Track-by-Track: Soundtrack Discussion and Analysis

[The Tennis Ball Kid]

Any thoughts about what that middle section might be?

I might just being hearing things (well, obviously , but you know what I mean...), but I think that might be the "Merry's Simple Courage" theme; heard at 1:36:58, and 1:50:00 on disc one of ROTKEE, 10:35 of the second disc, and at 1:12 of The Ride Of The Rohirrim.



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[Encaitare]

The track opens with a pounding, steady rhythm. This then moves into a cool medley that moves between themes: Rohan, Gondor, and finally the Fellowship theme at 0:31. Men of the West indeed!

At 0:50, it quiets down, and at 1:00 we hear the most excellent Sir James Galway on tin whistle, playing a sadder variation of the Shire theme.

At 1:40, the rest of the orchestra enters, soon after joined by the choir. They sing an excerpt of this:

Caedo, losto. Ú-erin davo.
Amman harthach? Anim únad.
Le tûg nach. O hon ú-wannathon.
Ú-moe le anno nad. Ónen a hon beth nín.
Gurth han ristatha. Ta han narcho Gurth.
Gar vethed e-chúnen, go hon bedithon na meth.

Lie down, sleep. / I cannot yield.
Why do you still hope? / I have nothing else.
You are a fool. / I will not leave him.
You owe him nothing / I gave him my word.
Death will break it. / Then let death break it.
He has the last of my heart. / I will go with him to the end.

Meanwhile, the tin whistle continues with a similar melody to before, and finally culminates in the "Into the West" theme with full orchestra. *loves Sir James Galway to little bits*

[Lathriel]

I LOVE James Galway( the way he plays the flute) If I ever could play like that,well...
He manages to get such a smooth sound out of his flute and I know how hard it is because my flute is always sharp. (My flute has tuning issues)
The first time I heard that track I was so touched and it is one of my favourites. Not only does it go so well with the movie, it goes very well on its own too.

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

I quote here Music from the Movies magazine (#42), should you be interested in what Howard Shore has to say about this track.

"There are two parts to 'The Black Gate Opens', the battle at the gate and Sam with Frodo on Mount Doom. How did you combine these two parts on your CD track and what are the main thematic elements here?"

"'The Black Gate Opens' is the final act of The Fellowship to create a diversion that will allow Frodo and Sam to carry The Ring up to the top of Mount Doom. The CD track 'The Black Gate Opens' begins with Aragorn's speech and then ends with Sam and Frodo on Mount Doom. Sauron opens the gates and tens of thousands of Orcs march out to destroy them. That final moment at The Black Gate is a test of will. The piece starts with Aragorn trying to raise the courage of the troops because they know it's a suicide mission. They are completely overwhelmed, there's no way to survive what's coming and Aragorn tries to raise their moral and lead them on. He gives an inspiring speech, that's the first part of 'The Black Gate Opens'. The piece is a combination of The Fellowship at The Black Gate that's inner-cut with the events unfolding on Mount Doom with Frodo and Sam.

There's also a part of the score not on the CD where Aragorn is at The Black Gate getting his troops ready for battle. The battle doesn't ensue until Frodo has The Ring at the Crack of Doom. When he decides not to throw it in, the battle starts to take place down below in front of The Black Gate. Aragorn says, "For Frodo," and rushes into battle. This is the start of the final battle at The Black Gate. I'm using a development of 'The Fellowship Theme' here, a choral version of it, because it was The Fellowship who joined against Sauronas they charge into battle against the Orcs. There's a battle between Gollum and Sam, that's when the Eagles attack the Nazgûl and Gandalf sees the moth, you hear a bit of that 'Nature Moth Theme' from The Fellowship. It's sung by the boy soprano, Ben del Maestro. The correct name of it is 'The Nature Theme', but it's triggered by the sight of the moth. When Gandalf sees the Eagles appear and the battle starts shifting, the music is very thematic; it has to do with 'The Fellowship Theme', 'The Nature Theme'. Then it's the scenes with Frodo and Sam on Mount Doom that highlight the score to the second part of 'The Black Gate Opens'. The film is cutting back and forth, you have Frodo and Sam on the slopes of Mount Doom and you hear that piece as they remember The Shire and when they hope to return home. That's part of a piece I wrote for Sir James Galway. This is just before Sam picks Frodo up in his arms and you hear 'The Grey Havens Theme'. This music evokes the courage of these two little Hobbits, putting both of their lives at stake for the greater good of Middle-earth. The music has an uplifting quality to it; it builds around the strength of these characters.

Music in films is about perspective and there are many different types of perspectives in a scene. What you're seeing on the screen often doesn't need to be reinforced. This piece also takes on a certain perspective about the characters and it's enriching, it is subtext. The perspective is drawing you to the idea that this person is heroic even though he's undergoing the worst possible struggle of his life. As Sam carries Frodo up Mount Doom we hear a choir part sung in Sindarin. The track ends when Sam offers to carry The Ring for Frodo. Frodo would never let Sam carry The Ring; it was the same with Bilbo. Bilbo never wanted to relinquish The Ring, but Gandalf convinced him to leave it to his nephew Frodo. The Ring has great physical weight to it. Sam says to Frodo at one point where he's near collapsing, "I can't carry The Ring, but I can carry you", and he picks him up with all the last bit of strength that he has. It's a great act of courage and is the ending of the track 'The Black Gate Opens'."

"Peter said that you wrote a completely new theme for Frodo and Sam when they were on Mount Doom. Explain your approach to this theme?"

