The Music of The Lord Of The Rings Films - Part III - The Return of the King.pdf - Howard Shore - The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King (The Complete Recordings) - butz

the AnnotAted ScoRe

A compAnion piece to:

The Music of The Lord of The rings fiLMs

ParT iii: The reTurn of The King

pAckAged with

The Lord of The rings: The reTurn of The King

The coMPLeTe recordings.

The Music of The Lord of The rings fiLMs

disc one

1 – ROOTS AND BEGINNINGS

he Return of the King begins with an uncharacteristically gentle and bucolic tone. oboe and strings introduce a purling waltz that

soon sweeps a familiar melody to the fore. As it has twice before, the history of the Ring theme accompanies the on-screen title,

and the inal third of he Lord of the Rings begins.

But this is not the tumultuous middle-earth of present day. his is middle-earth centuries earlier, a land that has not known the

burden of the one Ring for over two thousand years. Shore’s music is bright—playful, even. Sprightly woodwinds dance around

two small hobbits ishing upon the gladden river. his is hobbit music, but of a diferent breed. he lilting waltz gives way to

two-step phrases, more characteristic of hobbit music, and a chipper variant on the hobbits Antics igure (introduced in he Two

To w e r s ) playfully builds until, with a twittering trill, it deposits one hobbit in the river’s waters.

he music darkens for the irst time, only to be parted by another of the hobbits’ signature sounds, the solo iddle. But the melody

ofers no playfulness, no buoyancy. once again the history of the Ring sounds—the one Ring has lured another hand. déagol

pulls the Ring from the silt and scrambles up the riverbank to examine his ind… and to ind himself examined. he Seduction of

the Ring sounds in the boys chorus as déagol peels his ingers back, exposing the powerful ornament. close behind, Sméagol, dé-

agol’s ishing companion, spots the glinting Ring. if déagol is intrigued, Sméagol is bewitched. he transixing Seduction theme

continues as Sméagol leans in close and demands, “give us that, déagol, my love.”

UnUSed concept:

Sméagol lurches towards the Ring, initiating a rhythmic stirring in the strings and low

double reeds. Low brass chords now begin to gnaw at the texture as déagol ducks away.

he hobbits inexplicably cast their friendship aside as the two diminutive characters begin

to wrestle tooth and nail for ownership of the Ring. Unrelenting, Sméagol’s attack is met

with a chilling musical counterpart—an intersection of the Seduction and evil themes

for the one Ring. his is to be an overriding trend in howard Shore’s score to he Return

of the King . he Fellowship of the Ring and he Two Towers illustrated, through the hob-

bits’ eyes, the ever-expanding scope of middle-earth, and the limitless extent to which the

one Ring had afected it. But here, as the story draws towards its conclusion, that scope,

the breadth of storytelling, has come to singularly focus upon the plight of the one Ring.

Shore’s diverse thematic catalogue begins to fold inwards, combining material as it reaches

a common terminus.

Both the music for Sméagol

and déagol’s ight and the

music for Sméagol’s trans-

formation into gollum were

not used in the ilm. gol-

lum’s transformation music

marks the lengthiest unused

composition in he Return

of the King .

Behind Sméagol and déagol’s conjoined Seduction and evil themes another line forms,

crawling and scratching along the orchestra’s bottom. he descending hird igure is but one of many ancillary lines associated

with mordor, yet to hear it here, so far from its home, associated with two simple characters who were, only moments ago, ish-

ing upon a cool blue river, is cruelly upsetting.

But the angular music of mordor is appropriate to this setting. Under the Ring’s overwhelming inluence, Sméagol murders

déagol. pinched settings of the history theme mark a new hand bearing the Ring. A spindly oboe line descends, trickling down

through the orchestra as Sméagol lees for the misty mountains and begins to change. time passes as the history theme reemerg-

es, encountering a new rising and falling line outlining minor harmonies upon its return. As Sméagol twists and withers we hear

the earliest incarnations of he pity of gollum.

The Music of The Lord of The rings fiLMs

2 – JOURNEY TO THE CROSS-ROADS

Back in the present day, gollum leads Sam and Frodo on their voyage to mordor. it is

a wearying journey, but Frodo is restless, obsessed with the Ring he bears around his

neck. As the trio camps on the outer borders of osgiliath, Frodo furtively examines

his precious Ring. Shore’s score, still transitioning back to modern times with a rising

French horn line that hints at Ring music, pulls aside as violins reach up to form a

cool, still reading of the history of the Ring. gollum’s sculing breaks Frodo from

his trance, and the score discards the

history theme, leaving in its place that

which it has wrought—the music of

long-sufering hobbits.

