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{{Short description|Piano suite by Maurice Ravel}}
{{italic title}}
[[file:Ravel Pierre Petit.jpg|thumb|upright|Ravel in 1907]]
'''''Miroirs''''' ({{IPA|fr|miʁwaʁ|lang}}, {{lit|Mirrors}}) is a five-movement [[suite (music)|suite]] for solo [[piano]] written by French composer [[Maurice Ravel]] between 1904 and 1905.<ref name="Maurice-Ravel.net">"Miroirs". Maurice Ravel Frontispice. {{cite web |url=http://www.maurice-ravel.net/miroirs.htm |title=Maurice Ravel Frontispice - Miroirs |accessdate=2010-04-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417164459/http://www.maurice-ravel.net/miroirs.htm |archivedate=2010-04-17 }}</ref> First performed by [[Ricardo Viñes]] in 1906, ''Miroirs'' contains five movements, each dedicated to a fellow member of the French [[avant-garde]] artist group [[Les Apaches]].<ref name="Miroirs">"Miroirs". Piano Society. http://www.pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=171</ref>

==History==
Around 1900, Maurice Ravel joined a group of innovative young artists, poets, critics, and musicians referred to as Les Apaches or "hooligans", a term coined by [[Ricardo Viñes]] to refer to his band of "artistic outcasts".<ref>Orenstein, 1991, p. 28</ref> To pay tribute to his fellow artists, Ravel began composing ''Miroirs'' in 1904 and finished it the following year. It was first published by [[Eugène Demets]] in 1906. The third and fourth movements were subsequently orchestrated by Ravel, while the fifth was orchestrated by [[Percy Grainger]], among others.

==Structure==
{{Listen|type=music
|header=Audio recording of ''Miroirs''
|filename=Maurice Ravel - Miroirs - 1. Noctuelles.flac
|title=I. Noctuelles (4:19)
|filename2=Maurice Ravel - Miroirs - 2. Oiseaux tristes.flac
|title2=II. Oiseaux tristes (3:34)
|filename3=Maurice Ravel - Miroirs - 3. Une barque sur l'océan.flac
|title3=III. Une barque sur l'océan (6:43)
|filename4=Maurice Ravel - Miroirs - 4. Alborada del gracioso.flac
|title4=IV. Alborada del gracioso (5:57)
|filename5=Maurice Ravel - Miroirs - 5. La vallée des cloches.flac
|title5=V. La vallée des cloches (4:43)
|description5=Performed in 2014 by Olena Havyuk-Sheremet
}}

''Miroirs'' has five movements, each dedicated to a member of ''Les Apaches'':<ref name="Miroirs"/>
{{ordered list|list_style_type=upper-roman
|"''Noctuelles''" ("Night Moths"). D{{music|b}} major. Dedicated to [[Léon-Paul Fargue]], ''Noctuelles'' is a highly [[chromaticism|chromatic]] work, maintaining a dark, nocturnal mood throughout. The middle section is calm with rich, chordal melodies, and the recapitulation takes place a fifth below the first entry.
|"''Oiseaux tristes''" ("Sad Birds"). E{{music|b}} minor. Dedicated to [[Ricardo Viñes]], this movement represents a lone bird whistling a sad tune, after which others join in. The rambunctious middle section is offset by a solemn [[cadenza]] which brings back the melancholy mood of the beginning.
|"''Une barque sur l'océan''" ("A Boat on the Ocean"). F{{music|#}} minor. Written for [[Paul Sordes]], the piece recounts a boat as it sails upon the waves of the ocean. [[Arpeggio|Arpeggiated]] sections and sweeping melodies imitate the flow of ocean currents. It is the longest piece of the set.
|"''Alborada del gracioso''" (Spanish: "The Jester's [[Aubade]]/ Morning Song of the Jester"). D minor — D major. Dedicated to [[Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi]], ''Alborada'' is a technically challenging piece that incorporates [[Music of Spain|Spanish music]]al themes into its complicated melodies.
|"''La vallée des cloches''" ("The Valley of Bells"). C{{music|#}} minor. Dedicated to [[Maurice Delage]], the piece evokes the sounds of various [[bell]]s through its use of sonorous harmonies.
}}

==Orchestrated versions==
{{for|Ravel's 1919 orchestral version|Alborada del gracioso}}

"''Une barque sur l'océan''" and "''Alborada del gracioso''" were orchestrated by Ravel himself. 

"''La vallée des cloches''" has been orchestrated by [[Ernesto Halffter]] for triple [[woodwind]], four [[French horn|horn]]s, [[timpani]], percussion, two [[concert harp|harp]]s, [[celesta]] and strings; and by [[Percy Grainger]] for a typical Grainger ensemble with multiple pianos and percussion, plus strings. 

"''Oiseaux tristes''" has been scored by {{ill|Felix Günther|de|Felix Günther (Komponist)}} for double woodwind plus [[piccolo]], two horns, two [[trumpet]]s, percussion, harp, celesta and strings; though aimed at intermediate rather than advanced players, transposed down a [[semitone]] and with some of Ravel's rhythms simplified. In 2001 American conductor [[Leif Bjaland]] orchestrated "''Oiseaux tristes''" scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, harp, and strings. 

The earliest known orchestration of "''Noctuelles''" is by the British pianist Michael Round, an orchestration commissioned by [[Vladimir Ashkenazy]] and recorded by him with the [[NHK Symphony Orchestra]] (Exton, 1993). In orchestrated form "''Noctuelles''" is scored for triple woodwind (including [[E-flat clarinet|E{{music|b}} clarinet]]) minus one [[contrabassoon]]; four horns, three trumpets, three [[trombone]]s and [[tuba]], timpani, percussion, two harps, celesta and strings. There is a more recent orchestration (2001) of "''Noctuelles''" by American composer [[Steven Stucky]].  It is published by Theodore Presser Company and is scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, 3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, 2 percussionists, celesta, two harps, and strings. 

In 2003 the British composer Simon Clarke made an orchestration of the three movements that Ravel did not orchestrate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rncm.ac.uk/people/simon-clarke/|title = Simon Clarke - Royal Northern College of Music}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of compositions by Maurice Ravel]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMSLP2|work=Miroirs_(Ravel,_Maurice)|cname=Miroirs}}
*Recording of ''Miroirs'', performed by [[Thérèse Dussaut]], in [[MP3]] format:
**[http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/pandora/mp3/piano/Dussaut/06Noctuelles.mp3 "''Noctuelles''"]
**[http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/pandora/mp3/piano/Dussaut/07Oiseaux_tristes.mp3 "''Oiseaux tristes''"]
**[http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/pandora/mp3/piano/Dussaut/088Barque_sur_l_ocean.mp3 "''Une barque sur l'océan''"]
**[http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/pandora/mp3/piano/Dussaut/09Alborado.mp3 "''Alborada del gracioso''"]
**[http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/pandora/mp3/piano/Dussaut/10Vallee_des_cloches.mp3 "''La vallée des cloches''"]
*Recording of ''Miroirs'', performed by Felipe Sarro: [https://archive.org/details/Ravel-MiroirsfelipeSarro Archive.org]

{{Maurice Ravel}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Suites by Maurice Ravel]]
[[Category:1905 compositions]]
[[Category:Solo piano compositions by Maurice Ravel]]
[[Category:Music with dedications]]