Abbey Road Studios large garden behind the townhouse, which permitted a much larger building to be constructed to the rear; thus, the Georgian façade belies the true dimension of the building. Pathé filmed the opening of the studios in November 1931 when Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in recording sessions of his music. In 1934, the inventor of stereo sound, Alan Blumlein, recorded Mozart's "Jupiter Symphony" which was conducted by Thomas Beecham at the studios. The neighbouring house is also owned by the studio and used to house musicians. During the mid-20th century, the studio was extensively used by leading British
Abbey Road Studios 1984 when EMI merged with Thorn Electrical Industries to become Thorn EMI. Abbey Road's success in the scoring business continued after the partnership ended. John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra used the studios to record the scores of four films from the "Star Wars" franchise from "Return of the Jedi" in 1983 until "Revenge of the Sith" in 2005. All three film scores for "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy ("The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King"), composed by Howard Shore and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, were mixed at