Three Puzzles from Wonderland

These three miniature settings draw on the wit, fantasy, and verbal play of Lewis Carroll, taken from Puzzles from Wonderland. Though brief and seemingly playful, the poems reveal a subtle emotional and musical richness, inviting the soprano to inhabit multiple characters, moods, and perspectives with agility and charm.

I. Dreaming of apples This opening song unfolds as a gentle reverie. Carroll’s verse balances childlike curiosity with a quietly philosophical undertone: the act of counting apples becomes a metaphor for longing, memory, and the impossibility of complete knowledge. The vocal line favours clarity and poise, allowing the text’s question to linger unresolved. A sense of suspended time, dreaming rather than arriving, shapes the music’s atmosphere.

IV. What is most like a bee in May? Here, wit takes centre stage. The poem is a riddle that answers itself, delighting in its own cleverness. The setting mirrors this self-awareness through lightness, rhythmic alertness, and an almost conversational delivery. The soprano becomes both questioner and respondent, teasing the listener with mock seriousness before the triumphant, tongue-in-cheek conclusion.

VI. Said the Moon The final song introduces overt characterisation. In this comic exchange between the Moon and the Sun, Carroll’s humour sharpens into satire, complete with wounded pride and playful insult. The music highlights contrast: warmth versus coolness, authority versus indignation. Vocal colour and timing are central, as the soprano shifts between personalities, relishing the absurdity while maintaining musical precision.

Taken together, the three songs form a compact dramatic arc, from introspection, through intellectual play, to theatrical dialogue, celebrating Carroll’s unique blend of nonsense and insight, and showcasing the expressive versatility of the solo soprano voice.