Music in Middle-earth and Musik in Mittelerde will be released shortly (16.11.09 by Pieter Collier) - Comments

Music plays an important role in Tolkien’s mythology, and his stories include many songs as well as references to musicians and instruments. Though numerous melodies for his poems have been composed, sung, played and recorded, secondary literature on Middle-earth hardly mentions the subject.

This fascinating topic provides ample scope for academic exploration of various aspects of the significance and nature of music in Tolkien’s works, which can extend from general areas such as the power of music or the art of music to today’s interpretations of Middle-earth music.

It is expected that in one of the following weeks the latest book by Walking Tree Publishers, Music in Middle-earth, will be released. Simultaniasly a German version will be published by Verlag der Villa Fledermaus, Musik in Mittelerde. The editors are Friedhelm Schneidewind and Heidi Steimel.

Both copies will hold the same essays, which are written by authors like Bradford Lee Eden and Fabian Geier. German essays will be translated to English and the other way around.

Once again the book cover will feature the lovely art by Anke Eissman. Make sure to head over to her website and see her lovely Tolkien art.

Thanks to tolkien-beucher.de I can share you the table of contents:

Creation and Music
  - "Behold Your Music!": The Themes of Ilúvatar, The Song of Aslan, and the Real Music of the Spheres (Kristine Larsen)
  - Tonality, Atonality and the Ainulindalë (Reuven Naveh)
  - Ainulindalë: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the Metaphysics of the Music (Jonathan McIntosh)

Music in tolkien's World
  - A Speculative History of the Music of Arda (Steven Linden)
  - "Bring Out the Instruments!": Instrumental Music in Arda (Heidi Steimel)
  - The Harp in Middle-earth (Norbert Maier)

Influences of Our World on tolkien's Music
  - Music, Myth, and Literary Depth in the 'Land ohne Musik' (Gregory Martin)
  - Strains of Elvish Song and Voices: Victorian Medievalism, Music, and Tolkien (Bradford Lee Eden)
  - 'Sleeps a Song in Things Abounding': J.R.R. Tolkien and the German Romantic Tradition (Julian Eilmann)
  - 'They Began to Hum Softly': Some Soldiers' Songs of World Wars I and II and of Middle-earth Compared and Contrasted
    (Murray Smith)

Interpretations of tolkien's Music in Our World
  - An Impenetrable Darkness: An Examination of the Influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on Black Metal Music (Michael Cunningham)
  - Microphones in Middle-earth: Music in the BBC Radio Play (Paul Smith)
  - Elven Music in Our Times (Mira Sommer)
  - Making Texts Audible: A Workshop Report on Setting Tolkien to Music (Fabian Geier)

Appendix
  - Embodying Voices (Friedhelm Schneidewind)

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