Two Songs on Poems by Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carrol

Program Notes

Program Notes
  • I

    The Walrus and The Carpenter

  • II

    A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky

Two Songs on Poems by Lewis Carroll for voice and piano

The song-cycle Two Songs on Poems by Lewis Carroll is based on The Walrus And The Carpenter and A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky. Both poems are included in Lewis Carroll's work Through The Looking-Glass (1871), a sequel to Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1865).

The Walrus And The Carpenter might have many interpretations, from Disney to The Beatles to Kevin Smith. However, I prefer to see in The Walrus And The Carpenter sheer whimsy and humor for children's immense imaginations, with occasional life or moral observations.

I selected A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky for its dramatic contrast between children's insouciance and adults' acute awareness of the passage of time.

 

A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky

A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July,

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear,

Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream,
Lingering in the golden dream,
Life, what is it but a dream?

Click Here for the text of A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky.

The Walrus and The Carpenter

A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July,

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear,

Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream,
Lingering in the golden dream,
Life, what is it but a dream?

Click Here for the text of The Walrus And The Carpenter.

The Walrus and The Carpenter

A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky

Performed by Kristian Roberts accompanied at piano by Charlene Bel

A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky

also performed by Léa Lazarescou accompanied by Gabriel Sanchez at piano