The Black Rider

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The Fellowship of the Ring - Original Soundtrack
  1. The Prophecy
  2. Concerning Hobbits
  3. The Shadow Of The Past
  4. The Treason Of Isengard
  5. The Black Rider
  6. At The Sign Of The Prancing Pony
  7. A Knife In The Dark
  8. Flight To The Ford
  9. Many Meetings
  10. The Council of Elrond
  11. The Ring Goes South
  12. A Journey In The Dark
  13. The Bridge Of Khazad Dum
  14. Lothlorien
  15. The Great River
  16. Amon Hen
  17. The Breaking of the Fellowship
  18. May It Be


The Black Rider is a track on Howard Shore's The Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack. It is played during the period of time in the film that Merry and Pippin run into Frodo and Sam in Farmer Maggot's cornfields, tumble down the embankment, and escape the Black Riders to Bucklebury Ferry.

It begins with a merry, excited, Hobbit-like tune played on the penny-whistle and violin, but quicker and hinting at the mischevious. The brass are bouncing up and down on the scale in the background. Suddenly there is chaos among the two parts that suddenly dissolves into the sinister long, dark bass notes, followed by an eerie chorus gradually entering while the strings dance quietly. It breaks into the brass leaping back and forth on the scale, seeming to peter down, but suddenly breaking once more into a loud chorus as the Black Rider theme is played loud on brass and chorus. Once again the chorus fades, and it begins to run down slowly, ending on a long, yet sinister bass note.