Paul Corfield Godfrey, Musical Chapters from The Hobbit after the Mythology of J.R.R. Tolkien (4-CD set) Prima Facie Records, 2026.

For the past decade, Wales-based Volante Opera Productions has been collaborating with composer Paul Corfield Godfrey to realize an ambitious undertaking: a complete operatic interpretation of Tolkien’s legendarium. Counterbalancing a five-opera cycle of “epic scenes” from The Silmarillion with seventeen hours of “musical chapters” from The Lord of the Rings, Godfrey and friends have created an unparalleled musical mosaic. All that remained was a “Hobbit” opera to link the two into a grand unity. Now, scarcely a year since the release of The Lord of the Rings, that missing keystone has been set in place.

Despite its coming last in the sequence of recordings, Musical Chapters has its origins in the composer’s earliest encounter with Tolkien’s mythology more than half a century ago. In his notes, Godfrey recalls that his first reaction to reading The Hobbit in the 1950s was to envision – and then experiment with – a stage dramatization of the book. By 1970, a vocal score had begun to evolve, but remained incomplete until the interest generated by the Volante recordings prompted Godfrey to finish it.

Musical Chapters is divided into two parts, each comprising three “chapters.” These six movements more or less contain the totality of the storyline. Unlike the needlessly dragged-out Peter Jackson cinematic Hobbit trilogy, Godfrey’s opera is a reminder that Tolkien’s story can be presented in a timely fashion without sacrificing tone or detail. Indeed, one of the delights of this opera is the success with which it preserves the light-hearted spirit of its source material. Positioned as it is between the ponderous doom of the War of the Jewels and the War of the Ring, Musical Chapters offers a welcome respite from narratives about world-threatening events. (Plenty of those on offer in real life.)

Prior to listening to the recording, I wondered how well The Hobbit’s sometimes chatty dialogue would translate into an operatic medium. Coming on the heels of Godfrey’s supremely epic Silmarillion cycle, I braced myself. I was pleasantly surprised to find how well the performers were able to capture the alternately serious, alternately comic polarities of the text. From Gandalf’s pedantic query concerning the semantics of “good day” to the abusive buffoonery of Tom, Bert and William, this opera is FUN!

It is also well integrated into the overall sequence of the mythology, with occasional nods to motifs drawn from Godfrey’s Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings repertoire to facilitate audience recollection or foreshadowing. For those who seek a more discursive bridge, the CD set features an operatic rendition of Tolkien’s appendix, “The Quest of Erebor.” In the end, though, Musical Chapters, like the book it adapts, is a free-standing work that can be enjoyed without any laborious homework on the part of the listener.

Continuity is also achieved through the uniformly excellent performance of the Volante troupe, with characters who also appear in Lord of the Rings being voiced by the same singers, including tenor Huw Llewellyn as Bilbo, baritone Philip Lloyd-Evans as Gandalf, tenor James Schouten as Elrond, and tenor Michael Clifton-Thompson as Gollum - with the exception of Schouten, all Silmarillion veterans. Also returning from Epic Scenes is bass Laurence Cole (Morgoth), who, in addition to voicing Smaug, finally gets to play someone other than a villain (Beorn). Volante founder, baritone Julian Boyce, delivers a fine Thorin Oakenshield, while tenor Simon Crosby Buttle, who was instrumental in encouraging Godfrey to complete the saga, flips his normal role as main male protagonist for the Great Goblin and other ancillary characters. Even soprano Angharad Morgan (Galadriel) gets a cameo as the thrush. (Yes, even the thrush sings! Did I mention this opera is fun?).

Speaking of talking animals, “there’s plenty, and to spare.” Eagles, spiders, and a howling wolf-chorus enable the libretto to touch the fantastic. At the same time, Godfrey’s attention to detail, such as Thorin & Company’s crossing of the Enchanted Stream or their gate-crashing of the Wood-elves’ feasts, keeps it rooted in Tolkien’s realism. But the gems in this musical hoard are Godrey’s renditions of The Hobbit’s songs, some of which – like the Song of the Wind or the Raft-elves’ chantey – have rarely been given melody and breath.

Musical Chapters from The Hobbit is a fitting conclusion to a lifelong labor of love. Thank you, Paul and Volante, for making it happen!

REVIEWER: Chris Seeman (www.tolkien-music.com)
COMPOSER’S WEBSITE: https://www.paulcorfieldgodfrey.co.uk/
VOLANTE OPERA PRODUCTIONS: https://www.volanteopera.wales/
PRIMA FACIE RECORDS: https://ascrecords.com/primafacie/