Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy led to many songs being composed around the Tolkien’s epic story. Most of the songs were soundtracks written by the Canadian composer Howard Shore for the Peter Jackson film based on the book. Others were inspired by Tolkien’s epic story though they were not film soundtracks. Two of these are ‘Arwen’s Virgil’ by The Piano Guys, and Aragon’s ‘Sleep Song’ by Secret Garden.
ARWEN’S VIRGIL
The Piano Guys is an American musical group, led by pianist Jon Schmidt and cellist Steven Sharp Nelson. The duo wanted to write a tune that personified a storybook character – someone that was in need or in distress but harbored an inextinguishable hope. Arwen, the daughter of Elrond from the Lord of the Rings came to their minds. The result was Arwen’s Virgil, a haunting melody that bespoke of Arwen’s timeless devotion to Aragorn as she waited for him to return for a mission that seemed doomed from its beginning. Convinced by her father to abandon her vigil for her own sake she turned back to wait once more as she saw in vision her future child, her son with Aragorn. The music video that you about to see was filmed in the Italian Garden at Thanksgiving Point in Utah.
SLEEPSONG
Secret Garden is an Irish-Norwegian group, led by the duo consisting of Irish violinist and singer Fionnuala Sherry and Norwegian composer, arranger and pianist Rolf Løvland. Sleepsong is one of the tracks on their 8th album Earthsongs released in 2005.