Myth, Song, and Music Education: The Case of
Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Swann's The
Road Goes Ever On
by Estelle R. Jorgensen
In this article I explore how myth and song intersect in J. R. R. Tolkien's The
Lord of the Rings trilogy—The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The
Return of the King—and Donald Swann's song cycle setting of Tolkien texts,
The Road Goes Ever On. In so doing I am drawn back to Tolkien's The Hobbit,
the novel from which The Lord of the Rings grew, and in the way of myth, I
go back to the beginning to see what is there. After sketching some important
themes in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and commenting as I go
on Swann's musical setting of Tolkien's poems, I note several implications
for music education.
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