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For chant nerds who are also Tolkien nerds

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Listening to the magnificent 1981 BBC radio dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings, I was struck by Stephen Oliver's moving setting of "The road goes ever on and on". The text itself is in Ambrosian measure (iambic tetrameter quatrains), but Oliver pushes it even further into Gregorian hymn territory by placing a slightly longer pause between the second and third lines of each quatrain; and the rhythm reflects the isosyllabic interpretation of Gregorian hymnody as advocated by (among others) the late Professor John Stevens of Cambridge University. I am not sure I could point to a single hymnodic source for the melody, but Jesu dulcis memoria was the tune that came to mind.

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