Rigmarole

Rigmarole, be it known, is a tale told "from mouth to mouth," one beginning it and telling till his invention begins to flag or he thinks his time is up, then stopping suddenly and handing it on to his next neighbour.

Our Little Canadian Cousin 1904

Rigmarole, - Discourse, incoherent and rhapsodical.

Life Of Johnson Boswell, James, 1740-1795 1887

"It's a rigmarole because the boy is a Rigmarole and we've come to Rigmarole Town."

The Emerald City of Oz 1887

Rigmarole, threatening to throw herself into Rosamond's Pond in St. James's Park (then a favourite Drowning-Place for Disconsolate Lovers), with many other nonsensical Menaces.

The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 3 of 3 Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave among the moors... George Augustus Sala 1861

Neither Rigmarole nor Dolittle shall, by furtherance of mine, go and make laws for this country.

Past and Present Thomas Carlyle 1838

Neither Rigmarole nor Dolittle will accomplish any good or any evil for this grimy Freeman, like giving him a five-pound note, or refusing to give it him.

Past and Present Thomas Carlyle 1838

Neither Rigmarole nor Dolittle shall, by furtherance of mine, go and make laws for this country.

Past and Present Thomas Carlyle's Collected Works, Vol. XIII. Thomas Carlyle 1838

Neither Rigmarole nor Dolittle will accomplish any good or any evil for this grimy Freeman, like giving him a five-pound note, or refusing to give it him.

Past and Present Thomas Carlyle's Collected Works, Vol. XIII. Thomas Carlyle 1838

Rigmarole and Dolittle have alike cared for themselves hitherto; and for their own clique, and self-conceited crotchets, -- their greasy dishonest interests of pudding, or windy dishonest interests of praise; and not very perceptibly for any other interest whatever.

Past and Present Thomas Carlyle's Collected Works, Vol. XIII. Thomas Carlyle 1838

These brief pieces are packed with ideas and are structurally inexorable, like "Rigmarole," composed on Nov. 5, a playful duet for cello (Mr. Sherry) and bass clarinet (the dynamic Virgil Blackwell); and "Mnemosyné," composed on Nov. 17, a sometimes agitated, sometimes mercurial work for solo violin (the dazzling, intense Rolf Schulte).

NYT > Home Page By ANTHONY TOMMASINI 2011