Late last year we brought you news of the incredible artistic feat which is composer Paul Corfield Godfrey’s series of operas, telling tales from The Silmarillion. Already available at that time were Fëanor, Beren and Lúthien, The Children of Húrin and The Fall of Gondolin. Last week, the fifth and final part, The War of Wrath, was released.
These stunning and suitably epic operas all use text taken directly from Tolkien’s writing (with full permission from the Tolkien Estate). You can order your copies from Volante Opera’s website. Check out this video (really way more than a trailer!) to give you a taste of this labour of love:
Here’s the official press release:
The War of Wrath – Paul Corfield Godfrey
The cycle of “epic scenes from The Silmarillion” by Paul Corfield Godfrey, drawn from the posthumous writings of J R R Tolkien, was the largest-scale work of classical music written in Wales in the twentieth century, and has been recorded by Prima Facie over the course of the last five years. We are now pleased to release the concluding section of this work, written as recently as 2019-20, to bring to an end Tolkien’s description of the history of Middle-earth in the First Age. The text, as before, employs a wide variety of posthumously published texts by the author with the permission of the Tolkien Estate. It not only features the return of roles and singers familiar from earlier parts of the cycle, but also introduces new characters such as Elrond, Galadriel and the great mariner Eärendil who will be familiar to readers of The Lord of the Rings. All the singers are professional artists from Welsh National Opera.
Reviewing last year’s recording of Fëanor, Marc Medwin in Fanfare magazine commented “Heretofore I have been entirely ignorant of Paul Corfield Godfrey’s work. More’s the pity. This is an operatic recording whose singers and the music they perform are completely in tune with the nature of the story and its themes, making me want to hear the other instalments as soon as possible.”
CAST (In Order of Singing)
ELBERETH (VALA): Emma Mary Llewellyn
CÍRDAN (ELF): Julian Boyce
ULMO, LORD OF WATERS (VALA): Martin Lloyd
MELIAN, QUEEN OF DORIATH (MAIA): Helen Jarmany
GALADRIEL (ELF): Angharad Morgan
THINGOL, KING OF DORIATH (ELF): Martin Lloyd
MAGLOR, SON OF FËANOR (ELF): Michael Clifton-Thompson
CURUFIN, SON OF FËANOR (ELF): Huw Llywelyn
ELWING (ELF): Sophie Yelland
MAEDHROS, SON OF FËANOR (ELF): Stephen Wells
EÄRENDIL, SON OF TUOR AND IDRIL (ELF): Simon Crosby Buttle
EÖNWË, HERALD OF THE VALAR (MAIA): Philip Lloyd-Evans
ELDER KING (VALA): George Newton-Fitzgerald
MANDOS (VALA): Julian Boyce
SAURON, LIEUTENANT OF MORGOTH (MAIA): Jasey Hall
MORGOTH, THE ENEMY (VALA): Laurence Cole
ELROND, SON OF EÄRENDIL AND ELWING (ELF): Simon Crosby Buttle
CHORUS:
SOPRANO: Rosie Hay & Emma Mary Llewellyn
MEZZO: Stella Woodman & Helen Greenaway
TENOR: Huw Llywelyn & Simon Crosby Buttle (Scenes 7 & 9 – Michael Clifton-Thompson)
BASS: Julian Boyce & Jasey Hall (Scenes 7 & 9 – Philip Lloyd-Evans, Stephen Wells & George Newton-Fitzgerald)
Production and engineering: Volante Opera ©2023
Music published by Zarahustra Music ©2023
Illustrations ‘Beren: Song of Parting’ & ‘Taniquetil’ by kind permission of Ted Nasmith ©2023
Synopsis and notes: Volante Opera Productions and Paul Corfield Godfrey ©2023
All artists appear by arrangement with Welsh National Opera
Don’t miss the entire cycle:
PAUL CORFIELD GODFREY Epic Scenes from The Silmarillion after the mythology of J R R Tolkien These settings for soloists, chorus and orchestra survey the whole mythology of J R R Tolkien’s writings on the First Age of Middle-Earth and beyond, using the author’s own words with the kind permission of the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollinsPublishers. As such it is the largest scale musical work ever written using Tolkien’s texts, and is designed for performance over five evenings: Fëanor, Beren and Lúthien, The Children of Húrin, The Fall of Gondolin and The War of Wrath The scores were written over a period of forty years from 1981 and 2021 and this first complete performance by singers from Welsh National Opera (with an orchestra prepared from live samples) was recorded over a period of six years from 2017 to 2023. Production and Engineering: Volante Opera Productions ©2023 Texts: Used by kind permission of the estate of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and HarperCollins Publishers ©2023 Artists appear by arrangement with Welsh National Opera Artwork: “Beren and Lúthien are Flown to Safety”, “Beren: Song of Parting”, “Lúthien”, “Morgoth and the High King of the Noldor”, “Taniquetil”, “The Slaying of Glaurung”, “Tuor reaches the Hidden City of Gondolin”, “Turgon Recieves Tuor and Voronwë”, “Túrin Discovers Niënor at the Mound of Finduilas” & “Ungoliant and the Two Trees” by kind permission of Ted Nasmith ©2023 Music published by: Zarathustra Music ©2023
Social Media Links:
Facebook: The Music of Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Opera Productions
Twitter: @TheCorfield @OperaVolante
Discord: https://discord.gg/J6bQFHygr7
