol. 2, The Two Towers, Book 3, Chapter 4 - "Treebeard".
- "In Western Lands". From The Lord of the Rings vol. 3, The Return of the King, Book 6, Chapter 1 - "The Tower of Cirith Ungol".
- "NamáriëNamárië"Namárië" is a poem by J. R. R. Tolkien written in Quenya, a constructed language, and published for the first time in The Lord of the Rings...
". From The Lord of the Rings vol. 1, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, Chapter 8 - "Farewell to Lórien". - "I Sit Beside the Fire". From The Lord of the Rings vol. 1, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, Chapter 3 - "The Ring Goes South".
- "A Elbereth GilthonielA Elbereth GilthonielA Elbereth Gilthoniel is an Elvish hymn to Varda in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.-The Hymn:There are three versions of this hymn, the first of which being the largest portion of Sindarin found in the novel:-Musical Versions:...
". From The Lord of the Rings vol. 1, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, Chapter 1 - "Many Meetings". - "I Sit Beside the Fire", conclusion.
- "ErrantryErrantryErrantry is a three-page long poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, first published in 1933. It was included in Tolkien's short poetry collection The Adventures of Tom Bombadil ....
". From The Adventures of Tom BombadilThe Adventures of Tom BombadilThe Adventures of Tom Bombadil is a collection of poetry written by J. R. R. Tolkien and published in 1962. The book contains 16 poems, only two of which deal with Tom Bombadil, a character who is most famous for his encounter with Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring...
.
The following additional songs were added after the first edition, but do not form part of the song cycle itself:
- "Bilbo's Last SongBilbo's Last Song"Bilbo's Last Song" is a poem by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was given by Tolkien as a gift to his secretary Joy Hill in 1966. After Tolkien's death in 1973 Hill showed the poem to Donald Swann, who liked the poem so much that he set it to music and included it in the second edition of The Road Goes Ever...
". Given to Donald Swann at Tolkien's funeral. Only in the second and third editions of the book. On the CD but not the LP. - "Lúthien Tinúviel". From The SilmarillionThe SilmarillionThe Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
, Chapter 19 - "Of Beren and Lúthien". Only in the third edition of the book. On the CD but not the LP.