Music of The Lord of the Rings film series

The orchestral scores and songs composed chiefly by Howard Shore for Peter Jackson’s three-film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Its recurring themes connect characters, cultures, and places across the trilogy.

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Leitmotif: A recurring musical theme associated with a character, place, object, or idea. Shore uses recurring themes to identify Middle-earth’s peoples and ideas as the story unfolds.
Howard Shore: Canadian composer and conductor known for film scores, including The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Shore composed the trilogy’s score and developed its network of recurring musical themes.
The Shire: A rural region of Middle-earth inhabited chiefly by Hobbits in Tolkien’s legendarium. The Shire’s musical identity accompanies its landscapes, ordinary life, and return at the story’s end.
Annie Lennox: Scottish singer and songwriter who performed “Into the West” for The Return of the King. Her performance carries the trilogy’s closing song over the final credits.
Academy Award for Best Original Score: An annual Academy Award honoring achievement in original film scoring. Shore won the award for The Return of the King, bringing the trilogy’s score broad recognition.
The Fellowship Theme: A musical theme associated with the Fellowship of the Ring in Howard Shore’s score. Its changing forms trace the Fellowship’s formation, journey, and dissolution.
J. R. R. Tolkien: English writer and philologist who created Middle-earth and wrote The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s languages, poems, and imagined cultures supplied material for the score’s vocal writing.
The Bridge of Khazad-dûm: A scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where Gandalf confronts the Balrog on a stone bridge. The score’s choral and orchestral force heightens the Fellowship’s escape and Gandalf’s sacrifice.
Emilíana Torrini: Icelandic singer-songwriter who performed “Gollum’s Song” for The Two Towers. Her delivery gives the end-credit song its haunting, intimate character.
Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: A Grammy Award recognizing music composed for film, television, and other visual media. The trilogy’s releases received Grammy recognition for their film-score recordings.