Unless you’re very new to Tolkien fandom, you know that the rights to The Professor’s creations are shared by various groups, making for sometimes complicated copyright ownership. Tolkien himself sold movie and merchandising rights to United Artists back in 1969; those rights are now owned by Middle-earth Enterprises, which is part of the Embracer Group – now known as Fellowship Entertainment. Rights to television adaptations of eight episodes or more remain with the Tolkien Estate – so Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is licensed directly by the Estate. Furthermore, the rights Tolkien sold were only for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; so all other literary works by The Professor (including The Silmarillion) remain with the Estate.
Today Curtis Brown Heritage announced that The Tolkien Estate has joined the roster of writers and estates they represent. Curtis Brown are literary agents with a long history, and their ‘Heritage’ department represents literary estates including those of A.A. Milne, Iain Banks, and Douglas Adams. Their press release shared their delight in ‘working with the Tolkien Estate to preserve and celebrate J.R.R. Tolkien’s extraordinary literary legacy’. Here below is the full press release:
Curtis Brown Heritage to represent the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate
Curtis Brown Heritage is delighted to welcome the Tolkien Estate to their list of the literary estates of many of the twentieth century’s most renowned writers.
A writer, artist, scholar and philologist, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973) is best known for his tales set in the world of Middle-earth, widely considered foundational to the modern fantasy genre. Beloved by readers, writers and creators across the world, in almost every language, through literature and artworks, J.R.R. Tolkien set the standard for all that has come after.
Norah Perkins, Head of Curtis Brown Heritage, said, ‘It is a great honour and a joy to be working with the Tolkien Estate to preserve and celebrate J.R.R. Tolkien’s extraordinary literary legacy, and to help to bring new readers (and viewers and listeners) to his writing. I am thrilled to be joining the Estate on the next part of the journey.’
The Tolkien Estate said, ‘As a family, we remain deeply conscious of the responsibility of looking after J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary works and legacy. We are committed to keeping his stories alive for generations to come. In Curtis Brown Heritage we have found partners who share that passion, and we are delighted to be working with them.’
Jonny Geller, CEO of The Curtis Brown Group, said: ‘I’m delighted on behalf of Curtis Brown to welcome one of the great literary estates of the world to the agency. All of us who grew up passionate about reading have been influenced and dazzled by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and we are committed to help to bring a new generation of readers to the enduring pleasure of these great books.’
About J.R.R. Tolkien
J.R.R. Tolkien was born in the Orange Free State (now in South Africa) in 1892. He came to England aged three, and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915, and saw active service in France during the First World War. After the war he worked on the Oxford English Dictionary as a lexicographer, and pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional life as an academic at the University of Oxford, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a ‘Legendarium’, from which emerged The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings (1954/55) and The Silmarillion (published posthumously in 1977 by Christopher Tolkien). He was a member of the Inklings along with C.S. Lewis, and he wrote and illustrated children’s stories for his family such as Letters from Father Christmas, Mr Bliss and Roverandom, as well as fairy tales for adults, including Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle and Smith of Wootton Major.
About The Tolkien Estate
The Tolkien Estate (comprising The Tolkien Estate Limited and The Tolkien Trust) is the custodian of the works and legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien published in his lifetime, and the joint custodian with the Christopher Tolkien Estate of the works published after J.R.R. Tolkien’s death in 1973. Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien’s third son, was his father’s literary executor from 1973 until 2017, and produced twenty-four books of his father’s unpublished manuscripts, which significantly extend the accessible Tolkien canon. The Tolkien Estate remains managed directly by the descendants and family of J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Tolkien Trust is a UK registered charity established in 1977 by J.R.R. Tolkien’s children to enable the Tolkien family to give to charitable causes on a regular basis. Through the Trust, the Tolkien family continues to support a wide spectrum of causes and concerns in the UK and around the world.
About Curtis Brown Heritage
Curtis Brown Heritage was launched in 2016 and is the first bespoke literary estates division of a literary agency in the world. Built on Curtis Brown’s 125-year history, Heritage has a track record of success in creatively and sensitively managing the literary estates of beloved British writers (including those of Douglas Adams, Iain Banks, Gerald Durrell, Laurie Lee, Fay Weldon, A.A. Milne and Barbara Taylor Bradford) and some of the finest historians, poets and philosophers of the 20th century (including Isaiah Berlin, E. H. Carr, Nevill Coghill, C.L.R. James, Iris Murdoch and Stephen Spender). We recognise the immense cultural, literary and historical value of our writers, and it is our mission to combine our strong heritage with commercial savvy and passionate advocacy to celebrate, nurture and preserve their work for generations to come.
