"Extracts from the Noldolante as played by a small chamber orchestra in a seaside pavilion at teatime" & "No more laments for me" by Himring

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Fanwork Notes

Inspired by the following Roaring Twenties challenge prompt:

Paul Hindemith, composer (1923):

Link: recording of "Overture to the Flying Dutchman as Sight-read by a Bad Spa Orchestra at 7 in the Morning by the Well"

This is a loving and artistic parody of some very doom-laden music from an opera by Richard Wagner. 

* 

Warnings for references to character death and the First Kinslaying.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Set after the First Age, probably during the Second Age: Finrod is invited to a small private concert in Alqualonde by members of the Falmarin music academy. Introduced to a piece of music he had no idea existed, he is taken aback. 

Now with a related poem: "No more laments for me" posted as second chapter.

 

Major Characters: Unnamed Female Canon Character(s), Elulindo, Finrod Felagund, Teleri

Major Relationships:

Genre: Fixed-Length Ficlet

Challenges: Roaring Twenties

Rating: General

Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings
Chapters: 2 Word Count: 127
Posted on 6 September 2023 Updated on 9 December 2023

This fanwork is complete.

"Extracts from the Noldolante as played by a small chamber orchestra in a seaside pavilion at teatime"

If you have any trouble following this, please take a closer look at the wording of the title and at the Story Notes (about the prompt), which should help.

Read "Extracts from the Noldolante as played by a small chamber orchestra in a seaside pavilion at teatime"

Finrod sat stunned, not knowing whether to laugh or cry or what to feel.

‘Very well done,’ he managed. ‘Extremely well played.’

Elulindo flashed him a mischievous grin.

‘I thought you might like to see the score.’

He passed it to Finrod. It was, he saw, turning over the pages, meticulously written and lovingly detailed.

‘We don’t play it in public,’ Solosimpe cautioned.

‘Not yet,’ admitted Elulindo, sunnily.

Finrod closed his eyes for a moment.  He had not seen Elulindo dead after the First Kinslaying, but...

Some Falmari were already dealing with the past better than he could have believed.

Chapter End Notes

The title of the drabble is, of course, the title of Elulindo's piece of music. 

Solosimpe is my name for Maglor's wife; she is a member of the music academy and has featured elsewhere.

100 words in MS Word

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No more laments for me

 In Valinor, after both their returns from Mandos, Olwe's son, Elulindo, addresses his nephew Finrod, who lost a song battle against Sauron when Sauron reminded him of the First Kinslaying (in which Elulindo died), and says to him: Let us move on from those memories.

A tanka written for a tolkienshortfanworks challenge.

Warning for allusion to (temporary) canonical character death.

Read No more laments for me

I will not carry
the weight of blood-stained sea foam
into a new age.
Pitch laughter against long grief—
let no Wolf Lord silence you!

Chapter End Notes

The other tolkienshortfanworks prompt (beside the poetic form of the tanka) was: sound versus silence.

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What an excellent response to the prompt! Like Finrod, I too didn't know whether to laugh or cry or what to feel. I love Elulindo's sense of humour, and relate to his way of dealing with trauma. 

Thank you!

This is the first time I've written Elulindo. My take on his character owes something to LadyBrooke's ficlet for Ekphrasis Week. But there was another inspiration as well, a Telerin OC, I think. (Not sure how to go about finding that fic again and in any case I don't think it would seem that close.)

I am glad Elulindo's way of coping made sense to you!

Oh, this is perfect. Thank you! And thank you for posting about it with the youtube. 

And yeah, not a thing to play in public. Yet.

Finrod is very off balance right now, struggling to assimilate what is going on.

I did choose him as the POV very deliberately, though.

Elulindo is his uncle. Finrod went off with the Noldor after Elulindo got killed and later lost the song battle against Sauron when Sauron reminded him of Alqualonde.

So if Elulindo implicitly tells him: "I refuse to be a bit player in other people's monumental tragedy. I refuse to be reduced to a tragic victim, full stop", there is a chance that it will actually help how uncle and nephew deal with each other, going forwards.

Of course, in a drabble like this, that can only be hinted at.