Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical | Music: One Ring (The Shadow of the Past Version)
This week, I am releasing another section of music for “Book II, Chapter 2 The Shadow of the Past”. In this brief section, Gandalf began explaining the story behind Frodo’s ring and sang the famous theme song of the series, which originally appeared as the Epigraph in the text and was sung in the “Prologue” of the animated musical. While no new musical themes are introduced in this section, I used motifs occurring in previous sections to develop a cohesive score. This essay focuses mostly on music theory, but history-themed essays will be back in two weeks.
The tempo remains consistent throughout most of the piece with the dotted quarter note at 80 beats per minute. Each line of four measures takes six seconds to complete. The time signature is 6/8, although this is initially not obvious to listeners for reasons to be explained shortly. The key signature is E♭ minor, an unusual key, chosen because the vocal part was written for a specific singer. The key is enharmonic to D♯ minor, meaning E♭ and D♯ are the same notes. I chose to use flats because I perceive lowered notes as feeling more somber than raised notes.
For the first four measures, only the timpani and bass drum play, forming the foreboding “Drums of Doom” that were first heard when Bilbo gave up the ring. The timpani alternates between B♭ and G♭, two notes creating the B♭ minor chord, which is the dominant chord (v) in E♭ minor, creating the perception that the end of a phrase is coming soon but is not yet here.
In measure five, a trio of flutes enter with the harp. The flutes carry the theme, an unusual combination of notes that will repeat every four measures until Gandalf begins to sing. The first chord is the first inversion of a B♭ minor triad (B♭, F♮, D♭), the dominant chord (v6) in E♭ minor. This is the same chord found in the timpani. In the next measure, the dotted quarter note is a passing chord of G♭, D♮, and C♭. The temporary dissonance makes listeners feel uneasy while moving between two stable chords. The third chord in this series is the first inversion of an E♭ minor triad (E♭, B♭, G♭), the tonic chord (i6), which creates a satisfying resolution. Then, the theme seems to repeat as the B♭ minor triad and the passing chord play again. However, instead of landing on the tonic chord, the final dotted quarter note is G♭, D♭, A♮. Rather than creating closure, it prepares the listener to once again hear the first chord in the phrase (v6), with each note in the final chord leading to a note in the first chord: G♭ to F♮, D♭ remaining on D♭, and A♮ leading up to B♭.
The theme in the harp, which symbolizes Frodo, is comparatively simpler, as it exactly follows notes found in the chord progression of the flute trio. Only one note is played at a time, arpeggiating the chord. Each note is part of a quadruplet that spans the measure, making the theme sound as if it is in 4/4 time rather than 6/8 time. The bassoon, which symbolizes Gandalf, enters in measure 13 or the fourth repeat of the theme. The bassoon exactly follows the rhythm and bottom note of the flute trio, albeit two octaves lower to add power to the bass. In measure 17, the fifth repeat, a second note is added to the harp part, creating simple chords that match the chords of the flute. In measure 25, the seventh repeat, the oboe and clarinet join, respectively taking the top and middle notes in the flute trio. While the sound is fuller, the fundamental theme has not changed.
A sudden change comes in measure 29, the eighth repeat, with a sforzando to pianissimo in the timpani and bass drums as these are joined by a snare drum. The rhythm and notes of the timpani change from dotted half notes alternating between B♭ and G♭ to dotted quarter notes playing G♭, F♮, B♭, B♭. The rhythm of the bass drum also becomes more complex, with every other measure replacing the dotted half note with a pair of dotted quarter notes. The snare drum has the most complex rhythm of three dotted quarter notes followed by a quarter note and an eighth note. While the tempo does not increase, the energy of the music increases.
Subsequent repeats continue to escalate tension. In measure 33, the ninth repeat, a pair of violins join the theme; the first violin matches the top note of the flute, while the second violin plays an octave lower. In measure 41, the eleventh repeat, the bass line of the harp adds the notes of the flute trio but two octaves below while continuing the quadruplet rhythm in the alto line. In measure 49, the thirteenth repeat, the trumpet comes in playing the main theme in the same octave as the oboe. The trumpet decrescendos soon after entering, beginning at the fourteenth repeat. The harp decrescendos on the fifteenth repeat. With those two instruments gone by the sixteenth repeat, the remaining instruments crescendo.
In measure 67, during the seventeenth repeat, the theme suddenly changes! Instead of returning to the first inversion of the E♭ minor chord (i6), the chord progresses to a first inversion A♭ minor chord (A♭, E♭, C♭), which is the subdominant (iv6). Next is a diminished triad F chord, meaning it is built from F♮, the minor third above (A♭), and the diminished fifth above (C♭). Since F♮ is the second note in E♭ minor, this makes the chord the supertonic (ii°). For classical music, the next chord in the progression would usually be the dominant (v), in this case a B♭ minor chord (B♭, D♭, F♮). However, this progression skips that chord and goes directly to the first inversion of the tonic (i6), which is E♭ minor (G♭, B♭, E♭). The rationale behind this is that I had tested the typical progression, and it just didn’t sound right to me. In this instance, it’s not that deep.
When Gandalf begins singing in measure 69, the eighteenth repeat, listeners realize that the ongoing chord progression supported the line “One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them”, while the change in the seventeenth repeat reflected the line “One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them”. These were the words engraved on the One Ring. After a line of instrumental, once again repeating the theme, Gandalf sings the full song. This instrumentation is very different from the fairly simple chords used for the Epigraph.
While the woodwinds and strings play the same chord progression together, tension is created by using different rhythms in the supporting parts than in the sung melody. The greatest change in rhythm appears in the final measure of the four-measure phrases. In measure 84, all instruments swell from piano to mezzoforte back to piano, while the snare drum plays alternating pairs of sixteenth and eighth notes. In measure 88, this rhythm is repeated by all instruments during a steady crescendo. In measure 92, most instruments play an accented dotted quarter note followed by a brief breath, an accented quarter note, and an eighth note; the snare drum emphasizes the last two notes with rimshots. In measure 100, the alternating pairs of sixteenth and eighth notes reappeared in the snare drum and then returns in measures 102, 104, and 106. By consistently using similar rhythms throughout the lines, the sudden changes in rhythm feel connected rather than random.
As for the sung melody, Gandalf’s vocal part ranges from E♭2 to F3, which fits his Fach type as a schwerer spielbass, or a low dramatic bass. This is slightly lower than a typical bass, who can usually sing in an E2 to C4 range, but not quite in basso profundo territory. Perhaps with a little more practice, the amateur voice actor will be able to sing even deeper parts!
During the grand pause after Gandalf completed his song, the tempo changes to 60 bpm for the dotted quarter note. When the “Drums of Doom” return using the timpani and bass drum, just as they did in the previous section “After Breakfast”, the notes beat at the same tempo as a ticking clock, a reminder that the Ring is ancient, and yet its time has grown short. The recurring accented notes emphasize Frodo’s monologue on his growing fear. The instrumental ends abruptly as Frodo asks, “How, how on earth did it come to me?”, encouraging Gandalf to tell the full story in upcoming sections.
See the music video here: