Jabberwocky

When I think of the double bass, images of large and gnarly animals come to mind. I thought what better to call a piece for four double basses than Jabberwocky, the monster in Lewis Carroll’s poem by the same name. I used the description of the monster in the poem, and the artwork of John Tenniel for inspiration. Carroll writes: “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!/The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!” He continues, “The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,/Came whiffling through the tugley wood,/And burbled as it came!” Two motives are explored in the quartet. The first is brutish and harsh; the second motive is lighter and scored higher in the strings, inspired by the Tenniel drawing of the monster with wings. In the Coda the two themes are combined to create a new one, which is chaotic and frenzied – the Jabberwocky in full force. At the very end, you will hear the cacophonous burbling of the monster before one final utterance of the two themes closes the piece.