As long as I can remember, I have been a fan of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and its sequel, Alice through the Looking Glass. I owned a copy of both books before I could read, but enjoyed the ever so slightly scary illustrations by John Tenniel. My favourite character was the gentle, eccentric White Knight, who rescues Alice from the Red Knight.
Liverpool born composer Alfred Reynolds (1884-1969) is recalled for his contributions to theatrical productions and light music. He studied composition in Berlin under the Engelbert Humperdinck (of Hansel and Gretel fame). In 1910, he conducted Oscar Straus’s The Chocolate Soldier thus becoming one of the youngest operatic conductors in England. Most of Reynolds’s creative work was for the theatre, and included several comic operas, often with librettos devised by A.P. Herbert. Some of his most successful pieces were written for stage productions of 1066 And All That and The Swiss Family Robinson. Alfred Reynolds died in Bognor Regis on 16 October 1969.
The 1947 Christmas Show at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatres in Stratford-Upon-Avon was a production of Alice in Wonderland which seemed to be a compilation of both books. The story had been adapted by Herbert M Prentice and the performance was directed by Sir Barry Jackson. The show ran for three weeks beginning on Boxing Day. Alfred Reynolds provided the incidental music, which was later assembled into two Suites: Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking-Glass.
The Alice Through the Looking-Glass Suite opens with an evocation of the mythical Jabberwocky. This scary creature was the subject of a nonsense poem introduced into the story. Reynolds’s ‘take’ opens with a passage for woodwind, which nods towards Paul Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and even the Teddy Bears’ Picnic. Listen out for the siren whistle. The loveliest movement is the elusive waltz, The Ballet of Talking Flowers. This piece opens with a short piano cadenza, is followed by swirling strings, then a melancholic cello solo and concludes with a vibrant coda. The nursery song, Humpty Dumpty is used in The Parade of the Hobby Horses. Memory does not recall this episode from the book. However, it probably reflected “all the king’s men, and all the king’s horses.” The March of the Drums, is just that: opening with a timpani ‘cadenza’ it is a slow march, with brass fanfares, and chipper strings, eventually fading into the distance. The Finale is another march, this time rumbustious, but with the tiniest trio sections.
The Suite: Alice
Through the Looking-Glass was issued in 2002 on the Marco Polo British
Light Music series, 8.225184. This disc includes various characteristic works
by Reynolds, including The Sirens of Southend, the Overture: The
Taming of the Shrew, the Swiss Lullaby and Ballet from Swiss
Family Robinson, and a splendid Festival March. The Royal Ballet
Sinfonia is conducted by Gavin Sutherland.
Writing in The Gramophone, (October 2002, p.61), Andrew Lamb suggests that “There’s perhaps not a lot that distinguishes Reynolds’ music for one play from that for another…Yet I do find this an extremely relaxing and rewarding collection‚ ideal for those who enjoy undemanding, but well-crafted light music played by the sort of full orchestra that would have flourished in Edwardian days.” Turning to the present Suite he considers that The Ballet of the Talking Flowers for instance‚ is a lovely waltz…Altogether it is music that meets its modest aspirations admirably‚ and it’s beautifully played here by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.”
Find Alfred Reynolds’s Suite: Alice through the Looking
Glass on YouTube, here.
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