Lord Of The Rings: How Music Elevates Story

Evan Puschak talks about Howard Shore’s use of leitmotifs in The Lord of the Rings.

“I think that we hardly grasp the importance of music in film. It’s an invisible layer of pure emotion that guides us or challenges us, or guides or challenges the drama itself.

“In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Howard Shore gave us perhaps the most complete and complex exploration of leitmotifs in the history of cinema, and the result is a score that is as alive as the world Tolkien gave us.”

See also

• Tolkien’s annotated map of Middle-earth discovered
• The sketches J.R.R. Tolkien used to build Middle-Earth
• Early takes of the Star Wars opening theme (1977)