Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin No.III Menuet - Symphonic Wind by Maurice Ravel Woodwind Quintet - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.616277

Le Tombeau de Couperin is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917.

The piece is in six movements, based on those of a traditional Baroque suite.
Each movement is dedicated to the memory of a friend of the composer (or in one case, two brothers) who had died fighting in World War I.
The six movements are:

Prélude. Vif (E minor)
Fugue. Allegro moderato (E minor)
Forlane. Allegretto (E minor)
Rigaudon. Assez vif (C major)
Menuet. Allegro moderato (G major)
Toccata. Vif (E minor)


Ravel also produced an orchestral version of the work in 1919, although this omitted two of the original movements.The movements used were Nos.1, 3, 5 and 4 in that order.

The word tombeau in the title is a musical term popular from the 17th century, meaning "a piece written as a memorial".

The specific Couperin, among a family noted as musicians for about two centuries, that Ravel intended to evoke is thought to be François Couperin "the Great" (1668–1733).

Ravel stated that his intention was to pay homage more generally to the sensibilities of the Baroque French keyboard suite, not necessarily to imitate or pay tribute to Couperin himself in particular. This is reflected in the piece's structure, which imitates a Baroque dance suite.

Arranged Double wind quintet/Bass

2nd Oboe plays Cor Anglais throughout.
2nd flute has 2 bars of piccolo.
This is my arrangement of the menuet No.III in the orchestral suite for wind dectet.

Video has restricted instrumentation