The Hatter's Diary
28 Jul 2026
I'm aware that I'm a year early.
Now that we've solved the riddle, it's time to reacquaint ourselves with layout of Stuff & Nonsense VII: Mother Goose Suite, which was planned in 2024. The piece will be scored in 6 movements, written in the key of G major for "goose." I normally quote the themes of each set in the postludes of songs 4 and 7. In this case, each of Stuff & Nonsense movements 1-6 will be paired with a nursery rhyme.
Mother Goose Suite
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
From Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, Chapter 4.
Alice and the Tweedles were recalled to have sung it.
It will be used in each of the 6 movements.
Here we go round the mulberry bush,The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush,Here we go round the mulberry bush,All on a frosty morning.
VII.1 Twinkle, Twinkle
From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 7, sung by The Hatter.
The Dormouse interrupts and sings the last 4 twinkles.
Quotes S&N I. The Mouse's Tale, sung by The Mouse.
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!How I wonder what you’re at!Up above the world you flyLike a tea-tray in the sky.Twinkle, twinkle—Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle—
VII.2 The Queen of Hearts
From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 12, sung by The White Rabbit.
Quotes S&N IV. The White Rabbit's Evidence, also sung by The White Rabbit.
The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,All on a summer day:The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,And took them quite away!
VII.3 Tweedeldum and Tweedeldee
From Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, Chapter 4, sung by Alice.
Quotes S&N VI. The White Queen's Riddle, sung by The White Queen & The Red Queen.
Tweedledum and TweedledeeAgreed to have a battle;For Tweedledum said TweedledeeHad spoiled his nice new rattle.Just then flew down a monstrous crow,As black as a tar-barrel;Which frightened both the heroes so,They quite forgot their quarrel.
VII.4 Humpty Dumpty
From Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, Chapter 6, sung by Alice.
Quotes S&N V. Humpty Dumpty's Poem, sung by Humpty Dumpty.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall:Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.All the King’s horses and all the King’s menCouldn’t put Humpty Dumpty in his place again.
VII.5 The Lion and The Unicorn
From Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, Chapter 7, sung by Alice.
Quotes S&N III. The Lobster Quadrille, sung by The Mock Turtle.
The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown:The Lion beat the Unicorn all round the town.Some gave them white bread, some gave them brown:Some gave them plum-cake and drummed them out of town.
VII.6 Hush-a-by Lady
From Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, Chapter 9.
Sung by The Red Queen, who then requested that Alice sing it as well.
Quotes S&N II. The Duchess' Lullaby, sung by The Duchess & The Cook.
Hush-a-by lady, in Alice’s lap!Till the feast’s ready, we’ve time for a nap.When the feast’s over, we’ll go to the ball—Red Queen, and White Queen, and Alice, and all!
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28 Jul 2026
I'm aware that I finished the last post less than a minute ago.
However, the first post was all about cold, hard facts, and this one will contain some initial ideas and reference material; where the previous post set up the barriers to my playground, this one will unleash the monsters we'll be playing with.
One idea I had had previously was to build each movement in such a way that it quoted its predecessors, similar to the way many children's stories and songs are structured. Like "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea."
An example of such a structure might be:
1. Mulberry
Twinkle
Mulberry
Twinkle & Mouse's Tale
2. Mulberry
Queen of Hearts
Twinkle & Mouse's Tale
Mulberry
Queen of Hearts & White Rabbit's Evidence
3. Mulberry
Tweedles
Queen of Hearts & White Rabbit's Evidence
Twinkle & Mouse's Tale
Mulberry
Tweedles & The White Queen's Riddle
4. Mulberry
Humpty
Tweedles & The White Queen's Riddle
Queen of Hearts & White Rabbit's Evidence
Twinkle & Mouse's Tale
Mulberry
Humpty & Humpty
5. Mulberry
Lion & Unicorn
Humpty & Humpty
Tweedles & The White Queen's Riddle
Queen of Hearts & White Rabbit's Evidence
Twinkle & Mouse's Tale
Mulberry
Lion & Unicorn & Lobster Quadrille
6. Mulberry
Hush-a-by Lady
Lion & Unicorn & Lobster Quadrille
Humpty & Humpty
Tweedles & The White Queen's Riddle
Queen of Hearts & White Rabbit's Evidence
Twinkle & Mouse's Tale
Mulberry
Hush-a-by Lady & Duchess' Lullaby
Another idea I had was to make sure to quote Twinkle in minor, because it appears that way in the ending fugal section of Father William. How fortunate that this passage is originally in G minor, while this suite happens to be in G as well. I'm never reaching for the stars, and yet I'm constantly being inundated with stardust. Somebody or something must love me tremendously, and to quote Twinkle in major would not only be a clumsy misstep, but a rude rejection of such a beautiful gift. We must mind our manners.
