The King Beneath the Mountains from The Hobbit by . Tolkien

This video accompanies Episode 38 of the Children’s Literature Podcast - “Hobbit, Human, and Goblin Songs in The Hobbit.“ . Tolkien wrote lyrics for many songs in his books, but he never wrote any melodies for them. However, it’s possible to imagine musical interpretations by closely reading what he wrote. As a musical experiment, I have tried to reproduce the scene described in Chapter 10 of The Hobbit, where the people of Lake-town sing “The King Beneath the Mountains.“ Based on what is written in the book, I gave myself these rules when writing and performing the music: - The song is sung by a large group of people, with more joining in as the song goes on - The only instruments used are fiddles and harps - The song is spontaneous and sung with great excitement in a group that is spread out in a large space, so the rhythm will not always be exact and the harmonies will not always lock perfectly - There is shouting during the song - People of all ag