The Guiding Themes of Middle Earth | MAGICCON 6

Published by Robert Eiba at 25. April 2023

MagicCon 6 | Vortrag | Die Leitmotive von Mittelerde | Bernhard H. Heidkamp

Howard Shore’s soundtracks to the two Middle Earth trilogies The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are legendary. Almost everyone knows the Shire theme, the Gondor fanfares, or the melancholy sounds of the dwarf song over the Misty Mountains.

But what about Eowyn’s theme? Does Gandalf have one? What is the difference between the themes for Erebor, Thorin, and the House of Durin? Who the heck is Conrad Pope and what does he have to do with all this?

These are questions that will be explored in the lecture The Guiding Themes of Middle Earth. A deeper look into the six soundtracks will be taken, discussing how the trilogies are connected, where they are not, and in part, how such a musical epic is created in the first place, from pencil and sheet music, to orchestral recordings, to the editing room.

Lecturer: Bernhard H. Heidkamp

Duration: 90 min - The Lecture will be held in: german

Bernhard Heinrich Heidkamp (born 1993), but in his circle of friends known only as "Brabbel", has been enthusiastic about soundtracks since middle school. Whether it's a movie, series or video game, he likes to listen to it and then is only too happy to talk about his favorites, which especially include anything by James Newton Howard.

The passion drove him to the point of writing reviews for the websites "Behind the Audio" and "Video Freaks," which then gave him a path to interviews with Klaus Doldinger and Brian Tyler. However, losing faith in objectivity in art, he left the reviews behind and has since focused on his radio show "Space of Soundtracks" in which he talks about the different sides of soundtracks and plays his favorite pieces.

Away from film music, Brabbel keeps himself busy painting overpriced little plastic men, running various pen & paper rounds or getting script ideas down on paper.