In 2024, I had decided that Mulberry Bush, Twinkle, and Hush-a-by (as sung to Purcell's Lillibullero) were worthy melodic quotes, meaning that their scores had been published before 1871 (Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There) and there was some evidence to suggest that they were popular enough that Alice readers might have brought them to mind.
My initial conclusions were that the Queen of Hearts "did not pass the test of time," and the Tweedles "didn't lend themselves well to singing." Humpty only passed the margin by 1 year, and there's no indication that either Humpty or The Lion and The Unicorn ever made it big. Though these four contenders aren't as strong as the first three, I'll probably still try to use them.
Library of Potential Nursery Rhymes
Sheet Music 1879
The Singing Master 1840
Nursery Rhymes with Old Tunes, 1846
British Library Music Collections English Songs Vol. 7 1775
National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs 1872
Juvenile Minstrelsy 1852
The Beggar's Opera 1735
The Baby's Opera 1877
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28 Jun 2027
I'm aware, again, that I finished the last post less than a minute ago. Sometimes it takes three posts before we're organized and ready for hibernation.
I have scores for every nursery rhyme except the Tweedles. But would you know it? Fortune favors the bold, and English poet John Byrom (1692-1763) is credited with the epigram that named these two in the first place. From 1725:
Some say, compar'd to Bononcini
That Mynheer Handel's but a Ninny
Others aver, that he to Handel
Is scarcely fit to hold a Candle.
Strange all this Difference should be
'Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee!
The nursery rhyme would be printed 80 years later, in Original Ditties for the Nursery. Further investigation into Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747) reveals that he lived in London from 1720 to 1732, and for that time, he was basically in a popularity contest with Handel. In fact, there was a political divide; the Tories favored Handel while the Whig party favored Bononcini. One of Bononcini's most famous works was his opera Xerse, written in 1694.
Originally, the opera Xerse was composed by Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676) in 1655. The libretto, written by Nicolò Minato, was loosely based on Book 7 of The Histories by Herodotus. Nearly 40 years later, Bononcini wrote a new opera by the same name, and Minato's libretto was adapted by Silvio Stampiglia. But then after another 40 years, in 1738, Handel (1685-1759) wrote Serse, with Stampiglia's work adapted by an unknown librettist. All three of these operas begin with the aria, "Ombra Mai Fu," in which Xerxes I, the King of Persia, sings tenderly to a tree for providing him shade.
To recap, the original Tweedles were none other than Bononcini and Handel, and both of them are remembered today in part for their renditions of an opera about Xerxes (518-465 BC), the King of Persia. Coincidentally, the most famous aria in those operas happens to be a song about a tree.
Chapter 4 of Through the Looking-Glass, begins, "They were standing under a tree, each with an arm around the other's neck..." Alice then recalls that they had been singing Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, as the music "seemed to come from the tree under which they were dancing..." The white rattle that begins the battle is under a tree. When they battle, they hit trees. And as the monstrous crow enters the scene, Alice hides among the trees. I do believe we have run into the scores for the Tweedles, composed by the original Tweedles, no less.
Cavalli Xerse: Ombra Mai Fù
Bononcini Xerse: Ombra Mai Fù
Handel Serse: Ombra Mai Fù
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00 Jun 2027
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Musescore Audio:
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The Hatter's Diary
00 Jun 2027
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00 Jun 2027
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00 Jul 2027
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00 Jul 2027
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00 Jul 2027
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Musescore Audio:
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