3.19 The Sacrifice of Faramir | LotR Score Analysis

An analysis of the themes and letitmotifs of the Lord of the Rings - The Complete Recordings; composed, orchestrated and conducted by Howard Shore. The videos stay true to how the tunes are presented in The Complete Recordings, so all scenes with no or altered music are omitted.
IMPORTANT: The featured sample notations are not necessarily identical (in key, form or time signature) to the relevant music in the tracks. They exist to give a visual cue for the themes, not to be taken literally for every iteration of the theme.
Quotes mostly taken from The Annotated Score and The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films by Doug Adams
A big thank you to A Magpie’s Nest, and the mysterious transcriber M.W., without either these videos might never have been made.
I am not affiliated with Middle-earth Enterprises, the Tolkien Estate, New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers, WingNut Films, Doug Adams or Howard Shore.
All copyrights and trademarks for the books, films, and soundtrack music and lyrics are held by their respective owners.

[@VideoGamer4Life]

Props to Peter Jacksons' editing team on this sequence in particular, intercutting Pippin's yearning rendition of a song from his homeland, spliced with Faramir's determined yet doomed offensive, to the Enemy's sneering lust for more blood, and finally to Denethor's callous gluttony. Absolute Kino, I believe this scene clinched the Oscar.

[@mateiyu-4082]

How these movies convey feelings and meanings with only good visuals and tremendous music is nothing short of miraculous. There are many instances across all three movies in which the synergy between the editing and the music is tremendous, and this scene is in my humble and unlearnt opinion one of such scenes (others including, but not limiting to, the Amon Hen battle, the end of the Battle for the Hornburg, and everything from Aragorn saying "For Frodo" to the eagles coming at the Black Gate). And once again, that pan flute packs quite an emotional punch !

[@monoverantus]

They certainly utilize "film" as an art to its fullest. There are several times in the movies they manage to convey more emotion and catharsis than Tolkien himself did, perhaps highlighting the limits of loquacious prose.

[@mateiyu-4082]

@@monoverantus I do believe, in most instances, images and sounds are far more efficient when it comes to generating emotions than written words are.

[@monoverantus]

@@mateiyu-4082 I remember thinking more than once while re-reading the books that the most emotional moments were often a bit tainted by how verbose the characters were. Like, if you're stricken by grief or moved to joyous tears, no real person would simultaneously be able to compose paragraphs of describing their feelings. In that way, silence is much more believable and sincere.

[@Okojamo]

"Your father loves you, Faramir. He will remember it before the end." Absolutely amazing work on the video, as usual. I have so much respect for someone so dedicated to LotR's score; I wish I could have even a fraction of the talent needed to contribute something like this. I am looking forward to what is probably my absolute favourite scene in terms of both cinematography and music, and that is the Eagles coming to rescue Frodo and Sam, to the sound of Fleming's beautiful voice. We have some way to go yet, but the anticipation is part of the satisfaction. :)

[@monoverantus]

Well, it's fair to say that I wasn't ready for this task 10 years ago, even though I've loved the score intensely for far longer. It's the act of doing that makes the difference. Theoretically, I could've waited 10 years until I understood the score completely and then made all these videos at once, except a) then I never would've done it, and b) it's impossible to know get good at something if you're not doing it actively. Even now I find things wrong or lacking about the first videos, because making them was part of the ever-evolving process to become good enough to do them. This is the sort of mentality that guides all my creative efoorts, and the best advice I can give to anyone else who feel overwhelmed by a creative task.

[@horstdieter10]

One of the many wonderful things about these films is the fact that you find these giant epic moments, juxtaposed with these very quiet, tender and reflective moments, and while the films have several famous quiet and reflective scenes (as for example the conversation between Frodo and Handalf in Moria) I am especially enchanted by those tiny tiny moments, and the last shot of this track, with Gandalf just sitting there, is definitely one of the best of those. Its one of these instances where I just cannot believe that these movies are the way they are, where I think they are just too good to be true. There was absolutely no need for Peter and co to include this shot, the meaning and general mood of the previous scenes would have been sufficiently established, bit the fact that they included this little shot (accompanied by the beautiful instrumental version of Boyd's tune) speaks to one of the main reasons these films are the miracles they are.

[@milozimben]

This is one of my favorite scenes in any movie. Everything about it comes together beautifully. That last shot of Gandalf sitting alone with the orchestral quote of Pippin’s song just resonates so deeply.

[@meyeringalexanderjohann1484]

It’s beautiful how the music and visuals created by Peter Jackson is a masterpiece that equates to both a painting and a musical opera on the scale of Wagner. Epic.

[@elcraft82]

Very nice! You really helped me! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍❤

[@wastingwhistler4880]

This is by far my favorite song from the movies, and this is a great short form of the break down described in the book sited. 👍

[@KibblezanBitz]

Well that was a shock. In the film in between the restatements of Pippin's melody in clarinet and fiddle, on the closeup of Gandalf, you can faintly hear a bell, almost like the cliche of having a bell sound effect when someone dies, but quieter and much less sustained, with a much different timbre and pitch. It fits so well in the scene that it's a surprise it's diagetic and not part of the score.

[@monoverantus]

Interesting, I've never really thought about that. If you haven't already seen Listening In's fantastic LotR videos, you owe it to yourself to go watch them. In "How Howard Shore Builds Tension", he makes a similar connection between the score and the diegetic sounds of Rohirrim's horns.

[@arvidellegaardsteffensen1203]

Mr. Billy "Literally Pippin" Boyd

[@devinlong7478]

Can you sing, master Hobbit? *Insert: while I sit here and stuff my face*

[@itznoxy7193]

Do you have any information on the poem "The Last Son" that was used here? Was it by Tolkien? I can't seem to find it or any info about it on Google.

[@monoverantus]

The text comes from The Return of the King, chapter 4: "The Lord drives his son too hard, and now he must do the duty of two, for himself and for the one that will not return." This was adapted into lyrics by Philippa Boyens and translated by David Salo.

[@itznoxy7193]

@@monoverantus Thanks!

[@alexg-m9298]

Pippin's song is so heartbreaking 💔😢

[@monoverantus]

It astounds me how he managed to make such a devastating song from such a carefree poem X D

[@GodKingReiss]

When it’s said that Billy Boyd wrote the song, does this refer to the melody itself? Because the lyrics are almost word-for-word out of one of Tolkien’s poems in The Fellowship of the Ring.

[@monoverantus]

Yes.

[@legorearick1312]

Note : no horses were harmed in this movie

[@thedorklord1029]

I kinda wished you had shown what the Gondor skip-beat looked like, because I feel like it would be really interesting to see what a proper Gondor accompaniment would look like. A counter-melody, outline, anything. It's obvious that the lack of accompaniments is deliberate, but if this is the one time where one kinda sort of appears, I feel like it should be visualized just this once. Just a small criticism. Also edit for typo and to mention the tomato.

[@garrettscott6948]

😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠

[@monoverantus]

?

[@cuitaro]

@@monoverantus I guess he's angry at Denethor? Or he is a f*****g idiot who doesn't "like" the universe Tolkien (if that is even possible) and won't allow others to enjoy it