Score
Mrs Hargreaves remembers / music: Martin Wesley-Smith ; words: Lewis Carroll, Martin Wesley-Smith, Peter Wesley-Smith.
Library shelf no. 783.66542/WES 3 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
see http://www.shoalhaven.net.au/~mwsmith/hargreaves.html
In 1932, 79-year-old Mrs Reginald Hargreaves travelled to America
from her native England to receive an honorary doctorate from
Columbia University in New York. It was the centenary of Lewis
Carroll's birth, and Mrs Hargreaves, before marriage to crack
county cricketer Reggie, had been Alice Liddell, the real-life
inspiration for Lewis Carroll's best-known nonsense classics
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the
Looking-Glass - and What Alice Found There. The doctorate
was in recognition of her role in the creation of those
masterpieces of English literature.
This piece depicts (quite fancifully) Mrs Hargreaves, the night
before the degree is to be conferred, having a massage while
rehearsing her acceptance speech. She soon wanders from what she
had prepared and reminisces, with great fondness, about her
childhood friend the Rev'rend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis
Carroll's real self). Her main focus is his depiction of himself
as the White Knight in Through the Looking-Glass.
Work Details
Year: 1997
Instrumentation: Soprano, masseur/euse, piano.
Duration: 10 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
The composer states this work is:
tonal, melodic, very singable
Performances of this work
11 Jul 97: Alliance Francaise Society, Sydney. Featuring Miriam Gordon, Luke Dollman, Spring Ensemble.
User reviews
Be the first to share your thoughts, opinions and insights about this work.
To post a comment please login.