Spiegel im Spiegel

Spiegel im Spiegel (German for 'mirror(s) in the mirror') is a composition by Arvo Pärt written in 1978, just before his departure from Estonia. The piece is in the tintinnabular style, in which a melodic voice (operating over diatonic scales) and a tintinnabular voice (operating within a triad on the tonic) accompany each other. The piece is about ten minutes long.

Pärt's first published musical compositions were complex and challenging, and lacked traditional melodies. During the 1970s, he wrote music that was minimalist and meditative in its style, Spiegel im Spiegel being an early example. Pärt coined the term tintinnabuli to describe the style of his compositions.^[1] Spiegel im Spiegel was written for piano and violin, though the violin can be replaced with a cello or a viola.^[2][3]

The piece is an example of minimal music. It was written in the scale of F major in 6/4 time. The piano plays a seemingly endless series of rising triads, as exemplified by the introductory first three bars:

The violin melody consists of slow F major scales that rise or fall; they increase in length during the piece, all ending on the same note^[4] The alternation between ascending and descending phrases pivoted on the note A, along with the overturning of the final intervals between adjacent phrases (for example, ascending sixth in the question—descending sixth in the answer), contributes to give the impression of a figure reflecting on a mirror and walking back and towards it.

Initially, the melody consists of only two notes, with another note being added with each of the following phrases, thus creating a seemingly endless continuum. After each distancing, the melody returns to the central pitch of A, which, according to the composer, is like “returning home after being away”. The piano part accompanies the melody part at each step like a “guardian angel”, as the composer himself likes to say. In addition to the accompaniment, the piano part includes tintinnabuli notes – like little bells that alternately sound above and below the melodic line, following a fixed formula.^[5]

The German phrase Spiegel im Spiegel ('mirror in the mirror' or 'mirrors in the mirror') refers to an infinity mirror,^[4] which produces an infinity of images reflected by parallel plane mirrors.^[6] The title directly describes the music, as descending melodic line mirrors every ascending phrase.^[5]

Spiegel im Spiegel received its premiere in December 1978 at the Moscow Conservatory with the composer as the soloist and Boris Bekhterev accompanying at the piano.^[5]

The composition poses a challenge to the soloist, as, according to Pärt, "Everything redundant must be left aside. Just like the composer has to reduce his ego when writing the music, the musician too must put his ego aside when performing the piece." Purity and innocence are the qualities valued by the composer in the performance of his music.^[5] According to the violinist Tasmin Little, the work is difficult for the soloist to perform because its mood it conveys can depend so much on how it is played.^[4]

In 2011, Spiegel im Spiegel was the focus of a 30-minute BBC Radio 4 programme, Soul Music. During the programme, the violinist Tasmin Little discussed her relationship with the piece.^[8]

• Hillier, Paul (1997). Arvo Pärt. Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780191590481.

• Kempkes, Christophe (2025). "Unlocking collective potential". In Egel, Eleftheria; Suarez, Mauricio Campos (eds.). Inner Development Goals: Stories of Collective Leadership in Action,. Vol. 1. De Gruyter. pp. 38–39. ISBN 9783111337913.