A Glorious Reprise
I always knew I'd get a second chance. :-)
The first time was a marvelous, wonderful evening spent with annewashere and missysedai and culfinriel, as captured in the happy tale A Night at the Fox. Actually, I think that was the evening I was able to introduce culfinriel for the first time to the merry company of rasfwr-jians that I've been so lucky to be a part of all these years. We had a merry time before the concert at Ann Arbor's Zanzibar restaurant. In fact, we had such a merry time we actually accidentally missed the first third of the concert. Whoops. ;-)
That didn't worry me at all -- the company was merry, we were having a marvelous time, and I always figured I'd get a second chance to catch the concert someday. And so, years later, when months ago I heard an advertisement over the classical music station here in St. Louis that is my usual drive-time entertainment for auditions for choir members to perform in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's production of The Lord of the Rings Symphony, I was ready. :-)
As always, click thumbnails for expanded images
- St. Louis is now a far smaller city than Detroit. But once upon a time, it was a far greater one. And St. Louis still has the vestiges of the age when it once was important enough on the world stage to host the World's Fair and the Olympics; among them the magnificent Powell Symphony Hall. It was to the Powell I was lucky enough to come one evening post-call, with good friends from the Barony of Three Rivers, to revel and share in the glory of Howard Shore's magnum opus. And what glory!
The grand orchestral themes have lost none of their power, even after so many years. The merry lilt of the Shire theme. The grandeur of the Fellowship fanfare. The hardingfele which lends it's voice to the Rohan fanfare; the majesty of the theme of the Kings of Númenor. From the music which opens Galadriel's narration to the bittersweet farewell at the Gray Havens, the beauty of the musical journey is as powerful as ever. Especially when linked to the images of the movie adaptation of the story which means so much to so many of us. Indeed, it was exciting to see the shared excitement of the literally standing-room-only crowd which had nearly instantly sold out both scheduled performances -- so much and so swiftly the SLSO actually opened up the dress rehearsal for discounted ticket sales as well. Thousands of people of all ages and circumstances who treasured and loved the music and the stories as much as so many of us do.
This week is Tolkien week, kicked off by the September 22nd fictional birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, two of the key protagonists from the story cycle Tolkien created. The concert marked a wonderful way to mark the event, an ideal celebration of the stories, which have been with us for almost fifty years now. Stories which mean so much to me, and to so many of my closest friends. In grand adventures like A Night at the Fox, or Into the West, the unforgettable conclusion of the journey, shared with a close friend. Or even in things like LJ usernames -- ask culfinriel or silmaril, for example. :-)
Voices speak to us, words that yet ring in our ears and our hearts:
- So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate?
Ride out with me. Ride out and meet them!
A day may come, when the courage of men fails - when we forsake our friends - and break all bonds of fellowship - but it is not this day!
I can't carry it for you - but I -can- -carry- *you!*
I'm glad to be with you... Here at the end of all things.
Long ago I wrote about why Tolkien and his stories mean so much to me -- the entry Thread of Gold, which remains what I consider one of the three most personal pieces of writing I've ever done among the over fifteen-hundred entries I've written over the last seven years. Ideas that have grown only more powerful and important to me in the years since, as my own journey has led away from the bright, happy, carefree days of graduate school long ago. Voices that speak even more powerfully to me now. Especially now. As I wrote then:
- ...Tolkien's story is, in a way, the story of the things I hope I might be able in some small sense to accomplish with my own life. To be a son and brother and friend as loyal as Sam. To become worthy of a love as true as that of the Evenstar. And to take a stand, to hold the line, and to never have to doubt for what my sacrifice was for. To be able to say at the end, at the last, "I go to my fathers; and even in their mighty company I shall not now be ashamed."
And in this week, Tolkien week, we celebrate the world he gave us. The ideals his characters stood for. The ideals he believed in. And the bonds of fellowship which link us all.
I am grateful for the second chance to celebrate in the full glory of the Lord of the Rings Symphony. Grateful for the good friends I found here in St. Louis/Calontir to share that glory with. And grateful for the so many of you with whom I have shared journey and travel. Shared love of Tolkien's work. And share faith in Tolkien's ideals: ideals of loyalty and courage, friendship and love.
- Hannon le, mellon nîn.