Which Version Of Tolkien’s Elvish Poem Namárië Do You Prefer?

Tolkien’s meticulously constructed Elvish languages for Lord Of The Rings have always been a hit with fans of his work, with die-hards going through the painstaking effort of trying to learn the numerous languages as well as being the subject of much Tolkien-inspired art.

One of the most famous pieces of Elvish in the infamous trilogy is the poem Namárië aka Galadriel’s lament –, if you haven’t heard it before, you can listen to the author himself recite it in the Elvish tongue of Quenya. According to the Tolkien Gateway, this particular version was recorded in 1952, before the Fellowship had even gone to print.

Other versions of Namárië that LOTR geeks might be interested in listening to are the versions by composer Donald Swann, who was known for setting many of Tolkien’s works to music and the version by Martin Romberg. Romberg’s version is performed by the rio Medieval, the Norwegian Girls’ Choir and harpists Johannes Wiik and Ellen Sejersted Bödtker.

Donald Swann’s version of Tolkien’s Quenya poem

Martin Romberg’s version of Tolkien’s Quenya poem

Personally, my favorite is Tolkien reciting the poem himself, there is something almost ethereal and other-worldly about it. But which do you prefer?

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