Galadriel’s Gift: A Song History
"Galadriel’s Gift" is part of Ellen Pratt's Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 5, written for three dulcimers that all tune to CGC.[1] The contents page reproduced on Pratt's own store listing gives it in 6/8 time on pages 32 to 34, and it is the only entry in that list set in CGC.[2] Pratt describes the book as a mix of original and traditional multipart arrangements, yet the contents page credits no composer for this piece, so the sources consulted here leave its authorship unstated.[2]
George Inness, In the Woods, oil on board, 1866. Shown for its woodland; it has no connection to the piece or to Tolkien.
According to her DulcimerDownloads biography, Pratt started writing her own dulcimer music in 2004 and turned to ensemble pieces once she joined a dulcimer orchestra in northeastern Connecticut.[3] The same page notes that she has taught at festivals around the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, and that her playing ranges from hard-strummed old-time and jam tunes to quieter fingerpicked chord-melody pieces.[3]
By way of background, the name in the title is that of a character in J.R.R. Tolkien's three-part novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–55).[4][5] In the book she and her husband, Celeborn, rule the elven realm of Lothlórien.[5] No link between the character and the tune is implied: neither the book listing nor Pratt's store page explains the title or mentions a recording.[1][2]
Sources
- Ellen Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 5".
- Ellen S. Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements for Mountain Dulcimer Volume 5".
- DulcimerDownloads: "Ellen Pratt".
- Britannica: "Frodo Baggins".
- Los Angeles Review of Books: "Galadriel, Witch-Queen of Lórien" (Robert T. Tally Jr.).
- Image: George Inness, In the Woods, oil on board, 1866. The Cleveland Museum of Art.