_Through the Looking Glass_ was originally written in 1917-19 for
strings, wind and piano, and performed by the New York Chamber Music
Society. In 1921-22 Taylor rescored the suite for full orchestra,
and it is now a regular feature of the repertoire of our leading
orchestras. It is principally through this work that he first
achieved his fame as a composer.
In reviewing the suite for the “New York Tribune,” Lawrence Gilman
wrote:
“He is wit enough to know that the peculiar distinction of
Carroll’s delicious masterpiece is the mood of half tender, half
mocking detachment in which it is conceived; and he preserves this
balance in his music with extraordinary skill and felicity. He
neither burlesques nor sentimentalizes his subject. He touches it
affectionately, even caressingly, as in the poetic and sensitive
_Dedication_; but in his eye is a twinkle that is imperfectly
suppressed. Incidentally, he has composed an admirable piece
of music—distinguished in invention, ingenious in facture, and
expertly scored.”
The suite is, of course, based on Lewis Carroll’s immortal nonsense
tale _Through the Looking Glass_, and its four movements are selected
from portions and episodes of the book.
The first movement is divided into two parts. It opens with the
_Dedication_, and the score quotes the dedicatory verse of the author:
“Child of the pure, unclouded brow
And dreaming eyes of wonder!
Though time be fleet, and I and thou
Are half a life asunder,
Thy loving smile will surely hail
The love-gift of a fairy-tale.”
A tenderly lyric theme, sung by a muted solo violin, is used to
express the spirit of these lines:
[Music: Andante moderato