A recent addition to the textile collection shares a great link between textiles and music.
Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee are two small characters from the “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” books by Lewis Carroll. The twins were made by artist Sharon Mitchell from Oamaru as part of an exhibition in her hometown of various characters from the books. You can see some of the making of the dolls on Facebook via the link here. The 28cm/ 11in dolls are on display in the studio in Māwhera Greymouth.
The names Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee first appeared in print in 1725. A satirical poem, penned by John Byrom, took the feuding between composers George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini as its theme, as you can read below.
Some say, compar’d to Bononcini
That Mynheer Handel’s but a Ninny
Others aver, that he to Handel
Is scarcely fit to hold a Candle
Strange all this Difference should be
‘Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee!
The two words were used, then as now, to describe instruments that played low notes and those that played higher notes.
Listen:
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