My Mother Oye

My Mother Oye is a continuation for Piano with four hands of Maurice Ravel made up between 1908 and 1910 according to works of Charles Perrault ( Contes of my mother Oye , 1697), Mrs Leprince de Beaumont ( the Beautiful one and the Animal , 1757) and Madam d' Aulnoy ( the green Serpentine , 1697). Ravel orchestrated and supplemented this continuation for the Ballet in 1911.

The continuation for piano

It is for the children of its friends Ida and Cipa Godebski, Jean and Mimie, that Ravel wrote this work for piano with four hands. My mother Oye testifies to the taste of the musician, remained unmarried and without descent, for a “childish” set of themes which one found also later in the Child and the magic spells . The version for piano was designed to be carried out by young hands and its public creation, the April 20th 1910, was the work of two older children respectively of six and ten years. It was published in 1908 with the subtitle Five childish parts and comprises five movements:

Pavane of Beautiful with wood sleeping

Tom Thumb
Laideronette, empress of the pagodas

talks of Beautiful and of the Animal
the fairy-like garden

The continuation for orchestra

Ravel orchestrated this work to make a Ballet of it. It added a Prélude, a table ( Danse of the wheel ) and four Interlude S and modified the order of the movements to it to perfect the dramatic progression of it. This orchestration, of which the fantastic atmosphere lends itself ideally to the set of themes of the unit, counts among the best successes of Ravel in this kind. Its creation took place the January 28th 1912.

Prelude

Dance of the wheel and scene
Pavane of Beautiful to wood sleeping

talks of Beautiful and the Animal
Tom Thumb

Laideronnette, empress of the pagodas
the fairy-like garden