About The Curtis Brown Group
Founded in 1899 by Albert Curtis Brown, the company has a long and distinguished history as a world-renowned literary agency representing many famous writers, including Daphne du Maurier, John le Carré and A. A. Milne. Today, Curtis Brown also houses many other industry-leading divisions including a global Talent agency, representing leading actors and performers, as well as Unscripted and Entertainment and Musical Theatre & Production Arts. CBG is also home to a prestigious Theatre, Film and Television department (representing leading screenwriters, directors, producers, playwrights, and writer-performers) as well as a Media Rights department. The Curtis Brown Group is now home to over 250 members of staff and a vibrant ecosystem of companies that span the arts and culture sector. The Curtis Brown Group includes boutique literary agencies C&W (formerly Conville & Walsh) and Ed Victor Ltd, our in-house writing school Curtis Brown Creative, talent agencies Tavistock Wood and Markham Froggatt & Irwin and production company Cuba Pictures. In June 2022, United Talent Agency acquired The Curtis Brown Group.
These are heady days for fans who enjoy seeing Tolkien’s legendarium interpreted by ‘other minds and hands’! A year ago we reported that the Tolkien Estate had granted permission for composer Paul Corfield Godfrey‘s musical chapters from The Lord of the Rings to be released. We are delighted to reveal today that the recording of these works will be released this September – and is available for pre-order now!
Featuring 35 singers, most of whom are from Welsh National Opera, these chapters (and, in true Tolkien styles, some appendices) make up over 17 hours of music, and use text lifted almost entirely verbatim from Tolkien’s masterpiece. Looking at the cast list, we’re excited to see both Tom Bombadil and his fair companion Goldberry listed! The recording will be available as a 15 CD Deluxe Digibook with 64 page complete libretto and notes from the composer.
Here’s the official press release from Volante Opera:
MUSICAL CHAPTERS FROM THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE CYCLE COMPLETED
The agreement by the estate of the late J. R. R. Tolkien last year to sanction the recording of Paul Corfield Godfrey’s “musical chapters from The Lord of the Rings” was hailed by listeners throughout the world as a milestone in the field of Tolkien adaptations.
For many years the Tolkien Estate has refused to allow any musical treatment of the works of the author which employed his own words. Now they have agreed to make a concession in respect of the music of Paul Corfield Godfrey, whose acclaimed cycle of “epic scenes from The Silmarillion” was finally completed in 2023 with the issue of a ten-CD series of recordings from Volante Opera and Prima Facie Records.
Ever since the 1960s the composer had been working on sketches, fragments and episodes of what was originally envisaged as a cycle of musical works based upon The Lord of the Rings. Following on from the success of the recordings of The Silmarillion he was persuaded to go back to these beginnings and fully explore, expand and complete the work which has now evolved as “musical chapters from The Lord of the Rings”. This fully operatic setting has now become a companion work on the same scale as The Silmarillion. The adaptation extends to thirty “chapters” designed for performance over six evenings – more than fifteen hours of music.
Cast
This recording of the complete work by Volante Opera has now finally been completed and Prima Facie will release a demo set of the complete cycle, in the same manner as their Silmarillion recordings, in a single volume on 5 September 2025. The professional singers, some thirty-five in number, come mainly from Welsh National Opera. Returning artists from The Silmarillion include: Simon Crosby Buttle as Frodo, Julian Boyce as Sam, Philip Lloyd-Evans as Gandalf, Stephen Wells as Aragorn, Michael Clifton-Thompson as Gollum, Helen Jarmany as Éowyn, Huw Llywelyn as Bilbo and Éomer, Emma Mary Llewellyn as Arwen and Goldberry, Laurence Cole as Boromir and Denethor, Martin Lloyd as Treebeard and the Herb Master, Helen Greenaway as Lobelia and Ioreth, Rosie Hay as Gwaihir, Sophie Yelland as the Barrow-Wight and Louise Ratcliffe as Lindir, with George Newton-Fitzgerald and Jasey Hall taking on a plethora of parts. Angharad Morgan is also reprising her role as Galadriel from The War of Wrath. Other new cast members include Rhodri Prys Jones as Legolas, Gareth Long as Gimli, David Fortey as Pippin, Dyfed Wyn Evans as Merry, James Schouten as Faramir and Elrond, Gavin Davies as Thëoden, Gareth Lloyd as Saruman, Peter Wilman, Owen Webb, Alastair Moore, Francesca Saracino and Steffan Lloyd-Evans in various other solo roles and Howard Kirk as Tom Bombadil and Quickbeam.
