Lindamar presents a music performance through which is shared the telling of how the world came to be, and of the music and work of the Ainur that made it so.
The event was held on June 6th, 2021.
The programme of AInulindalë
[Opening speech]
Ealendil coughs politely. Ahem!
Ealendil curtseys politely.
Lindamar, ensemble of Bar-en-Vanimar, welcomes all Elves and elven-friends to enjoy our evening performance.
Through music and words we will together share the tale of how this world came to be.
The work of the Ainur, and the song of creation, Ainulindalë.
Little do we elves know of what transpired in those times before we awoke at the shore of Cuiviénen.
For the tales we will share, are come from the Valar themselves.
With whom the Eldalië spoke in the land of Valinor, and by whom they were instructed.
Yet, what was made manifest through music then still echoes in eternity.
And shines brightly with the imperishable flame of Ilúvatar.
After the concert you are welcome to let fireworks brighten the skies as we marvel at the wonders of this world.
Welcome all and enjoy our show.
Ealendil curtseys politely.
[Introduction song - Heaven and Hell]
[The Beginning and First harmony - accompanied by Prelude]
There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar.
He made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, offspring of his thought.
They were with him before anything else was made.
He spoke to them, propounding to them themes of music.
And they sang before him, and he was glad.
For a long while they sang only each alone, or but few together.
Each comprehending only that part of Ilúvatar from which he came.
Yet ever as they listened they came to deeper understanding, and increased in unison and harmony.
Ilúvatar called together the Ainur and declared to them a mighty theme.
Unfolding to them things more wonderful than he had yet revealed.
Ilúvatar said to them...
“Of the theme that I have declared to you, I will now that ye make in harmony together a Great Music.”
“And since I have kindled you with the Flame Imperishable,”
“ye shall show forth your powers in adorning this theme.”
Then the voices of the Ainur, like unto harps and lutes,
like unto countless choirs singing with words,
began to fashion the theme of Ilúvatar to a great music.
And a sound arose of endless interchanging harmonies.
And the dwelling of Ilúvatar was filled to overflowing.
And the music went out into the Void, and it was not void.
Never since have the Ainur made any music like to this music.
Though it has been said that a greater still shall be made before Ilúvatar.
By the Ainur and the Children of Ilúvatar after the end of days.
Then the themes of Ilúvatar shall be played aright, for all shall understand fully his intent in their part.
And Ilúvatar shall give to their thoughts the secret fire.
[Interlude song - Ice Palace]
[Melkor – accompanied by O Fortuna]
Ealendil begins to speak...
Ilúvatar sat and hearkened, and for a great while it seemed good to him.
For in the music there were no flaws.
But as the theme progressed, it came into the heart of Melkor to interweave...
matters of his own imagining that were not in accord with the theme of Ilúvatar.
He sought therein to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself.
Among the Ainur, Melkor had been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge.
And he had a share in all the gifts of his brethren.
He had gone often alone into the void places seeking the Imperishable Flame.
The desire grew hot within him to bring into Being things of his own.
And it seemed to him that Ilúvatar took no thought for the Void, and he was impatient of its emptiness.
Yet he found not the Fire, for it is with Ilúvatar.
Being alone he had begun to conceive thoughts of his own unlike those of his brethren.
Some of these thoughts he now wove into his music, and straightway discord arose about him.
Many that sang nigh him grew despondent, and their thought was disturbed and their music faltered.
But some began to attune their music to his rather than to the thought which they had at first.
Then the discord of Melkor spread ever wider, and the melodies which had been heard before...
foundered in a sea of turbulent sound.
But Ilúvatar sat and hearkened until it seemed that about his throne there was a raging storm.
As of dark waters that made war one upon another in an endless wrath that would not be assuaged.
[Interlude song - Imperial March]
[The Second and Third Theme – accompanied by Eternal Hydrogen Anxieties]
Then Ilúvatar arose, and the Ainur perceived that he smiled.
He lifted up his left hand, and a new theme began amid the storm.
And it gathered power and had new beauty.
But the discord of Melkor rose in uproar and contended with it.
And again there was a war of sound more violent than before.
Until many of the Ainur sang no longer, and Melkor had the mastery.
Then again Ilúvatar arose, and his countenance was stern.
He lifted up his right hand, and behold!
A third theme grew amid the confusion, unlike the others.
It seemed at last that there were two songs progressing at one time, and they were utterly at variance.
The one was deep and wide and beautiful, but slow and blended with an immeasurable sorrow,
from which its beauty chiefly came.
The other had now achieved a unity of its own. But it was loud and vain.
And it essayed to drown the other music by the violence of its voice.
Then Ilúvatar arose a third time, and his face was terrible to behold.
He raised up both his hands, and in one chord, the Music ceased.
Ilúvatar spoke: “Mighty are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melkor.”
“But that he may know, and all the Ainur, that I am Ilúvatar.”
“Those things that ye have sung, I will show them forth, that ye may see what ye have done.”
“And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played...”
“that hath not its uttermost source in me.”
And Melkor was filled with shame, of which came secret anger.
But Ilúvatar arose in splendour, and he went forth from the fair regions, and the Ainur followed him.
[Interlude song - Heart of Courage]
[The Vision of Arda – accompanied by Silent Lucidity]
But when they were come into the Void, Ilúvatar said: ‘Behold your Music!’
And he showed to them a vision. Giving sight where before was only hearing;
and they saw a World made visible, and it was globed amid the Void.
And as they looked this World began to unfold its history.
And when the Ainur had gazed for a while and were silent,
Ilúvatar said again: ‘Behold your Music!
This is your minstrelsy; and each of you shall find contained herein,
all those things which that he himself devised or added.
And thou, Melkor, wilt discover all the secret thoughts of thy mind,
And wilt perceive that they are but a part of the whole and tributary to its glory.
And many other things Ilúvatar spoke to the Ainur at that time,
Because of their memory of his words, the Ainur know much of what was, and is to come.
Yet some things there are that they cannot see;
For to none but himself has Ilúvatar revealed all that he has in store,
And in every age there come forth things that are new and have no foretelling.
And so it was that as this vision of the World was played before them,
The Ainur saw that it contained things which they had not thought.
And they saw with amazement the coming of the Children of Ilúvatar,
and the habitation that was prepared for them;
And they perceived that they themselves in the labour of their music
had been busy with the preparation of this dwelling,
And yet knew not that it had any purpose beyond its own beauty.
For the Children of Ilúvatar were conceived by him alone;
And they came with the third theme,
And were not in the theme which Ilúvatar propounded at the beginning,
And none of the Ainur had part in their making.
Therefore when they beheld them, the more did they love them,
Being things other than themselves, strange and free,
Wherein they saw the mind of Ilúvatar and learned more of his wisdom,
Which otherwise had been hidden even from the Ainur.
[Interlude song - Erana's Peace]
[Children of Ilúvatar – accompanied by Hijo De La Luna]
Elvealin continues the story...
Now the Children of Ilúvatar are Elves and Men,
the Firstborn and the Followers.
And amid all the splendours of the World, its vast halls and spaces,
and its wheeling fires, Ilúvatar chose a place for their habitation
in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the innumerable stars.
And this habitation might seem a little thing to those
who consider only the majesty of the Ainur, and not their terrible sharpness;
as who should take the whole field of Arda for the foundation of a pillar
and so raise it until the cone of its summit were more bitter than a needle;
or who consider only the immeasurable vastness of the World,
which still the Ainur are shaping, and not the minute precision
to which they shape all things therein.
But when the Ainur had beheld this habitation in a vision
and had seen the Children of Ilúvatar arise therein,
then many of the most mighty among them
bent all their thought and their desire towards that place.
And of these Melkor was the chief, even as he was in the beginning
the greatest of the Ainur who took part in the Music.
And he feigned, even to himself at first,
that he desired to go thither and order all things
for the good of the Children of Ilúvatar,
controlling the turmoils of the heat and the cold
that had come to pass through him.
Elvealin continues...
But he desired rather to subdue to his will both Elves and Men,
envying the gifts with which Ilúvatar promised to endow them;
and he wished himself to have subject and servants,
and to be called Lord, and to be a master over other wills.
But the other Ainur looked upon this habitation set
within the vast spaces of the World,
which the Elves call Arda, the Earth;
and their hearts rejoiced in light, and their eyes beholding many colours
were filled with gladness; but because of the roaring of the sea
they felt a great unquiet.
And they observed the winds and the air, and the matters
of which Arda was made, of iron and stone and silver and gold
and many substances: but of all these water they most greatly praised.
And it is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet
the echo of the Music of the Ainur
more than in any substance else that is in this Earth;
Elvealin listens to the flow...
and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated
to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen.
[Interlude song – Oromë]
[Eä! Let these things Be! - accompanied by Varda's Enigma]
Elvealin continues the story...
But even as Ulmo spoke,
and while the Ainur were yet gazing upon this vision,
it was taken away and hidden from their sight; and it seemed to them
that in that moment they perceived a new thing, Darkness,
which they had not known before except in thought.
But they had become enamoured of the beauty of the vision and engrossed
in the unfolding of the World which came there to being,
and their minds were filled with it; for the history was incomplete
and the circles of time not full-wrought when the vision was taken away.
And some have said that the vision ceased ere the fulfilment
of the Dominion of Men and the fading of the Firstborn;
wherefore, though the Music is over all, the Valar have not seen
as with sight the Later Ages or the ending of the World.
Then there was unrest among the Ainur; but Ilúvatar called to them,
and said: "I know the desire of your minds that what ye have seen
should verily be, not only in your thought,
but even as ye yourselves are, and yet other.
