The Apaches (Les Apaches or Societe des Apaches) was a group of French musicians, writers and artists which formed around 1900. Members of the group included:

• Edouard Benedictus, painter and composer
• M.D. Calvocoressi, writer and music critic
• Maurice Delage, composer
• Léon-Paul Fargue, poet
• Lucien Garban, publisher
• Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht, conductor
• Pierre Haour
• Gomez de Riquet
• Tristan Klingsor, poet, painter, art theorist
• Maurice Ravel, composer and pianist
• Florent Schmitt, composer
• Paul Sordes, painter
• Ricardo Viñes, pianist
• Emile Vuillermoz, music critic

The name was taken up by the group after inadvertently bumping into a newspaper seller who exclaimed "Attention les apaches". They soon adapted the name, meaning hooligans. Their most distinguished member, Ravel, suggested that they adopt the first melody of the Borodin 2nd Symphony as their theme, an idea to which they all agreed. The group met each Saturday, most often at the home of Sordes; alternately, they would meet at that of Klingsor. Maurice Delage - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Léon-Paul Fargue (March 4, 1876 - November 24, 1947) was a French poet and essayist. ... Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht (1880-1965) was a French composer and conductor. ... Joseph-Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937) was a French composer and pianist, known especially for the subtlety, richness, and poignancy of his music and generally considered to be one of the major composers of the 20th century. ... Florent Schmitt (September 28, 1870, Blamont, Meurthe et Moselle – August 17, 1958 Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French composer. ... Ricardo Viñes (5 February 1876 – 29 April 1943) was a Spanish pianist famous because of debuting many works by Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. ... bust of Alexander Borodin Alexander Porfyrevich Borodin (Алекса́ндр Порфи́рьевич Бороди́н) (November 12, 1833 – February 27, 1887) was a Russian composer who made his living as a chemist. ...

The group had rallied Claude Debussy's opera Pelleas et Melisande in a particularly controversial effort. Ravel dedicated each movement his piano Miroirs each to members of the Apaches. Pelléas et Mélisande is a famous Symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck about the forbidden, doomed love of the title characters. ... Miroirs (Mirrors) is a solo piano work by Maurice Ravel written from 1904–1905. ...

References

1. Spiers, John. Maurice-ravel.net Retrieved 2004-11-16.
2. "Maurice Ravel." Contemporary Musicians, Volume 25. Gale Group, 1999. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2005.