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There is no evidence to suggest that each of the five pieces of Miroirs is supposed to be a reflection of the person to whom it is dedicated. Ravel certainly never said this, and neither Arbie Orenstein nor Roger Nichols -- the chief authorities on Ravel in English -- mention it. The only comment Ravel made about the title Miroirs was as follows: "The word 'mirror' should not lead one to assume that I want to affirm a subjectivist theory of art. A sentence by Shakespeare helped me to formulate a completely opposite position: 'for the eye sees not itself/But by reflection, from some other thing.'" (Julius Caesar, Act I sc.ii)

Leon Paul Fargue, the dedicatee of the first piece, Noctuelles, possibly supplied the inspiration for Ravel in a line of poetry: 'The barn moths take off, in skittering flight, to loop around other beams.' This is the suggestion of Helene Jourdan-Morhange, one of Ravel's closest friends (as was Fargue), in her book Ravel According to Ravel (in conversation with Vlado Perlemuter). It has since been taken up as fact, though I have not found another source other than Morhange. The original French is 'Les noctuelles des hangars partent, d'un vol gauche, Cravater d'autres poutres.' The image of whirling moths is wonderfully caught by Ravel, creating a fine paradox in which the Silence of moths in flight is expressed by the Sound of music. It would be interesting to trace the Fargue poem. Maurice1875 22:05, 7 February 2007 (UTC)Maurice1875 08:33, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pianist

Who is the pianist playing in the audio examples? It should be mentioned in the article. Karstein (talk) 18:54, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Alborada del gracioso

Gracioso means jester rather than comedian. PiCo (talk) 15:13, 20 May 2008 (UTC)