"Musical Chapters from The Lord of the Rings" by Paul Corfield Godfrey PRE-ORDER
5 May - By onthetrail
All of us from Zarathustra: The Paul Corfield Godfrey Trust and Volante Opera Productions are very proud to announce that Paul Corfield Godfrey's Musical Chapters from The Lord of the Rings after the Mythology of J.R.R. Tolkien is ready to pre-order.
As Tolkien himself famously said, "Hardly a word in its 600,000 or more has been unconsidered. And the placing, size, style, and contribution to the whole of all the features, incidents, and chapters has been laboriously pondered... the labour has been colossal"Carpenter's Letter #131 (J.R.R. Tolkien to Milton Waldman, 1951 (late))[1] and we can say very much the same. Every word has to be considered when writing an opera, and Paul has considered all of them. We as a team have poured thousands of hours into making the best product we can and we are very proud of it.
We send our thanks to theonering.net who have looked after the official announcement for us.
Pre-orders are available at the VOLANTE STORE.
The 15CD digibook will ship in early September and is officially released on 5th September. Those attending OxonMoot 2025 will be able to meet Paul there and purchase copies. The cycle will also be available for digital purchase on release day.
The press release reads:
MUSICAL CHAPTERS FROM THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE CYCLE COMPLETED
The agreement by the estate of the late J. R. R. Tolkien last year to sanction the recording of Paul Corfield Godfrey’s “musical chapters from The Lord of the Rings” was hailed by listeners throughout the world as a milestone in the field of Tolkien adaptations.
For many years the Tolkien Estate has refused to allow any musical treatment of the works of the author which employed his own words. Now they have agreed to make a concession in respect of the music of Paul Corfield Godfrey, whose acclaimed cycle of “epic scenes from The Silmarillion” was finally completed in 2023 with the issue of a ten-CD series of recordings from Volante Opera and Prima Facie Records.
Ever since the 1960s the composer had been working on sketches, fragments and episodes of what was originally envisaged as a cycle of musical works based upon The Lord of the Rings. Following on from the success of the recordings of The Silmarillion he was persuaded to go back to these beginnings and fully explore, expand and complete the work which has now evolved as “musical chapters from The Lord of the Rings”. This fully operatic setting has now become a companion work on the same scale as The Silmarillion. The adaptation extends to thirty “chapters” designed for performance over six evenings – more than fifteen hours of music.
This recording of the complete work by Volante Opera has now finally been completed and Prima Facie will release a demo set of the complete cycle, in the same manner as their Silmarillion recordings, in a single volume on 5 September 2025. The professional singers, some thirty-five in number, come mainly from Welsh National Opera. Returning artists from The Silmarillion include: Simon Crosby Buttle as Frodo, Julian Boyce as Sam, Philip Lloyd-Evans as Gandalf, Stephen Wells as Aragorn, Michael Clifton-Thompson as Gollum, Helen Jarmany as Éowyn, Huw Llywelyn as Bilbo and Éomer, Emma Mary Llewellyn as Arwen and Goldberry, Laurence Cole as Boromir and Denethor, Martin Lloyd as Treebeard and the Herb Master, Helen Greenaway as Lobelia and Ioreth, Rosie Hay as Gwaihir, Sophie Yelland as the Barrow-Wight and Louise Ratcliffe as Lindir, with George Newton-Fitzgerald and Jasey Hall taking on a plethora of parts. Angharad Morgan is also reprising her role as Galadriel from The War of Wrath. Other new cast members include Rhodri Prys Jones as Legolas, Gareth Long as Gimli, David Fortey as Pippin, Dyfed Wyn Evans as Merry, James Schouten as Faramir and Elrond, Gavin Davies as Thëoden, Gareth Lloyd as Saruman, Peter Wilman, Owen Webb, Alastair Moore, Francesca Saracino and Steffan Lloyd-Evans in various other solo roles and Howard Kirk as Tom Bombadil and Quickbeam.
Although the text is inevitably abridged, it adheres without any but the most minor alterations to the author’s original words, and the original plot development remains unchanged – including such elements as Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-wight, the love story of Éowyn and Faramir and the ‘scouring of the Shire’. And some other passages, such as the coronation and wedding of Aragorn, are given expanded musical treatment. The issue includes not only the complete musical score, but also a substantial booklet containing full details of the recording (including the text as set) and a supplementary appendix disc giving more extended versions of some of the more substantial narrative poems. As with the earlier issues of The Silmarillion the cover art has been furnished by Ted Nasmith.
For more information about the recordings by Volante Opera Productions please visit:
www.volanteopera.wales
The Music of Paul Corfield Godfrey
www.paulcorfieldgodfrey.co.uk
The Bovadium Fragments: Together with ‘The Origin of Bovadium’
3 May - By Trotter
The Bovadium Fragments: Together with ‘The Origin of Bovadium’ by Richard Ovenden O.B.E. Hardcover – 9 Oct. 2025
by J. R. R. Tolkien (Author), Christopher Tolkien (Editor)
World first publication of a previously unknown short satirical fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien, and accompanied by illustrations from the author together with an essay, The Origin of Bovadium, by Richard Ovenden OBE.
UK
Publisher : HarperCollins (9 Oct. 2025)
Language : English
Hardcover : 144 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-0008737764
Dimensions : 14.9 x 1.2 x 22.8 cm
eBook
US
Publisher : William Morrow (18 Nov. 2025)
Language : English
Hardcover : 144 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-0063479081
The story in referenced in J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter
‘Mr Bliss’ was not the only composition by Tolkien owing its inspiration to motor transport. ‘The Bovadium Fragments’ (perhaps composed early in the nineteen-sixties) is a parable of the destruction of Oxford (Bovadium) by the motores manufactured by the Daemon of Vaccipratum (a reference to Lord Nuffield and his motor-works at Cowley) which block the streets, asphyxiate the inhabitants, and finally explode.
TolkienShop Video
1 May - By Trotter
onthetrail and myself sat down for a lovely chat with the fabulous René van Rossenberg, owner of https://www.tolkienshop.com/ and long-time fan and collector.
Book Release Day for Miriam Ellis - The Art of Mercy in Middle-earth
30 April - By Urulókë
J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium provides twenty-first century readers with a much-needed haven from the busy world around them. In his mercy, Tolkien generously balances scenes of high drama with unforgettable pauses for the refreshment of both characters and readers. His work remains true to the themes of “recovery, escape, and consolation” described in his seminal lecture and essay, “On Fairy-Stories.”
This book offers a visual portal to these three merciful themes, which form the central subject of Miriam Ellis’s body of Tolkien paintings. Ellis’s artwork strives for faithful accuracy to the texts which she has been reading since childhood. The quieter moments in Tolkien are sometimes neglected in portrayals, but in them resides the beauty of Middle-earth. Focusing on those moments, this book is a treasury with which readers can relax and enjoying both the paintings and the brief but evocative essays drawn from the artist’s contemplation of memorable scenes in the legendarium and the many details of the paintings. Like The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, this book should be a source of recovery, escape, and consolation for the reader.
Miriam Ellis is a lifelong Tolkien reader, award-winning fine artist, and published illustrator whose art has appeared in magazines, major fandom YouTube channels, calendars, and the Tolkien Society’s publications.
Paperback:
Hardcover:
Myth and Legends unboxing
18 April - By Urulókë
Join Trotter, Mr. Underhill and Urulókë tomorrow at Sat, 19 Apr 2025 5:00 PM GMT as we take a look at the new four volume Tolkien boxed set just being released by HarperCollins, containing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, The Fall of Arthur, and Beowulf.
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