Compare their performances of Children's Corner: in Osborne's the snow is dancing, it's as if individual flakes are made audible, and his
Golliwogg's cake-walk is delightfully jaunty, besides which Hough is relatively reserved.
Although the first printed jazz scores appeared around 1915 (starting with Morton's "Jelly Roll' Blues) and the first blues sheet music five years later, Satie and Debussy had already appropriated American idioms in works including La Diva de l'Empire and "
Golliwogg's Cake-Walk" from Children's Corner.
"
Golliwogg's Cakewalk," the sixth movement of Claude Debussy's 1908 Children's Corner suite, played on a loop in the gallery, suggesting that these nonsentient beings might just come alive and dance.
Play is key to the origin of the three British series that Michelle Beissel Heath discusses in her essay: Florence Upton and Bertha Upton's Dutch Doll and
Golliwogg books, Enid Blyton's initial Noddy books, and Allan Ahlberg's Happy Families series were all inspired by playthings encountered by the authors and in turn inspired the production of further goods.
In fact, the battle lines had already been drawn years before, and Debussy had announced them fiercely, if comically, in
Golliwogg's Cakewalk (1906-08) when he parodied Tristan.
1; Clair de lune; Danse; Des pas sur la neige; Feuilles mortes; Feux d'artifice;
Golliwogg's Cakewalk; Jardins sous la pluie; |imbo's Lullaby; La cathedrale engloutie; La fille aux cheveux de lin; La plus que lente--Valse; La puerta del vino; L'isle joyeuse; Minstrels; Ondhie; Reflets dans Teau; Reverie; Soiree dans Grenade; Voiles.
He conjured up a certain sophistication in Debussy's Children's Corner and you will not encounter more incisive playing than he produced in The
Golliwogg's Cakewalk.
Although the external appearance may not have been flattering, the golliwog (originally "
Golliwogg') was given unfailingly positive attributes, Derricks says.
When I wish to look up a word--"
golliwogg," which I've encountered spelled with two g's--or when I wish to plenish my mind with some information, say, about the ill-fated Library at Alexandria, why don't I simply hit the right keys on my machine, where both a dictionary and an encyclopedia are imprisoned?
Debussy topped and tailed this sellout evening, beginning with Mirga's characteristically sultry reading of the Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un Faune, woodwind and horns achingly languorous, and ending with a delightful encore to dispel the Petrushkian despair, the jazzy
Golliwogg's Cakewalk.