(2001-2004)
Adapted from Lewis Carroll by Gary Bachlund & Marilyn Barnett
After the stories of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass."
In two acts for eighteen soli (playing multiple parts) and chamber orchestra
Act One
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Waiting by the Door & the Caucus-Race
iv. Waiting by the Door
Alice
Dear! Dear!
How queer everything is today.
Where in the world am I?
Oh dear! How puzzling this all is.
Let me see if I know all the things I used to know.
Four times five is twelve,
and four times six is thirteen,
and four times seven....
Oh, dear! Oh, dear!
Polytonal chords signal the strangeness of this Wonderland, as Alice tries to understand her predicament, and the false relations of the short arietta underscore the false facts and conclusions she reaches.
[She notices the rapidly rising water and begins to panic.]
London is the capital of Paris,
and Paris is the capital of Rome,
and Rome....
That's all wrong!
I'll try and say
"How doth the little...."
[Water gets into her mouth, preventing her from finishing the sentence.]
As before, the number five asserts itself. Here the meter is 5/4 and the small phrase structure is made up of two quarters and two quarters separated by a single quarter-length triplet.
How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!
[By now she is treading water.]
Oh, dear! Oh, dear!
Where am I, then?
Tell me that……
Who am I?
I am so very tired of being all alone here!
v. The Caucus-Race
[She sees a Mouse swimming along with other creatures.]
O Mouse, do you know
the way out of this pool?
Perhaps it's a French mouse...
Ou est ma chatte?
[The Mouse shrieks and quivers with fright. Other creatures are alarmed at Alice's rudeness.]
Mouse
Ah!
Alice
Oh, I beg your pardon.
I quite forgot you didn't like cats.
Mouse
Not like cats!
Would you like cats,
if you were me?
Our family always hated cats:
nasty, low, vulgar things!
Don't let me hear the name again!
Alice
Are you -
Are you fond of dogs?
There is such a nice little dog,
near our house.
Kills all the rats, and -
Oh dear!
[All characters gather together.]
Mouse
Let us get to the shore.
I'll tell you my history,
and you'll understand why it is
I hate cats and dogs.
Lory
The first question of course....
How to get dry.
Mouse
How to get dry.
Ahem!
This is the driest thing I know.
[Reciting]
William the Conqueror, whose cause was
favored by the Pope was soon submitted
to by the English, who wanted leaders,
and had been of late much accustomed
to usurpation and conquest.
Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and
Northumbria....
The quintuple rhythm this time is spelled as a 15/8 meter, supporting the "driest" bit of the text, a historical recitation by the Mouse. In this instance, the sectional phrasing is four dotted quarters, with the fifth beat ending in a sixteenth triplet to announce the next repetition of this pattern.
Lory
Ugh!
Mouse [Haughtily]
I beg your pardon!
Did you speak?
Lory
Not I!
Mouse
How are you getting on, my dear?
Alice
As wet as ever.
Dodo
The best thing to get us dry
would be a Caucus-Race.
Alice
What is a Caucus-Race?
Dodo
A race course, in a sort of a circle.
The exact shape doesn't matter.
One, two, three and away!
The orchestral accompaniment to the race is based loosely on a tune often played on a morning radio show of the BBC in Berlin, a small piece of amusement for us as we worked through editing the libretto. As with these characters, the tonality cannot stay in one place, but rather runs to another tonic after only the first four-measure phrase.
[They run in a circle, following the Dodo. The Dodo stops suddenly.]
Dodo
The race is over!
Everybody has won,
and all must have prizes!
Mouse
But who is to give the prizes?
Dodo
Why, she, of course.
Lory
Prizes!
Mouse
Prizes!
Dodo
Prizes!
Lory
Prizes!
[Alice finds some comfits in her pocket and hands them around.]
Dodo
But she must have a prize herself, you know.
What else have you in your pocket?
[Alice produces a thimble from her pocket.]
Dodo
Hand it over here.
[Alice does so.]
We beg your acceptance
of this elegant thimble.
[The Dodo presents it back to Alice.]
Alice
Thank you.
You promised to tell your history.
To continue to the next section, click HERE.
Adapted from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass and his additional letters,
by Marilyn Barnett and Gary Bachlund
2001, 2004
Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Gary Bachlund (BMI), Monrovia. All international rights reserved
