Concerning Hobbits

Concert suite by Howard Shore

"Concerning Hobbits" is a piece by composer Howard Shore derived from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack. It is a concert suite of the music of the Hobbits, arranged from the music heard in the film during the early Shire scenes, and features the various themes and leitmotifs composed for the Shire and Hobbits; it is intended to evoke feelings of peace. It is also the title of one of the sections of the prologue to The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Excerpts of the piece can be heard during an extended scene in the 2012 film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, where it was tracked intentionally. The piece has become synonymous with the Shire and Hobbiton themes.

The piece uses a large symphony orchestra (originally, The London Philharmonic Orchestra), including an on stage band consisting of various Celtic instruments including tin whistle and fiddle. Although both instruments have solos and carry the main melodies throughout the piece, it is equally noted for Shore's distinctive use of the bodhrán to create a heartbeat like sound. Live performances may feature an accordion and/or a concertina.

One of the chief tracks of the trilogy, it is one of the happiest tracks, with others invoking feelings of heroism or foreboding. It show cases the Shire theme or Hobbits' theme, in its main, "pensive" orchestral setting: A stepwise melody played by strings, a solo fiddle or a tin whistle in the key of D major. Also in the piece is a "rural" or "folk" setting or variation, labelled by the musicologist Doug Adams as a separate theme for Hobbiton, played by solo fiddle and various Celtic instruments in accompaniment. The chords of the third main shire theme, the "hymn" variant (which later serves mostly as Frodo's theme), also play briefly under the melody. and continues under the fiddle as it rounds up the phrase. Strings tutti then perform a lush variation of the B phrase of the main shire theme over the skip beat accompaniment; the fiddle then returns with the Hobbiton theme over the two step accompaniment, and concludes it with the "fiddle fanfare"