The Lord of the Rings trilogy is, by many regards, a very successful retelling of the original adventures written by J.R.R. Tolkien in Middle Earth. A large part of the success is directly due to Howard Shore’s composition of the soundtrack. Watching the films without his music weakens the effectiveness of conveying the journey the ring-bearers follow. The most emotional scenes are dependent upon the soundtrack for the full conveyance of their significance. In addition, the music orients the audience to the setting of the scene, as each landscape is accompanied by its soundscape. One of my favorite anthems for setting is the theme for Rohan, which seems to capture the adversity, nobility, and equity that this community evokes.
Theme of Rohan from Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The piece opens with an instantly recognizable fanfare by the French Horns. They harmonies build as the section diverges between low and high chords, bringing a sense of power. Grace notes make the fanfare refined, with a touch of royal finesse. The strings take over the anthem, bringing with them the spirit of highland people and their windswept domain. The piece then progresses into a darker theme of minor chords, as the corruption of the King becomes apparent. Within this anthem, he captures so much of the spirit of the community, in such short time. Without this theme, Rohan would not have been the memorable and homely place he was able to convey.
I marvel at how Shore was able to capture so much from a written text and bring it to life. While writing this soundtrack, he kept an open book of the trilogy by his side, in order to attempt to fully understand Tolkien’s intent. He describes music as “an emotional language”. When writing music for film, “it is about capturing the feeling of a scene.” Shore composed 11 hours of soundscape for the Lord of the Rings films over 4 years. (Greiving). Part of Shore’s film scoring success is likely in part to his method for choosing which projects to commit himself. He only picks a project if it connects to him with “emotional truthfulness”. He then immerses himself in the world of the story to find his way and connect to it (Indiewire).
The soundscape of a movie can serve a few roles. As described in the video by Satterwhite, some soundtracks are just filler to prevent dead quiet in scenes, or are predictable anthems for the purpose of giving the film’s characters a “fingerprint”. Danny Elfman, a composer who co-composed on Marvel movies, describes the view that contemporary movie soundtracks should not be noticed (Composer’s Roundtable). The Lord of the Rings breaks this norm, as it proves the soundtrack can also be a memorable, integral part of the adventure. Shore uses transitions and developing themes piece-meal to correspond with developing themes in the trilogy. For example, as the fellowship of the ring experiences more conflict and separation, their theme is disjointed and incomplete. As they become more cohesive and become one troupe in the final movie, the theme becomes coherent, smooth, and powerful. The story is partly told by the music, which forces the audience to notice it.
In addition, the soundscape provides the emotional background for many scenes where there is no dialogue. Scenes of vast landscapes and panning views of traveling characters reflect the beauty of the landscape with powerful melodies and driven meter. When characters are distraught and disheartened, the music communicates the void of their losses and hopelessness without the necessity of spoken words. Any time Samwise gives Frodo the encouragement he needs with good-hearted cheer, the music slowly becomes more thematic and positive.
Though the soundscape of the trilogy is predictable, the job it does in conveying setting makes it memorable. Each place and event is fingerprinted into memory with its unique theme. There is something about Shore’s understanding of Tolkien’s work that I can’t quite understand, and furthers the intents of the story beyond the page into an experience. His use of musical styles from around the world gives his soundtracks a familiarity that lets us associate each of the respective settings and cultures with a place we already know, helping us fill the rest of the story with our imagination.
A Concert of the Music from Lord of the Rings, with Interviews of Howard Shore on Making the Soundtrack.
Sources and More Information:
Greiving, Tim. “Before he won Oscars for his music, composer Howard Shore helped kick off SNL”. Washington Post, 30 Dec. 2016, <www.washingtonpost.com>. Accessed 3 May 2017.
O’Falt, Chris. “Howard Shore, Composer for Cronenberg, ‘Spotlight’ and Scorsese, on the Creation of Diverse Scores”. Indie Wire, 19 Aug. 2016, <www.indiewire.com>. Accessed 1 May 2017.
“Biography”. Howard Shore, 2017, <www.howardshore.com>. Accessed 2 May 2017.
Howard Shore, Orchestre du Festival Montréal en Lumiére. “ Creating the Lord of the Rings Symphony”. Amérimage-Spectra, Inc. 2004. Youtube. Web. 1 May 2017. <www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_LAG1RQkCs>
Howard Shore. Lord of the Rings Soundtrack: ‘The Mumakil’. ‘Themes of the Rohirrim – Rohan Soundtrack”. YouTube. Web. 1 May 2017. <www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxfaQrS1KIs>
Satterwhite, Ramos, Zhou. “The Marvel Symphonic Universe”. Every Frame A Painting, 12 Sep. 2016, YouTube, Web. Accessed 15 Apr. 2017. <www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vfqkvwW2fs>
Interview. “The Composer’s Roundtable”. The Hollywood Reporter, 2012, 2014, <www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/>. Accessed 1 May 2017.
Hansen, Liane. “Howard Shore Scores ‘A History of Violence’”. NPR, 9 Oct. 2005, <www.npr.org>. Accessed May 4, 2017.
MUS F200 Blog for Ivan V 
shore is absolutely right to select projects that strike a chord(pun intended) in him. As a general rule of thumb your best work is done with the subject matter interests you.
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Great choice, I hadn’t even thought of the Lord of The Rings trilogy, but now it seems like an obvious choice! The music is so enjoyable and iconic, and is so perfectly matched to the movies themselves, that I can recall times where all other sound is removed, and the music is left alone to guide the listening experience. The skill in which the music is applied at the different points in the stories really sets the listener into the world of Middle-Earth, and I think no matter when I listen to it, I always want to listen back for more. Great work and analysis here on the iconic Rohhirim tracks, it’s too bad these are meant to be short blog posts, or you could look at all of the music at once!
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I think the soundscape of the movie, in combination with the sweeping landscapes, are what make the trilogy the fantastical masterpiece of a story that it is. Without that music, the movies would not be the same adventure.
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I completely agree with everything you said, especially refuting Danny Elfman here. Music is so important to the emotional context of a film and we don’t really recognize it unless it’s done exceptionally well (here) or when it just faceplants in it’s attempt (many others that I don’t remember because they were forgettable). I was unaware of how Howard Shore chooses his projects but I am so glad he does it that way. The soundtrack would have been as perfect as it is without his level of understanding.
The Lord of the Rings movies were such a huge part of my childhood that the music is so intrinsically recognizable to me and some of it has the nostalgic power to downright bring me to tears. I freaking love those movies to death.
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