"I think he's referring the part played by Sir James. It's a new piece I wrote that underscores Sam and Frodo's struggle. It's a choral-based, written to work with Sir James' Tin Whistle. It's a brand new theme of courage. There are different pieces relating to Frodo, mostly Shire music, elements of The Shire, and it's the same with Sam, that's really where their music comes from. This scene is similar to that in its use of harmonies and even the use of the Tin Whistle is part of The Shire. The whistle is The Shire. If we used particular sounds for characters we wanted to carry them the storyline for clarity." ~Howard Shore

***

I like this track very much. The tin whistle is unbelievably beautiful and it will represent The Shire to me probably always. Funny that although this track is a combination of so many themes and it's jumping from the Black Gate to Mount Doom and back, it sounds so- well, whole. As Lathriel said, this is a wonderful composition whether you listen to it as a part of the film or just as a piece of music.

When I first read the title 'The Black Gate Opens' from the back cover of the RotK CD, I was expecting something similar to 'The Black Gate is Closed' in TTT, but after I watched the movie and listened to the soundtrack, I was pleasantly surprised. The battle at the Black Gate and Frodo and Sam struggling up Mount Doom are one of my favourite parts in the whole trilogy and I couldn't have wished a better score for it. Wonderful!

[Himilsillion]

I like how this track kind of "summarizes" all the themes from the Shire theme all the way to the Into the West theme. The hobbit theme solo is awesome I really like it. Great song for the climax of the trilogy.

[Encaitare]

Sorry for the delay! A research paper has been owning my soul.

This track is just chock-full of choral goodies! From the very beginning, the choir, brass, and pounding timpani deliver a harsh, loud sound that perfectly captures the conflict in Sammath Naur. Philippa Boyens' poem "The Destruction of the Ring" goes like this:

Mi naurath Orodruin
Boe hedi i Vin.
Han i vangad i moe ben bango.
Sin eriol natha tûr în úgarnen
Sin eriol ûm beleg úgannen
Ú cilith 'war
Ú men 'war
Boe vin mebi
Boe vin bango

Into the fires of Orodruin
The One must be cast.
This [is] the price that must be paid.
Only thus its power will be undone,
Only thus a great evil unmade.
There is no other choice,
There is no other way.
One of you must take it,
One of you must pay.

However, in the track the order is different:

Sin eriol natha tûr în úgarnen
Mi naurath Orodruin
Boe hedi i Vin
Han i vangad i moe ben
tûr în úgarnen
Sin eriol
cilith 'war
Boe vin mebi
Boe vin bango

Translated, this would be:

Only thus its power will be undone
Into the fires of Orodruin
The One must be cast.
This [is] the price that must be [paid]
Power will be undone
Only thus
No other choice
One of you must take it,
One of you must pay.

I suppose these changes of order were done so the words would better fit the music.

At 1:08, Renee Fleming has a lovely solo:

Sin eriol ûm beleg úgannen
Ú cilith 'war
Boe vin mebi
Boe vin bango

All stuff we've heard before; you can figure out what it means if it's that important to you. The choir uses some of the same text one last time:

Boe hedi i Vín.
Sin eriol úm beleg úgannen

Then the choir grows softer, less harsh, and we get some new lyrics! This is the whole of "The Mountain of Fire" poem:

Nu dalav
Úrui tuiannen na ruith
Leithia Orodruin oe in phan.
Ristannen i geven,
Danna eliad morn.
Si, na vethed
Meth i naid bain
I wilith úria
I ardhon ban lacha!

Beneath the ground
Swollen hot with anger
Orodruin releases all its ruin.
Earth rips asunder
Black rain falls.
Here at the end;
The end of all things.
The air is aflame,
All the world is on fire!

What is sung:

Si, na vethed
The air is aflame,
All the world is on fire!

Here at the end
The air is aflame
All the world is on fire

As this is sung, we can hear the Ring's seduction theme/motif played in the lowest instruments (3:07).

According to the sheet music as cited on GiP, it continues as follows:

Nu da naid bain úe
rin le regi erin le na
thi úeri o nin gwanno

No proper translation is given, though, so from searching through the texts of the songs in this track I think it means roughly this:

...all things
I cannot reach you
I cannot let you leave me

With this final line, we hear both a bit of the Fellowship theme and a turn for the better.

Next is another Renee Fleming solo:

Orthannen im vi ól
Coll e dû
Or hiriath naur
Na rovail mae sui 'waew
Man prestant i ardhon?
Cerithar aen illiad dim úthenin?

In a dream I was lifted up.
Borne from the darkness
Above the rivers of fire.
On wings doft as the wind.
What's happened to the world?
Is everything sad going to come untrue?

So beautiful! I just thought of this... I like how Quenya was used at the very beginning, in the first track of Fellowship to show the antiquity and history, but the rest is Sindarin, the more modern of the two tongues, even if the Elves are fading.

Any thoughts? Which part is your favorite?

[Lathriel]

I don't really like the beginning of this track. However, as soon as Renee Fleming joins the mix of choral lines throughout the track I like it better. She just has such a beautiful voice!! It is so dramatic and this track certainly gives a climax feeling.
The choir sounds very urgent and because they are mainly chanting at the beginning of the track I get this feeling of pressure. It has now come to the final scene and there is a huge pressure on Frodo since he has to throw in the ring but he can't do it and I think that the chanting certainly adds to that pressure the scene already has.
When Renee Fleming interupts the chant I see it as the ring seducing Frodo one last time. Then the choir continues and again adds pressure.
When Renee sings again it gives me chills and the melody tells us it is over,it is done.