The Woolly Mammoth, or Dance Evolution!, for violin, viola, cello, contrabass, and piano. Score and parts.
Here’s an “extra movement” for Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, for solo double bass with violin, viola, cello and piano. It’s the old story about how the woolly mammoths, after inventing modern dance, faced a challenging environment for their art which (like the music in this c. 2:30 movement) evolves though a series of avant garde styles. After being cloned and reintroduced, they resume their dancing and discover the tango. Commissioned by the Odyssey Chamber Music Series in Columbia, Missouri, for a Galal Childrens’ concert: the kids liked it! Includes a poem in the style of Ogden Nash, below, to be read as an introduction.
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The woolly mammoths took a chance
When they invented modern dance.
Though recognized as avant garde,
They found the competition hard.
Just taking the dance to the artistic brink
Was no guarantee against going extinct!
But now, Science has the mammoth’s genome
And longs to clone new ones – to bring mammoths home!
So soon, we’ll see new woolly mammoths performing –
Pursuing their Art, despite global warming.
May their dancing evolve in delightful directions,
And maybe this time they’ll beat natural selection!
-- Paul Seitz