Spiegel im Spiegel

Spiegel im Spiegel is a piece of music written by Arvo Pärt in 1978, just prior to his departure from Estonia. The piece is in the "tintinnabular" style of composition, wherein a "melodic voice" (which operates over diatonic scales) and "tintinnabular voice" (which operates within a tonic triad) accompany each other. It is about ten minutes long.

The piece was originally written for a single piano and violin - though the violin has often been replaced with either a cello or a viola. Versions also exist for double bass, clarinet, horn, flute and percussion. The piece is musically minimal, yet produces a serene tranquility.

The piece is in F major in 6/4 time, with the piano playing rising crotchet triads and the second instrument playing slow scales, alternately rising and falling, of increasing length, which all end on the note A (The mediant of F). The piano's left hand also plays notes, syncopated with the violin (or other instrument).

"Spiegel im Spiegel" in German literally can mean both "mirror in the mirror" as well as "mirrors in the mirror", referring to the infinity of images produced by parallel plane mirrors: the tonic triads are endlessly repeated with small variations as if reflected back and forth.

In popular culture

The piece is used frequently in television, film and theatre, including:
*The Isabel Coixet film Elegy (2008) [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974554]
*The BBC documentary (2005) [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/feedback_tv_radio.shtml#aus] [http://www.pbs.org/auschwitz/about/credits_5.html]
*The HBO television movie "Wit" (2001)
*The Guy Ritchie film "Swept Away" (2002)
*The Gus Van Sant film "Gerry" (2002)
*The Tom Tykwer film "Heaven" (2002)
*The film "Dear Frankie" (2004)
*The BBC documentary "Century of the Self" (2002) by Adam Curtis
*The short film "Dans le noir du temps" (2003) by Jean-Luc Godard
*The documentary film "Touching the Void"
*The film "Mother Night" (1996)
*The Road Traffic Accident statistics segments for the news program from RTE
*The New York production of Eurydice, a play by Sarah Ruhl (2007)
*It was used by Hamburg choreographer John Neumeier for the central pas-de deux of his ballet "Othello" (1985) and by New York choreographer Christopher Wheeldon as the accompaniment for Part Two of his 2005 ballet "After The Rain". Pärt's Tabula Rasa is the accompaniment of Part Two of John Neumeier's and Part One of Christopher Wheeldon's ballet.
* It was also used in a 2008 episode of the British medical drama Casualty, when character Ruth Winters attempted suicide
*It is used in the Pilobolus Dance Company's work "Rushes" in a scene choreographed using chairs.