Horus' Commentary

On Tolkien’s Compositions

The evidence of Tolkien’s musical sophistication marks his ballets (especially “The Smaug Sea”) in ways obvious and hidden, general and specific. His Scotch Symphony solves the problems of Mendelssohn’s Scotch Symphony – a work undone by a shortage of soda whose cheerful if hiccoughing note of triumph is (at least for post-Victorian throats) impossibly strong. Not so Tolkien, who, by the judicious addition of more soda, and a drop of angostura, ensured his success.