Ma Mère l'Oie

"Ma Mère l'Oie" ("Mother Goose"), also spelled "Ma Mère l'Oye", is a musical work by French composer and pianist Maurice Ravel.

Piano Versions

Ravel originally wrote "Ma Mère l'Oie" as a piano duet for the Godebski children, Mimi and Jean, ages 6 and 7. Ravel dedicated this work for four hands to the children (just as he had dedicated an earlier work, "Sonatine" to their parents). Jeanne Leleu and Geneviève Durony premiered the work.

The piece was transcribed for solo piano by Ravel's friend Jacques Charlot the same year as it was published (1910). The first movement of Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin" is also dedicated to Charlot.

Both piano versions bear the subtitle "cinq pièces enfantines" (five children's pieces). The five "pieces" were as follows:

:* I. "Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant":: Pavane of Sleeping Beauty :: Lent:* II. "Petit Poucet":: Little Tom Thumb / Hop o' My Thumb :: Très modéré:* III. "Laideronnette, Impératrice des pagodes":: Little Ugly Girl, Empress of the Pagodas:: Mouvt de Marche:* IV. "Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête":: Conversation of Beauty and the Beast:: Mouvt de Valse très modéré:* V. "Le jardin féerique":: The Fairy Garden:: Lent et grave

On several of the scores, Ravel included quotes to indicate clearly what he was trying to invoke. For example, for the second "piece":

:"Il croyait trouver aisément son chemin par le moyen de son pain qu'il avait semé partout où il avait passé; mais il fut bien surpris lorsqu'il ne put retrouver une seule miette: les oiseaux étaient venus qui avaient tout mangé. (Ch. Perrault)"

: ["He believed he'd easily find his way because of the bread that he'd strewn all along his path; but he was very surprised to find not a single crumb: the birds had come and eaten everything." (Charles Perrault)]

"Sleeping Beauty" and "Little Tom Thumb" were based on the tales of Charles Perrault, while "Little Ugly Girl, Empress of the Pagodas" was inspired by a tale (The Green Serpent) by Perrault's "rival" Marie-Catherine, Comtesse d'Aulnoy. In this movement, Ravel takes advantage of the pentatonic scale. "Beauty and the Beast" is based upon the version of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. The origin of "The Fairy Garden" is not entirely known. The "Mouvt de Marche" of "Little Ugly Girl" uses quartal harmony:

Orchestrated work

In 1911, Ravel orchestrated the work. Then, in 1912, he expanded it into a ballet adding new movements ("Prélude" and "Danse du rouet et scène") and interludes:

:* I. "Prélude":: Prelude:: Très lent:* II. "Premier tableau - Danse du Rouet et scène":: Spinning Wheel Dance and Scene:* III. "Deuxième tableau - Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant":* IV. "Interlude":* V. "Troisième tableau - Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête":* VI. "Interlude":* VII. "Quatrième tableau - Petit Poucet":* VIII. "Interlude":* IX. "Cinquième tableau - Laideronnette, Impératrice des Pagodes":* X. "Interlude":* XI. Sixième tableau - Le jardin féerique

It was premiered on 29 January 1912 at the Theatre des Arts in Paris [Concert Booklet of HKPO by Marc Rochester]

Instrumentation

The orchestrated work requires 2 flutes "(one play Piccolo)", 2 oboes "(one play english horn)", 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, "(one play Contrabassoon)", 2 French Horns, Timpani, Bass Drum, cymbals, triangle, tamtam, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Celesta, Strings, Harp.(No trumpets, trombones, Tuba)

References

External links

* [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cuo/audio.html Free recording] by the Columbia University Orchestra.