In the Golden Gleam for solo guitar (2023)

In the Golden Gleam for solo guitar

(after “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass”

by Lewis Carroll) 

In the Golden Gleam was commissioned by Marlow Guitar International as a collection of three set pieces for the 2024 Myrna Sislen Youth Guitar Competition (Youth Division, 11 years old and younger; Junior Division, 12-14 years old; and Senior Division, 15-18 years old).  Though no requirement was presented to me about grouping the three pieces as a set, I chose to tie them together into an interconnected triptych inspired by “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll.  The title of the entire piece is taken from the last few lines of the poem that concludes “Through the Looking Glass:” 

Ever drifting down the stream—

Lingering in the golden gleam—

Life, what is it but a dream?

 The dreamlike, phantasmagorical world of the Alice books has always had a special allure for me, and I enjoyed discovering musical ways of portraying my impressions of their images and moods.

 In the spirit of introducing young performers to some of the common musical devices used by composers, I included notes in the score when an important motive was inverted or retrograded, or rhythmically augmented or diminished. The subject matter created many rich opportunities to use these compositional devices to illustrate Alice’s adventures and transformations: growing bigger or smaller, entering a mirror-image world, and living backwards, to name just a few.  Below are some details about the individual movements:

I. Never Imagine Yourself Not to Be Otherwise Than What It Might Appear to Others That What You Were or Might Have Been Was Not Otherwise Than What You Had Been Would Have Appeared to Them to Be Otherwise 

Junior Level

 The title of the first movement is a quote from Chapter 9 of “Alice in Wonderland,” in which the Duchess tells Alice “Be what you would seem to be—or if you’d like it put more simply—never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than that it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.” The gleeful absurdity of this statement was my departure point for considering the overarching topic of identity, which seems to permeate “Alice in Wonderland”—in this book, Alice undergoes many disorienting transformations and is often not sure who she is at any given moment. 

 After the dreamlike introduction, the first movement presents the Alice Theme, alert and bright, and the frantic Running Theme (the idea of running occurs many times in both Alice books, in several contexts). Later in the movement, the Alice Theme undergoes rhythmic diminution (when note values become shorter) to depict her shrinking; and augmentation (with note values becoming longer) to portray Alice growing very tall. The breathless Running Theme portrays the constant hurry of the ever-late White Rabbit. 

 Throughout the movement, the dreamworld keeps reappearing through the incursions of the whole-tone scale, which is vaguely mysterious and disorienting because of its lack of tonal center and the sameness of its interval content. The movement closes with the first three notes of the Alice Theme, altered to fit the whole-tone scale.  Alice is now dreamworld Alice.

II. A Grin Without a Cat 

Youth Level 

The title of the second movement comes from Chapter 6 of “Alice in Wonderland,” when Alice first encounters the Cheshire Cat and remarks to herself: "Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,…but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life!"

 This movement is centered around my personal favorite from the Alice books—the Cheshire Cat.  His enigmatic yet friendly presence is announced by the Grin Motive at the beginning of the movement.  The contour of the motive outlines the grin, and its whole-tone scale keeps us in the dreamworld.  Gradually, more features of the Cat come into view, and we finally get to the Cheshire Cat Theme, mischievous and good-natured, in m. 17.  Still, we occasionally get a sense of his “very long claws and a great many teeth” through the dissonant permutations of the theme.

As the Cat fades from view, we are left only with the grin, which itself finally melts away.

 III. Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

 Senior Level

The title of the third movement comes from Chapter 5 of “Through the Looking Glass,” in which the White Queen and Alice have the following dialogue:

 “Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I have believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

This movement synthesizes and develops ideas from the first two movements, sometimes transforming them to reflect Alice’s new adventures in the Looking Glass world.  The piece begins with the inverted (mirror-image) version of the first eight measures of the Running Motive (first introduced in m. 20 of the first movement).  This inverted motive is immediately retrograded (played backwards) starting at m. 9, as Alice learns that everything, including time, moves backwards in the Looking Glass world.

At m. 29, the melodic line of the first four measures of the Alice Motive (first introduced in Movement 1, m. 7) is retrograded (played backwards).  The Cheshire Cat theme makes an appearance in this movement as well, along with other reworked material from prior movements.  Finally, the work ends with the inversion of the “dreamworld Alice” 3-note motive that had closed Movement 1.  In my composition, Alice chooses to stay in the dreamworld just a bit longer…

 Olga Amelkina-Vera

 Plano, TX

August 7, 2023