UnUSed concept:

he transitional music at the be-

ginning of this composition, like

the gollum music that precedes

it, was left out of the ilm to al-

low stillness and sound efects to

carry the dramatic weight.

he remainder of this composition abounds in the sounds of the Shire, but rag-

gedly deconstructed, reformed as pained reminders. he solo clarinet of the hobbits’

pensive Setting wanders through dense minor harmonies, while gathering strings

allude to the edges of the Journey here, the Ring Quest theme heard in Fellowship

when Sam and Frodo irst ventured past the Shire’s landscape.

3 – THE ROAD TO ISENGARD

he defeated strains of the clarinet return once again. Sam tells Frodo he’s rationed their food to properly provide for the journey

home. Frodo pauses, pondering the likelihood of a return trip. But the strains of the fully-formed Journey here remind us that

the hobbits have not yet even reached their destination. with this slow-rising theme, the trio sets back to the road.

elsewhere another troupe is likewise traversing middle-earth. Aragorn, Legolas and gimli, accompanied by a compliment of

Rohan’s inest riders, make their way through the woods as the score’s irst statement of the Fellowship theme sings out. As the

camera tilts back and he Return of the King title card appears, the theme shifts and French horn intones the opening of the Realm

of gondor, the de facto central theme of the third ilm.

But gondor will have to wait, for once again the score shifts, now overtaken by the puckish sounds of hobbits. clarinet jumps to

its high tessitura where it is met by pizzicato strings and the tin whistle . it can be none other than merry and pippin, discovered

assembling a feast from the wreckage of isengard. Yet for the all the music’s playfulness, it seems to be suggesting something more

profound. merry and pippin’s whimsical tones are infused with something sterner. in mixing thematic bits from the Shire and

Fellowship themes, Shore suggests that these two hobbits are about to lend themselves to middle-earth’s needs in a signiicantly

more meaningful way.

4 – THE FOOT OF ORTHANC

isengard’s debris houses more than a hobbit-worthy banquet. enshrouded at orthanc’s summit, Saruman and gríma worm-

tongue still lurk about. Saruman emerges to hurl taunts at héoden and the Fellowship. he isengard theme, which was once

imbued with an overpowering militaristic weight, appears beneath string harmonics, now whisper-soft, but still in the darkest

registers of the London philharmonic’s low woodwinds. A subtle pulsing in the strings adds a sense of urgency to the proceedings.

Saruman knows of the hobbits. his homeland is ruined, his minions defeated

but, empowered by his servitude to Sauron, he is still strong. A static variation

on the hreat of mordor announces this cache of evil power from deep in the

orchestra’s throat. Saruman reveals his palantír to the crowd, maniacally grin-

ning as aleatoric horns thicken the texture. with the conversation’s power shift-

ing to Saruman, brass again state the isengard theme, now more robustly.

in the mAking:

he middle portion of this composition,

heard just after Saruman produces his

palantír, does not appear in the inal ilm.

The Music of The Lord of The rings fiLMs

Saruman knows, too, of Aragorn’s right to gondor’s throne. mocking him as a mere Ranger, French horns eviscerate the gondor

theme, swallowing it into their lowest, darkest possible register.

And Saruman knows of Rohan’s weakened state and héoden’s personal doubts. even after losing his staf to gandalf, the evil

wizard continues to predict the heroes’ downfall. he orchestra reestablishes its dark pulsing as héoden calls to gríma, asking

him to renounce his master and come down from orthanc. Saruman belittles wormtongue, knocking him to the ground. in-

censed, wormtongue produces a dagger from beneath his cloak. As he approaches Saruman, the orchestra convulses with a short

statement of the hreat of mordor in the lowest possible range—as if mordor, foreseeing gríma’s next step, were suddenly recall-

ing all power issued to Saruman on loan. wormtongue plunges his blade through Saruman’s back. he wizard’s last air departs his

body. with a clacking tumble of aleatoric brass and strings, Saruman falls from orthanc and is impaled on a spiked wheel at the

base of the tower, a victim of his own metal and wheels.

5 – RETURN TO EDORAS

with a deepening series of minor chords beneath dissonant high strings, Saruman’s spiked wheel turns, sinking his body into the

lood waters, and causing his palantír to fall from his robe. pippin spots the vile orb glowing beneath the murky waters and hurries

over to retrieve it. gandalf quickly coniscates the object, but pippin is intrigued. he camera pushes in on his widening eyes as

the orchestra condenses to an obsessively enveloping d-natural.

he mode shifts to A minor and the rasp of the hardanger iddle sings the score’s irst statement of the Rohan Fanfare. he story

returns to edoras, the capital of Rohan. he Rohirrim are honoring the bravery displayed at helm’s deep, and remembering their

fallen comrades. Shore sets the Rohan theme in an elegant six beats per measure, lending it both a heroic lilt and a songful, elegiac

quality.