Plot
Although the text is inevitably abridged, it adheres without any but the most minor alterations to the author’s original words, and the original plot development remains unchanged – including such elements as Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-wight, the love story of Éowyn and Faramir and the ‘scouring of the Shire’. And some other passages, such as the coronation and wedding of Aragorn, are given expanded musical treatment. The issue includes not only the complete musical score, but also a substantial booklet containing full details of the recording (including the text as set) and a supplementary appendix disc giving more extended versions of some of the more substantial narrative poems. As with the earlier issues of The Silmarillion the cover art has been furnished by Ted Nasmith.
Physical copies directly from Volante Opera Productions available for pre-order now; orders from other retailers will be closer to the release date.
Digital purchase will be available to pre-order seven days before release date of Sept 5th. Streaming platforms will be very limited but specific platforms will be itemised closer to the release.
And just to make September 5th seem even longer to wait – here’s a teaser trailer to whet your appetite! (You can see a longer trailer here.)
Artists appear by arrangement with Welsh National Opera
The Paul Corfield Godfrey Trust was founded in 2021 with the objective of promoting the compositions of the composer, by the commissioning for musical works by the composer; the publishing of works by the composer (Zarathustra Music); the promotion and performance of works by the composer; the recording and distribution of works by the composer and the promotion of the composer’s music by means of lectures, tours and other events. Trustees: Paul Corfield Godfrey, Simon Crosby Buttle, Julian Boyce. Officers of the Trust: Klara Claesson, Larissa Martins Costa, Phillip Walch.
Back in the middle of March we began our annual tournament of Middle-earth March Madness: with this year’s theme being The Art of Middle-earth. Three weeks and thousands of votes later, the Grand Champion 2025 has been decided.
Here’s how the bracket looked this year:
Down to the last battle
The Final
Alan Lee’s Edoras faced Turner Mohan‘s Lúthien and Morgoth; a very familiar scene from a well-known artist, and a First Age scene from a lesser-known artist. Both are stunning works, filled with shadows and light; but starkly contrasting. One is a landscape with no figures; the other shows two figures with no discernible landscape.
EdorasLúthien and Morgoth
Their journeys to the final battle were also very different. The closest fight Edoras had to face was against Donato Giancola’s Walls of Moria, which claimed 45% of the vote. In the rest of the matchups, Alan Lee’s piece won by margins in the 70s and 80s percentage-wise. Mohan’s piece, on the other hand, only ever won by numbers in the 50s; in the second round, only ONE vote separated Lúthien and Morgoth from its competitor, Angelo Montanini‘s Radagast the Magician. A beautiful piece and a very worthy competitor, nonetheless Lúthien and Morgoth had to fight harder to make it to the final.
So it is perhaps not a surprise that this year’s Grand Champion of Middle-earth March Madness is:
Staffer Madeye Gamgee shares his thoughts on the winner:
It has been a steady, even overwhelming Ride of the Rohirrim finally bringing the gritty endurance of the Lúthien/Morgoth faceoff to the end of its exciting underdog run! The most serious competition that Edoras faced during the tournament came against Donato Giancola’s The Walls of Moria, a 55/45 matchup; even while Mohan’s Lúthien and Morgoth escaped from two of its matchups with a combined total of six votes. This has been by far the most competitive contest across the entire field that I can remember over many years of Middle-earth March Madness — a testament to the wide appeal and high quality of every artist featured. Here’s hoping that prints of some of their works have found new homes! I know they have in mine! Did you find a new piece to hang on your wall?
Special thanks to artists Jerry VanderStelt, Ted Nasmith and Donato Giancola, who took the time to chat with us on livestreams, and to tell us about their work and their love of Tolkien. (You can see those conversations on our YouTube channel.) And of course thanks to all of YOU, who joined the fun and voted! See you for more Middle-earth March Madness next year!
