While I was setting the songs from The Hobbit to music I thought again about "The Voyage of Earendil" from The Lord of the Rings. I hadn't set it when I did the rest, as it properly belongs with The Silmarillion. But the iron was hot! and in 3 days I wrote the music to my greatest song to date. You might think 3 days is pretty slow for one song, but have a look at that song, it goes on and on, and covers a great deal of ground. Furthermore it deals with the greatest war fought in the entire Tolkien Mythos, far greater in grandeur even than that of The Lord of the Rings.
Believe me, this is a special song. I wanted to sing it every day, and each time I would choke up at the emotion of the importance of Earendil on his extraordinary quest. Especially at his and the world's final liberation thanks to the power of the Silmaril. I have written over 150 songs on many subjects, in many styles, and this is the finest of all.
It needed a great orchestral arrangement which I managed to produce after prolonged effort in early 2005. I then resampled my synthetic orchestra and recorded the entire arrangement, singing the vocal myself. It runs over 13 minutes and calls for a 2 octave range. Truly a show closer for any serious bass-baritone.
When I find the time I intend to produce a full album of songs from The Silmarillion which will close with "The Voyage of Earendil". The text for the others I will take from The Meeting Of Beren & Luthien (LOTR version), The Lay of Leithian which has more than enough lines! and possibly The Children Of Hurin. This will complete the trilogy and my partnership with JRR, though I will continue to hold him in the highest esteem and rejoice in the beauty of the work that we have made together.
