Shore has also composed a few concert works including one opera, The Fly, based on the plot of Cronenberg's 1986 film premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on July 2, 2008, a short piece Fanfare for the Wanamaker Organ and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and a short overture for the Swiss 21st Century Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his three Academy Awards, Shore has also won three Golden Globe Awards and four Grammy Awards.
Howard Shore was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of Bernice (née Ash) and Mac Shore. Shore is Jewish. He started studying music at the age of 8 or 9. He learned a multitude of instruments and began playing in bands at the ages of 13 and 14. When Shore was 13, he met and became good friends with a young Lorne Michaels in summer camp, and this friendship would later be influential in his career. By 17, he decided he wanted to pursue music in his adult life too. He studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston after graduating from Forest Hill Collegiate Institute.
From 1969 to 1972, Shore was a member of the jazz fusion band Lighthouse. In 1970, he became the music director for Lorne Michaels and Hart Pomerantz's short-lived TV program The Hart & Lorne Terrific Hour. Shore wrote the music for Canadian magician Doug Henning's magic musical Spellbound in 1974 and, from 1975 to 1980, he was the musical director for Lorne Michaels' influential late-night NBC comedy show Saturday Night Live, appearing in many musical sketches, including Howard Shore and His All-Nurse Band, and dressed as a beekeeper for a John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd performance of the Slim Harpo classic "I'm a King Bee". Shore also suggested the name for The Blues Brothers to Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.
Since 2004, he has toured the world conducting local orchestras in the performance of his new symphonic arrangement of his highly acclaimed Lord of the Rings scores. The new work is entitled The Lord of the Rings: Symphony in Six Movements. There are two movements for each of the movies, and an intermission between the second and third (or first and second film titles) movements. The concert presentation of the symphony also includes projected still images of sketches by John Howe and Alan Lee relating the music being performed to scenes from the films. Recently, however, Shore has been busy with other projects, leaving other conductors including Markus Huber, Ludwig Wicki, Alexander Mickelthwaite, and John Mauceri to lead the orchestras.
April 24, 2008 marked the North American Live to Projection debut of Fellowship of the Ring, with the score performed live by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ludwig Wicki. Wicki also conducted the Filene Center Orchestra at the Wolf Trap Farm Park in Vienna, Virginia on May 21 and 22, 2008 in the U.S. premiere of the Fellowship of the Ring Live to Projection.
September 16, 2010 Shore conducted the RSO Vienna (Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra) which performed "In Dreams from The Fellowship of the Ring" at Hollywood in Vienna in Vienna, Austria. Shore was commissioned by Macy's to write a Fanfare for the Store's 150th anniversary featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Wanamaker Organ, the world's largest playing pipe organ. The work was debuted in the Grand Court of Macy's Philadelphia Store on September 27, 2008 in a concert that drew reviews from most of the major East Coast newspapers.
Shore's opera The Fly had its world premiere performance at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on July 2, 2008 and its United States premiere at Los Angeles Opera on September 7, 2008. The production was directed by David Cronenberg and conducted by Plácido Domingo. The Fly had a new production mounted by Theatre Trier in Germany in 2014 staged by Sebastian Welker and conducted by Joongbae Jee.
Shore was commissioned by the Beijing Music Festival to write Ruin and Memory, a piano concerto, for renowned pianist Lang Lang. The world premiere was on October 11, 2010 performed by Lang Lang, The China Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Long Yu. His second concerto, Mythic Gardens, premiered April 27, 2012 with Sophie Shao on cello solo, The American Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Leon Botstein.
Shore's song cycle A Palace Upon the Ruins premiered in 2014 at the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival and at the La Jolla SummerFest featuring mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano. A Palace Upon the Ruins is a song cycle of six songs with words by Elizabeth Cotnoir.
Sea to Sea was commissioned by New Brunswick Youth Orchestra in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary of confederation and premiered on July 2, 2017 in Moncton, New Brunswick with soloist Measha Brueggergosman and Antonio Delgado conducting. Sea to Sea has lyrics by Elizabeth Cotnoir.
The song cycle L’Aube premiered October 19 & 20, 2017 in Toronto at Roy Thompson Hall conducted by Peter Oundjian and performed by soloist Susan Platts and commissioning orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. L’Aube consists of five songs with text by Elizabeth Cotnoir.
The Forest a guitar concerto composed for Miloš Karadaglić will premiere in Ottawa on May 1 & 2, 2019 with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Alexander Shelley conducting.
In addition to writing the original theme song for Saturday Night Live, as well as the closing theme, Shore also co-wrote the theme song for Late Night with Conan O'Brien with John Lurie. The theme was carried over to The Tonight Show when O'Brien succeeded Jay Leno as host.
Shore narrated a one-hour CBC Radio documentary/soundscape on music in thriller/suspense film genres also including references to radio dramas and other media. The episode was called "Unsettling Scores" and premiered on the program called Inside the Music.
Shore is married to Elizabeth Cotnoir, a writer, producer and documentary filmmaker. He has a daughter, Mae.[35] He is the uncle of film composer Ryan Shore.
As of 2004, Shore lives in Tuxedo Park, New York.
The Fellowship
Howard Shore Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Starless night will cover day
In the veiling of the sun
We will walk in bitter rain
But in dreams
I can hear your name
And in dreams
We will meet again
When the seas and mountains fall
And we come, to end of days
In the dark I hear a call
Calling me there,
I will go there
And back again
The Breaking of the Fellowship is a poignant song from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack composed by Howard Shore. The first stanza of the song deals with the harsh realities of winter, symbolizing a bleak and hopeless situation. It talks about how the starless night will cover the day, and the sun will be veiled, implying that the fear and darkness have taken over. The lyrics hint at a separation and a difficult journey ahead. The journey will be long, and the group may have to face rain and cold weather. The lyrics also suggest that even in these trying times, the singer finds solace in dreams. The dreams enable the singer to remember the people in their life and bring back some hope, and they know they will meet them again someday.
The second stanza of the song shows a sense of urgency in the singer's emotions, stating that the mountains will fall, and the seas will rise, symbolizing the end times. And in the dark, the singer hears the call, implying their fate. The words "calling me there, I will go there, and back again" hold deep meaning to the story, as it reflects the Hobbit tradition where they "go there and back again." This line is a callback to the entire series, implying that the singer is resolute in fulfilling their fate, wherever it takes them. The Breaking of the Fellowship is a powerful song that delivers strong emotions through its lyrics and music; the song is an epitome of the heart-wrenching moment from the story where the fellowship splits apart.
Line by Line Meaning
When the cold of winter comes
As the icy grip of winter descends upon us
Starless night will cover day
The darkness will envelop us, blotting out any light
In the veiling of the sun
As the sun is hidden behind the clouds
We will walk in bitter rain
We will trudge through the cold, unrelenting downpour of the winter rain
But in dreams
Despite the harsh reality we face, in our dreams
I can hear your name
We still hold onto the memory and essence of those we love
And in dreams
We can still be connected beyond the physical realm
We will meet again
We will be reunited once more
When the seas and mountains fall
Even in the face of the destruction of the natural world
And we come, to end of days
As we near the end of our mortal lives
In the dark I hear a call
In the depths of despair and loneliness, we yearn for a connection
Calling me there,
A voice beckons us to a place where we can find peace and solace
I will go there
We will willingly go towards that light, towards that promise of comfort and consolation
And back again
And even if we have to make that journey alone, we know that we will eventually return to the place where all is whole and complete.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: HOWARD SHORE, FRANCES ROSEMARY WALSH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind