A Elbereth Gilthoniel

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A Elbereth Gilthoniel is an Elvish hymn to Varda (Elbereth) in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. It is written in Sindarin, and not translated in the main text where it is first presented.

Text[]

The long version of "A Elbereth Gilthoniel," also known as "Aerlinn in Edhil o Imladris (Hymn of the Elves of Rivendell)," written in Tengwar script using the mode of Beleriand.

There are three versions of this iambic tetrameter hymn, the first of which is the largest portion of Sindarin in The Lord of the Rings:[T 1][T 2]

A Elbereth Gilthoniel O Elbereth Starkindler,
silivren penna míriel white-glittering, slanting down sparkling like a jewel,
o menel aglar elenath! the glory of the starry host!
Na-chaered palan-díriel Having gazed far away
o galadhremmin ennorath, from the tree-woven lands of Middle-earth,
Fanuilos, le linnathon to thee, Everwhite, I will sing,
nef aear, sí nef aearon! on this side of the Sea, here on this side of the Ocean!
 
A Elbereth Gilthoniel O Elbereth Starkindler,
o menel palan-díriel, from heaven gazing afar,
le nallon sí di'nguruthos! to thee I cry now beneath the shadow of death!
A tiro nin, Fanuilos! O look towards me, Everwhite!

Analysis[]

Further information: Poetry in The Lord of the Rings

In Tolkien's legendarium, Varda, also known as Elbereth, is one of the Valar and the highest of the "guardians". Peter Kreeft sees her as one of the clearest reflections of Roman Catholic Marian devotion in Tolkien's work.[1]

In A Elbereth Gilthoniel, scholars such as Marjorie Burns and Stratford Caldecott see an echo of John Lingard's Marian hymn, Hail Queen of Heaven, the Ocean Star.[2] Caldecott commented that "Tolkien would have been familiar with one of the most popular Catholic hymns from his childhood, the tone and mood of which are markedly close to those of Tolkien's song to Elbereth."[3]

The hymn is not translated in The Lord of the Rings, though it is described: "the sweet syllables of the elvish song fell like clear jewels of blended word and melody. 'It is a song to Elbereth', said Bilbo", and at the very end of the chapter there is a hint as to its meaning: "Good night! I'll take a walk, I think, and look at the stars of Elbereth in the garden. Sleep well!"[T 1] A translation appeared much later, in the song-cycle The Road Goes Ever On, and it indeed concerns Elbereth and the stars.[T 3] Readers, then, were not expected to know the song's literal meaning, but they were meant to make something of it: as the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey says, it is clearly something from an unfamiliar language, and it announces that "there is more to Middle-earth than can immediately be communicated".[4] In addition, Tolkien believed, contrary to most of his contemporaries, that the sounds of language gave a specific pleasure that the listener could perceive as beauty; he personally found the sounds of Gothic and Finnish, and to some extent also of Welsh, immediately beautiful. In short, as Shippey writes, Tolkien "believed that untranslated elvish would do a job that English could not".[4] Shippey suggests that readers do take something important from a song in another language, namely the feeling or style that it conveys, even if "it escapes a cerebral focus".[4]

Musical settings[]

In 1967 Donald Swann published a musical rendition in the score of the song cycle The Road Goes Ever On, where it forms the second part of the setting of "I Sit beside the Fire". He and William Elvin recorded this song cycle on an LP record, which included a recording of Tolkien reading this prayer. The Road Goes Ever On was republished in 1978 and 1993, and the recording was released as a CD in 1993, but it omitted Tolkien's reading.[5]

The BBC's 1981 radio dramatization of the Lord of the Rings included a version composed by Stephen Oliver which was released as the second track of soundtrack album, which itself is included in some commercial versions of the BBC's production.[6]

In 2006, The Tolkien Ensemble and Christopher Lee released a collection of previously released songs, Complete Songs & Poems, which included four different musical renditions of the poem, one of which marked as number III (from At Dawn in Rivendell), is the complete poem sung by Signe Asmussen, a soprano.[7]

A rendition composed by David Long with Plan 9 (David Donaldson, Steve Roche, and Janet Roddick)[8][9] is briefly heard in the Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, where Sam and Frodo encounter "wood elves" who are singing the hymn while leaving Middle-earth. The complete song ("Passing of the Elves" / "Elvish Lament") is included in The Complete Recordings edition of the soundtrack for the film.

The Australian composer Laura Bishop composed her own rendition of this elven hymn. Beginning with a solo by a soprano it then repeats with an SATB choir.[10]

The Norwegian classical composer Martin Romberg has set the lyrics to music in his work "Eldarinwë Liri" for girls' choir, which also includes the four other poems Tolkien wrote in Elven languages. The work premiered in 2010 with the Norwegian Girls Choir and Trio Mediæval at the Vestfold International Festival.[11]

The ending of the song "Zjawy i ludzie" ("Apparitions and Humans") by the Polish band Armia features the phrase "O Elbereth! O Gilthoniel!"[12]

References[]

Primary[]

  1. ^ a b The Fellowship of the Ring, book 2, ch. 1 "Many Meetings"
  2. ^ The Two Towers, book 4, ch. 10 "The Choices of Master Samwise"
  3. ^ Swann, Donald; Tolkien, J. R. R. (1968). The Road Goes Ever On. Allen and Unwin. p. 72. OCLC 1072908655.

Secondary[]

  1. ^ Kreeft, Peter, The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind The Lord of the Rings (2005), p. 75, citing Letters (ed. 1981) no. 213, p. 288, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2005, ISBN 9781586170257
  2. ^ Burns, Marjorie (2011). "Saintly and Distant Mothers". In Kerry, Paul E. (ed.). The Ring and the Cross: Christianity and The Lord of the Rings. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 251–. ISBN 978-1-61147-064-2.
  3. ^ Caldecott, Stratford (2002). "The Lord & Lady of the Rings The Hidden Presence of Tolkien's Catholicism in The Lord of the Rings". Touchstone (Jan/Feb 2002): 176–181. doi:10.5840/chesterton2002281/229.
  4. ^ a b c Shippey, Tom (2001). J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. HarperCollins. pp. 127–133. ISBN 978-0261104013.
  5. ^ Scull, Christina; Hammond, Wayne G. (2006). The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide ('Chronology' volume). HarperCollins. pp. 710, 721. ISBN 978-0-618-39113-4.
  6. ^ "Music from the BBC radio dramatisation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the rings" [sound recording] / [composed and conducted by] Stephen Oliver". National Library of Australia and partner organisations. Retrieved 3 September 2020. Published London : BBC Records, 1981.
  7. ^ "The Tolkien Ensemble". tolkien-ensemble.net. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
  8. ^ "A Magpie's Nest - Passing of the Elves". Amagpiesnest.com. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  9. ^ "The Plan 9 Interview".
  10. ^ "Composing: A Elbereth Gilthoniel: performed by the Sydney Conservatorium Chamber Choir". Laura Bishop. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  11. ^ "Announcement of the Vestfold International Program 2010". Sandefjords Blad.
  12. ^ "Armia - Zjawy i ludzie" (in Polish). Retrieved 3 September 2020. Taki pejzaż, urojenia Taki pejzaż, urojenia O Elbereth! O Gilthoniel!

External links[]

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