So this is a question that has occurred to me several times before, but I never had a chance to pose the question in a venue that I might actually get an answer. It recently resurfaced while reading the Alvin Maker series for the umpteenth time.
When an author has a character sing a song in a story, and includes the verses in the book, does that author usually have the music in his/her head that goes along with the words? Being a musician, this nags at me everytime I read verses to a song included in a story - I try to come up with how the music might sound. Tolkien is one author who has a lot of this, and OSC, of course. I have actually seen one author who included sheet music in the back of the book (or was it an address of where to get the music...I don't remember...) that was either about the characters or was sung by the characters in the book.
Or - are these verses metrically placed so that they could fit the tune of many "folk tunes"? (Kind of like the supposed fact that every Emily Dickenson poem can be sung to the tune of "Gilligan's Isle")
Thanks!
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
I know that Tolkien's songs have a definite tune, and i was singing the song at the end of Alvin Journeyman for week after i read it. and the song has a verse that alludes to Lord of the Rings. Oh my, i think its a conspiracy. OSC IS TOLKIEN! hmm... think about it.
Posted by Don Domande (Member # 8287) on :
Did Tolkien ever publish any music that fit the songs? Just curious.
Posted by BandoCommando (Member # 7746) on :
I found some published music for Tolkein's songs, but I don't think that Tolkein wrote it. He MAY have approved it, however.