The Cenotaph (Lustanurondo)

The Master Bard carefully, almost fastidiously, adjusts slightly the tuning of the strings on his lyre, then looks out pensively to the audience present as he begins to play a melody without chords, without harmony. The melody is a simple tune, yet expressive, as for a brief ballad form. There are four phrases within the melody, the first and third identical, the second and fourth completing the first and third, but not in quite an identical way. First the whole melody is given, in a well-known minor mode, melancholy but sweet. Then the first phrase of the melody is repeated a number of times, each in a diffent mode, most of them probably unfamiliar, each giving rise to a different emotion or set of emotions, but without context they are difficult to define. The Master Bard then pauses a moment, lyre joining voice in silence.

Then The Master Bard begins to sing, his voice not unusually rich but clear and exactly in tune with his lyre. The melody at the start is in the first-played melancholy but sweet minor mode.

An isle there is upon the Sea
No bigger than a hill
An isle there is upon the Sea
It breasts the waves there still.

It juts above the Belegaer
Where B'leriand had been
It juts above the Belegaer
Now waves and gulls and wind.

The single notes of The Master Bard's lyre and voice now keep the same repeated ballad melody, but in a mode that adds an evocation of strangeness to the melancholy of the previous mode.

Upon this isle, Tol Morwen 'clept,
A massive stone stands yet
Upon this isle, Tol Morwen 'clept,
A stone in mourning set.

And Turin, yes! Turambar, 'tis
The name upon the stone
And Turin, yes! Turambar, 'tis
Whose bones there lie alone.

And yet is writ upon the stone
Another name as well
And yet is writ upon the stone
Nienor Niniel

The mode of the melody now becomes like a whole-tone scale, almost emotionless, simply discursive, as The Master Bard continues.

Why sing we of the Edain now?
Our heroes own we lost.
Why sing we of the Edain now?
We paid ourselves vast cost.

Because, of all Beleriand,
Alone in song the One
Because, of all Beleriand,
On these let's shine the sun.

For a single stanze, the mode becomes major, a mote of happiness in the ballad. The Master Bard's eyes almost sparkle as he looks at any, each, and every Dunadan among those gathered here.

Because we called him man-elf then
Most fair of mortal race
Because we called him man-elf then
For strength and speech and grace.

The mode switches to create an evocation both sad and fell. A first sense of evil, of tragedy, creeps into the music. The Master Bard looks to the audience no more, as painful emotion shows on his face as well as in his song.

Because she loved him, never seen
Her older brother born
Because she loved him, never seen
Until they wed, to mourn.

A harsh, totally unpleasant mode now is heard. It reeks of evil, and evil only. The Master Bard's voice sounds strained, the very words painful to sing, and his frame can be seen to shudder.

For Glaurung, first of dragons bred
And greatest of that spawn
For Glaurung, first of dragons bred
Them each he gazed upon.

First gaze took Turin's wits away,
To trust in dragon's lies
First gaze took Turin's wits away,
See love in sister's eyes.

From her the gaze took memory
Her name was e'en erased
From her the gaze took memory
No family could she trace.

A new mode now bespeaks utter horror, but not evil. The singer sings barely above a whisper, pianissimo.

So when they met, 'neath curse unknown
They married, thus defiled
So when they met, 'neath curse unknown
She came to be with child.

Suddenly forte, lyre and voice employ a mode of strife, of combat.

Then Turin found the drake again
And slew with Gurthang fell
The Turin found the the drake again
And lay in foul blood's spell.

The mode changes once more, now more minor than minor, evoking deepest tragedy. The Master Bard's voice is piano again, but not so soft as previously. The singer himself is totally absorbed within the vision of the events being told.

And she with child, on seeing this,
Was loos'd by drake's last word
And she with child, on seeing this,
Her mem'ries were bestirred.

She hurled herself from nearby cliff
In Teiglin's swift ravine.
She hurled herself from nearby cliff
And ne'er again was seen.

But Turin then awoke and learned
What fate befell them both
But Turin then awoke and learned
To be of living loath.

The mode continues tragic, but a hint of evil enters again as an undercurrent.

Then spoke he last to Gurthang fell,
The sword that slew his friends
Then spoke he last to Gurthang fell,
On him to make amends.

And Gurthang answered him this once,
"Your blood I'll gladly drink."
And Gurthang answered him this once,
Then he on blade did sink.

As the ballad nears its conclusion, the mode becomes one of utter sadness, while the emotions of tragedy and sense of evil are heard no longer. The Master Bard again makes eye contact directly with those listening, as if sharing the emotions with his audience that they having been experiencing in common through the ballad.

Then buried they dead Turin there
Two names upon great stone
Then buried they dead Turin there
His body lies alone.

And later Morwen, mother, came
'Gainst stone she laid her head
And later Morwen, mother, came
And grieved herself til dead.

Then Hurin, father, buried her
Not far from son's last home
Then Hurin, father, buried her
And named her on the stone.

The lyre and voice now return to the original minor mode, melancholy but sweet, bringing the ballad to its conclusion.

And still the stone stands on the isle
Three names upon its face
And still the stone stands on the isle
But two have found their place.

An isle there is upon the Sea
No bigger than a hill
An isle there is upon the Sea
It breasts the waves there still.

The Master Bard lets the final notes from the lyre vibrate til their last echo fades. He stands silent then, drained and closely linked in spirit, feeling, and thought with the audience.