Tolkien Sings
So, it was from a comment on a post earlier this week (thanks, Trotter*) that I learned three new recording of Tolkien reading from THE HOBBIT not only existed but were being made public. That same day, Janice sent me a link to one of the pieces, which was available online. Here's JRRT himself, not just reciting but actually singing one of the dwarves' songs at Bag End ("That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates"):
http://soundcloud.com/harperaudio/j-r-r-tolkien-singing-extract
Following up on Trotter's information about all three clips being available on the enhanced 75 anniversary edition of THE HOBBIT e-book, we made the discovery that my Kindle is too old for the text-to-audio software to work (it worked when we first got it, so suspect it might still on the older books, but apparently there are compatibility issues with the newer books). But, lest we despair, it turns out that Janice's iPad plays them just fine. Even better, it turns out to have four clips in all (the fourth being the superb "Riddles in the Dark" recording made at George Sayer's house circa 1952) and the three new ones being
(1) "That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates" (see above)
(2) "Far Over Misty Mountains Cold"
(3) "Roast Mutton"
The first two are relatively brief: first Tolkien's singing a song and then his recitation of a second, both from Chapter I of THE HOBBIT. The most interesting thing about these is the tune of the first -- I tried to find out, when working on MR. BAGGINS, whether the many songs in THE HOBBIT had actual tunes, and eventually concluded that the answer was 'probably not'. Good to learn, from a most unexpected but unimpeachable source, that I was wrong: some did (though probably not all).
The third is by far the longest, covering the entire troll-encounter scene from Chapter II. Listening to this more or less answers another point that'd long puzzled me: it's often been asserted that Tolkien gave the trolls cockney accents, which seemed out of keeping with their decidedly rural character. Hearing him now, they come across much more like country lumpkins. So, with the addition of this piece, we now have recordings of most of two chapters of THE HOBBIT (II and V) in Tolkien's own voice. Amazing stuff.
--John R.
*http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2012/11/listening-to-hobbit.html#comments
http://soundcloud.com/harperaudio/j-r-r-tolkien-singing-extract
Following up on Trotter's information about all three clips being available on the enhanced 75 anniversary edition of THE HOBBIT e-book, we made the discovery that my Kindle is too old for the text-to-audio software to work (it worked when we first got it, so suspect it might still on the older books, but apparently there are compatibility issues with the newer books). But, lest we despair, it turns out that Janice's iPad plays them just fine. Even better, it turns out to have four clips in all (the fourth being the superb "Riddles in the Dark" recording made at George Sayer's house circa 1952) and the three new ones being
(1) "That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates" (see above)
(2) "Far Over Misty Mountains Cold"
(3) "Roast Mutton"
The first two are relatively brief: first Tolkien's singing a song and then his recitation of a second, both from Chapter I of THE HOBBIT. The most interesting thing about these is the tune of the first -- I tried to find out, when working on MR. BAGGINS, whether the many songs in THE HOBBIT had actual tunes, and eventually concluded that the answer was 'probably not'. Good to learn, from a most unexpected but unimpeachable source, that I was wrong: some did (though probably not all).
The third is by far the longest, covering the entire troll-encounter scene from Chapter II. Listening to this more or less answers another point that'd long puzzled me: it's often been asserted that Tolkien gave the trolls cockney accents, which seemed out of keeping with their decidedly rural character. Hearing him now, they come across much more like country lumpkins. So, with the addition of this piece, we now have recordings of most of two chapters of THE HOBBIT (II and V) in Tolkien's own voice. Amazing stuff.
--John R.
*http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2012/11/listening-to-hobbit.html#comments
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