Elvealin says with a clear, loud voice...
Therefore I say: Eä! Let these things Be!
And I will send forth into the Void the Flame Imperishable,
and it shall be at the heart of the World, and the World shall Be;
and those of you that will may go down into it."
And suddenly the Ainur saw afar off a light,
as it were a cloud with a living heart of flame;
and they knew that this was no vision only,
but that Ilúvatar had made a new thing:
Eä, the World that Is.
Thus it came to pass that of the Ainur some abode still
with Ilúvatar beyond the confines of the World;
but others, and among them many of the greatest and most fair,
took the leave of Ilúvatar and descended into it.
Elvealin tells on...
But this condition Ilúvatar made, or it is the necessity of their love,
that their power should thenceforward be contained and bounded in the World,
to be within it for ever, until it is complete, so that they are its life and it is theirs.
And therefore they are named the Valar, the Powers of the World.
[Interlude song – Grasslands]
[Labor of the Valar – accompanied by Fundamentum]
Linchil resumes the story...
But when the Valar entered into Eä they were at first astounded and at a loss
For it was as if naught was yet made which they had seen in vision
And all was but on point to begin and yet unshaped, and it was dark.
For the Great Music had been but the growth and flowering of thought in the Timeless Halls
And the Vision only a foreshowing;
But now they had entered in at the beginning of Time,
And the Valar perceived that the World had been but foreshadowed and foresung,
And they must achieve it.
So began their great labours in wastes unmeasured and unexplored,
And in ages uncounted and forgotten,
Until in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the vast halls of Eä there came to be
That hour and that place where was made the habitation of the Children of Ilúvatar.
And in this work the chief part was taken by Manwë and Aulë and Ulmo;
But Melkor too was there from the first,
And he meddled in all that was done
Turning it if he might to his own desires and purposes; and he kindled great fires.
When therefore Earth was yet young and full of flame Melkor coveted it,
And he said to the other Valar:
This shall be my own kingdom; and I name it unto myself!
Linchil continues...
But Manwë was the brother of Melkor in the mind of Ilúvatar,
And he was the chief instrument of the second theme
That Ilúvatar had raised up against the discord of Melkor;
And he called unto himself many spirits both greater and less,
And they came down into the fields of Arda and aided Manwë,
Lest Melkor should hinder the fulfilment of their labour for ever,
And Earth should wither ere it flowered.
And Manwë said unto Melkor:
This kingdom thou shalt not take for thine own, wrongfully,
For many others have laboured here no less than thou.
And there was strife between Melkor and the other Valar;
And for that time Melkor withdrew
And departed to other regions and did there what he would;
But he did not put the desire of the Kingdom of Arda from his heart.
Linchil curtseys politely.
[Interlude song – Palladio]
[First battle of Arda – accompanied by Judgement Day]
Ealendil begins to speak...
The Valar drew unto them many companions, and they laboured together.
Ordering the Earth and curbing its tumults.
Melkor saw what was done, and that the Valar walked on Earth as powers visible.
Clad in the glorious raiment of the World, and that the Earth was becoming as a garden for their delight.
His envy grew then the greater within him, and he also took visible form.
But because of his mood and the malice that burned in him...
that form was dark and terrible.
And he descended upon Arda in power and majesty greater than any other of the Valar.
Thus began the first battle of the Valar with Melkor for the dominion of Arda.
And of those tumults the Elves know but little.
For what has here been declared is come from the Valar themselves.
But little would the Valar ever tell of the wars before the coming of the Elves.
The Valar endeavoured ever, despite of Melkor, to rule the Earth.
And to prepare it for the coming of the Firstborn.
And they built lands and Melkor destroyed them.
Valleys they delved and Melkor raised them up.
Mountains they carved and Melkor threw them down.
Seas they hollowed and Melkor spilled them.
And naught might have peace or come to lasting growth.
For as surely as the Valar began a labour, so would Melkor undo it or corrupt it.
And yet, their labour was not all in vain.
Slowly the Earth was fashioned and made firm.
And the habitation of the Children of Ilúvatar was established at last...
in the Deeps of Time and amidst the innumerable stars.
[Closing song - Albedo 0.39]
[Closing speech]
Ealendil coughs politely. Ahem!
Thank you all for being with us as we with music shared the words of how the world came to be.
The tales of the earliest times, were always come from the Valar.
And shared with the Eldalië as they came to settle in the blessed lands so long ago.
These tales are kept close to our hearts and have brought us much comfort throughout the ages.
And will be with us till the end of days.
We, Lindamar of Bar-en-Vanimar, wish all of you, Elves and elven-friends, safe travels as you journey into the night.
May the blessing of Eru be upon you, and may the light of the stars forever guide you.
Nirlind curtseys politely.
Amrenien curtseys politely.
Elvealin curtseys politely.
Norliriel curtseys politely.
Ealednil curtseys politely.
Linchil bows deeply.