6 – THE CHALICE PASSED

Éowyn presents Aragorn with a drink, honoring him for his

service to her people, and indicating her own feeling towards

him. while Aragorn remains silent, Shore’s music presents

the longing Éowyn and Aragorn theme, the melody associ-

ated with her unrequited love. hough Éowyn’s expression

indicates that she believes Aragorn shares her romantic in-

clinations, the music informs us otherwise. Just as héoden

steps in, the incomplete Éowyn and Aragorn theme shifts

ever so slightly, introducing english horn and a slightly dif-

ferent contour, becoming Éowyn and héoden. Reading her

face, héoden congratulates Éowyn on what he assumes is a

shared love.

other corners of meduseld, however, are experiencing far

more light-hearted celebrations. gimli and Legolas have

agreed to compete against one another in a drinking contest. while Legolas is distantly intrigued, gimli’s interest borders on

obsession. he is ready to take on the elf on a contest he is certain to win. he music returns to dwarf style for the last time in he

Lord of the Rings . As gimli ravenously gulps his ale, Shore’s score bounces with excitement, the dwarves’ open ifth intervals re-

built into something resembling the hobbits’ end cap: the dwarf end cap. constant modulation and a warbling cor anglais line

place the dwarf on unsteady footing as it quickly becomes clear that, despite his abiding love for drink, gimli’s constitution is no

match for an elf ’s. with a inal dizzying trill, gimli’s head meets the loor of the golden hall at an uncomfortably high velocity.

The Music of The Lord of The rings fiLMs

7 – THE GREEN DRAGON

Featuring Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan

collaboratively penned by Fran walsh, philippa Boyens and the members of plan 9, “ he green dragon ” is merry and pippin’s

ode to their favorite Bywater pub. And though it’s a moment of pure celebratory joyousness, the song contains a dark moment.

pippin pauses mid-song, distracted, as if lost in his memories of the palantír.

his song features iddle accompaniment by dermot crehan, who performed all the prominent iddle work in he Lord of the Rings .

8 – GOLLUM’S VILLAINY

As Frodo and Sam sleep en route to the cross-roads, gollum

and Sméagol hold their inal internal dialogue. Shore’s men-

ace theme begins this composition, though it’s soon inter-

cepted by the opening triplets of the pity of gollum. Smé-

agol’s transformation into gollum illustrated the pity of the

creature’s servile devotion to the one Ring. he Fellowship of

the Ring and he Two Towers presented that needy creature in

all his sadness. his was the gollum represented by Shore’s

pity theme. By he Return of the King , gollum has made a

choice. he has put aside the neediness, the vestigial traits of

Sméagol, and has decided to kill Frodo and Sam in order to

retrieve his precious Ring. Shore’s pity theme appears very

little in this score, though its broiling, seething relative will

dominate a later sequence. he cimbalom -based menace of gollum overtakes the creature’s musical representation, vellicating

with deadly intent. As Sméagol enthusiastically agrees to follow through with gollum’s plan to deliver the hobbits to “her” the pity

theme all but hands the reigns of this ravaged creature over to menace.

Sam overhears this conversation, and attacks gollum, branding him a murderer. pinched brass over trilling winds and strings and

rumbling percussion recall Sam and gollum’s irst violent encounter in he Two Towers . Angry brass chords accompany the accu-

sations Sam spits at gollum, but Frodo won’t hear them. gollum turns the tables, accusing Sam of having a vendetta against him.

Frodo steadies Sam. A tender string passage begins as Frodo reminds Sam that they need gollum’s guidance. harp arpeggios over

emotive triads play to the emotional weight that both Frodo and Sam are carrying, and the rift it threatens to tear in their friend-

ship. with a inal dissonant suspension gollum retakes the lead, shooting a sneering half-smile back at Sam.

9 – ÉOWYN’S DREAM

he celebration at edoras has subsided. most of the revelers having long since bedded down, Aragorn wanders alone, pausing to

stoke the dying ire in the golden hall. nearby, Éowyn stirs, waking from a dream. As she tells Aragorn of her dream, in which

she saw herself alone, thrust into an utterly dark abyss, a lush setting of the Éowyn and Aragorn theme plays. Aragorn comforts

her, telling her to return to sleep, and the second phrase, the section of the theme that was cut short during the party, inally com-

pletes the melody.

Éowyn clutches Aragorn’s hand, and falls back to sleep.

10 – THE PALANTÍR

pippin too, it seems, is now awake. in his eyes is the same haunted look as before. Restlessly he pulls back his bedding and begins

to walk towards the sleeping gandalf. in two-part harmony, strings coupled with lute play the score’s irst strains of evil times,

with a slightly stretched contour, intimating that pippin is not entirely himself. he writing becomes increasingly chromatic until

pippin’s goal becomes clear—he wants another look at the palantír. As pippin pulls the orb from gandalf ’s hand, a new Ring

theme coupling begins. in a streamlined four-note phrase Shore introduces a line that lies somewhere between the Ring’s evil and

The Music of The Lord Of The Rings Films - Part III - The Return of the King.pdf

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