Robert Mann How the Whale Got His Throat for Narrator, Violin and Piano
Text by Rudyard Kipling
How the Whale Got His Throat was composed in 1953 for The Lyric Trio: Robert Mann, violin; Leonid Hambro, piano; and Lucy Rowan, narrator. Robert Mann selected the text from Rudyard Kipling’s 1902 collection Just So Stories. The work received its first major public performance by The Lyric Trio in 1959 at Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Recital Hall). Other fairy tale settings composed by Robert Mann and published by Peermusic include How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin and The Princess on the Pea.
Robert Mann (1920-2018) was a driving force in the world of music for more than 70 years. As founder and first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet, and as a soloist, composer, teacher, and conductor, Mr. Mann brought a refreshing sense of adventure and discovery to chamber music performances, master classes, and orchestral performances worldwide. He was, in the words of Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe, “one of the country’s most admired and deeply loved musicians.” Born in Portland, Oregon in 1920, Mr. Mann began studying violin when he was 8, and at age 13 was accepted into the class of Edouard Hurlimann, concertmaster of the Portland Symphony. In 1938, he enrolled in the Juilliard School, where he studied violin with Edouard Dethier, composition with Bernard Wagenaar and Stefan Wolpe, and conducting with Edgar Schenkman. Mr. Mann won the prestigious Naumburg competition in 1941. In 1946, at the invitation of Juilliard’s president, William Schuman, Robert Mann founded the Juilliard String Quartet, serving as the ensemble’s first violinist for 51 years until his retirement from the Quartet in 1997. Along the way, he was a mentor to younger generations of string quartets, including the Alexander, American, Concord, Emerson, LaSalle, New World, Mendelssohn, Tokyo, Brentano, Lark, St. Lawrence, and Colorado quartets. Robert Mann conducted throughout his career, leading ensembles such as the New York Chamber Symphony, Manhattan School of Music Symphony, and ensembles at the Ravinia, Tanglewood, and Aspen music festivals. At the invitation of Seiji Ozawa, he enjoyed a residence at Japan’s Saito Kinen Music Festival as a conductor, teacher, and performer. Mr. Mann composed more than 30 works for narrator with various instruments that he performed with his wife, Lucy Rowan. He also composed an Orchestral Fantasy performed by Dimitri Mitropoulos with the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and at the Salzburg Festival; a Duo for Violin and Piano that was premiered at Carnegie Hall by Itzhak Perlman; and a String Quartet that was included in the repertoires of both the La Salle and the Concord string quartets. His other works include a Duo for Cello and Piano written for Joel Krosnick and Gilbert Kalish, and Dream Time, recorded by violist David Carpenter.
How the Whale Got His Throat ROBERT MANN
RUDYARD KIPLING
Allegretto (q = 100)
4 4
Narrator Violin
3
3
4 4 p
mf
4 4 Piano
6
4 4
In the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was
Pesante
Faster (q = 112 - 116)
5 4 5 4
3
f
3
p
5 4 5 4 Maestoso (q = 70) 10
5 4
Pesante
a Whale,
3 4
5 4
3 4
and
he ate
4 4 4 4
ff
5 4 5 4
3 4 ff
4 4 pesante
3 3
3 4
© Copyright 2018 by Peermusic III, Ltd. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
4 4
2
Slower (q = 60) 14
4 4
rit.
fish es.
Slower (q = 50) arco
pizz.
4 4
p
4 4 p
4 4
PiĂš mosso (q = 56)
Rubato (fast)
He ate the
16 arco pizz.
3
f
3
star fish and the gar fish, and the
2 4 2 4
sfz
3
2 4 sfz
p
3
3
2 4
3 3
Faster (q = 60) 18
crab and the dab,
and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate,
rfz
sfz
sfz
p
p
sfz
3
accel.
Faster (q = 72) and the mack
22
e
reel and the pick
e reel, and the real ly tru ly twir ly whir ly eel.
p
poco
p
27
All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth—
(q = 84) accel. so!
, sfz pp
sfz
(trem.)
sfz
poco
(q = 100)
5 8
2 4
5 8
2 4
ff
,
5
Till at last there was only
pp
5 8
,
2 4
sfz
pp ff
5 8
2 4
rit. 32
one small fish left in all the sea,
and he was a small ‘Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale’s right ear,
3
3
dim.
mp
dim.
4
Meno mosso (q = 72) so as to be out of harm’s way.
38
(q = 69)
Then the Whale stood up on his tail,
3 4
and said,“I'm
2 4
3 4
2 4 3
3 4
3
3 4
2 4 3
2 4
Più mosso (q = 80) 42
hun gry.”
3 3
mf
3
3
mf
poco
Poco meno mosso
Più mosso (q = 88)
And the small ‘Stute Fish said in a small ‘stute voice,
48
3
poco cresc.
3 4
“Noble and generous Ce - tacean,
4 4
3 4
4 4 p
p sub.
3 4
4 4 p
p
ff
3 4
4 4
have
5 53
you ever tasted Man?”
“No,” said the Whale.
“What is
it
like?”
rit. 56
“Nice,”
a tempo
“Then fetch me some,” said the Whale,
said the small ‘Stute Fish, “Nice, but nubbly.”
p
3
3
ff
5
3
and he made the sea froth up with his tail.
60
ff
dim. molto
5
5 5
5
5 dim. molto
5
5
5
6 62
rit.
“One at a time is enough,”
morendo
5
p
morendo
7
Allegro (q = 132)
said the ‘Stute Fish. “If you swim to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West (that is magic), you will find, sitting on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing on but a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders (you must not forget the suspenders, Best Beloved), and a jack-knife, one shipwrecked Mariner, who, it is only fair to tell you, is a man of infinite-resource-and-sa - ga
64
2 4
ci
ty.”
3
2 4
2 4
pp
2 4
66
So the Whale swam and swam to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West, as fast as he could
3
3
pp
3
3
3
3
7 74
swim, and on a raft, in the middle of the sea with nothing to wear except a pair of blue canvas breeches, 3
pp
83
3 3
3
a pair of suspenders (you must particularly remember the suspenders, Best Beloved), and a jack-knife,
3
3
3
he
found one
3
3
3
single, solitary shipwrecked
3
3
3
3
3
92
3
3
3
3
Mariner, trailing his toes in the water.
8 (He had his mummy’s leave to paddle, or else he would never have
99
3
3
pp
ff
3
3
3
pp
3
3
A tempo
Pesante
Pesante
he was a man of infiniteresource-and-sa- ga ci ty.)
106 done it, because
3
1 4
3
1 4 ff
f
1 4 ff
f
Agitato (q = 120) 112
1 4
2 4
1 4
2 4
1 4
2 4
1 4
p
Then the Whale opened his mouth
mp
2 4
back,
3
and back till it nearly touched his tail,
and back,
mf
ff
3
1 4
9
Rubato and he swallowed the shipwrecked Mariner,
117
l. v.
and the raft
he was sitting on,
and the suspenders (which you must not forget),
morendo
He swallowed them cupboards, and then he all down into his warm, dark, inside smacked his lips—so,
and the jack-knife—
122
and his blue canvas breeches,
pont.
12
f
3 4 3 4
pp
3 4 3 4
125
3 4
and turned round three times on his tail.
Presto (q = 150 - 152)
2 4
3 4
2 4
3 4
2 4
pp
3 4
2 4 flutter