Ravel, (Joseph) Maurice

Ravel, (Joseph) Maurice (b Ciboure, 1875; d Paris, 1937). Fr. composer and pianist. Born in Basque region but spent childhood in Paris. Entered Paris Cons. 1889, studying pf. with Bériot and comp. with Fauré, and remaining for 16 years. By 1895 he had already developed a personal style of comp., but his unconventional harmonies offended academic ears in spite of the classical basis of his work. He competed for the Prix de Rome in 1901, 1902, 1903, and 1905. At the last attempt he was eliminated in the preliminary test. The ensuing outcry led to the resignation of Dubois as dir. of the Cons. He had already written several works now acknowledged as masterpieces, incl. the str. qt., Shéhérazade, and the Miroirs for pf. Though a brilliant orchestrator, several of his works were first written for pf. His outstanding achievement in orch. writing is the ballet Daphnis et Chloé, comp. for Diaghilev and f.p. in 1912. In 1911 his comic 1-act opera L'Heure espagnole had not been a success, but was later welcomed for the brilliant piece it is. After service in the 1914–18 war, Ravel captured the savage flavour of the end of an era in his La Valse. Fragile health in the last 17 years of his life reduced the number of his comps. but not the quality. To the late years belong his fascinating opera, to a lib. by Colette, L'Enfant et les sortilèges, 2 pf. concs., his popular Boléro (orginally a ballet score), chamber works, and the Don Quixote songs. He occasionally cond. his own works, but held no official posts and had very few pupils, though one of them (for 3 months) was Vaughan Williams.

Ravel is conveniently classified with Debussy, but their dissimilarities are more striking and significant. He had more respect for classical forms than Debussy and was nearer to the ethos of Saint-Saëns than to that of Massenet. Satie, Chabrier, Strauss, Mussorgsky, the orientalism learned from the 1889 int. Exposition, and jazz were influences on him. Dance rhythms frequently occur in his works. His harmonies, often ‘impressionist’ in technique, extended the range of tonality by the exploitation of unusual chords and by the use of bitonality. His melodies sometimes have a modal tendency. Repetition, sequences, and variation are preferred to regular development. The charge that he was a miniaturist in his choice of forms can be sustained, but there is nothing small about the invention. That artificiality which led Stravinsky to call him ‘a Swiss clock-maker’ can also be perceived, but perhaps this is part of the price he paid for the exceptional clarity of his thought and of his scoring. He was one of the great innovators in writing for the pf. Prin. works:OPERAS: L'Heure espagnole (The Spanish Hour) (1907–9); L'Enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Spells) (1920–5).BALLETS: Daphnis et Chloé (1909–12); Fanfare for L'Éventail de Jeanne (1927); Boléro (1928).ORCH.: Shéhérazade, ov. (1898); Une barque sur l'océan (1906, orch. of movt. from Miroirs, pf.); Rapsodie espagnole (1907); Pavane pour une infante défunte (1910, arr. from pf. version); Ma mère l'Oye (1911, orch. version of 4-hands pf. work); Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No.1 (1911), Suite No.2 (1913); Valses nobles et sentimentales (1912, orch. version of pf. work); Alborada del gracioso (1918, orch. version of No.4 of Miroirs for pf.); Le Tombeau de Couperin (1919, orch. version of pf. work); La Valse (1906–14, 1919–20); Menuet antique (1929, orch. version of pf. piece); pf. conc. for left hand (1929–30); pf. conc. in G (1929–31).CHAMBER MUSIC: str. qt. in F (1902–3); Introduction and Allegro, hp., str. qt., fl., cl. (1905); Pièce en forme d'Habanera, vn., pf. (version of Vocalise, 1907); pf. trio (1914); Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy, vn., vc. (1920); sonata, vn., vc. (1920–2); Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré, vn., pf. (1922); vn. sonata (1923–7); Tzigane, vn., pf. (1924, version for vn. and orch. 1924); Rêves, v., pf. (1927).VOICE & ORCH.: Manteau de fleurs (1903); Shéhérazade (1903); 5 Mélodies populaires grecques (5 Popular Greek Melodies) (1904–6); Le Noël des Jouets (1905, 2nd version 1913); 3 Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, v., chamber ens. (1913); 2 Mélodies hébraïques (1919); Ronsard à son âme (1924); Chansons madécasses, v., fl., vc., pf. (1926); Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932–3).VOICE & PIANO: Un Grand Sommeil noir (1895); Sainte (1896); 2 Épigrammes (1898); Manteau de fleurs (1903); 5 Mélodies populaires grecques (1904–6); Le Noël des jouets (1905); Les Grands Vents venus d'outre-mer (1906); Histoires naturelles (1906, orch. version by M. Rosenthal); Sur l'herbe (1907); Vocalise en forme d'Habanera (1907; also version for vn. and pf.); Tripatos (1909); 7 Chants populaires (1910–17; No.4, Chanson hébraique, orch. Delage); 2 Mélodies hébraiques (1914); 3 Chansons (1916); Ronsard à son âme (1924); Rêves (1927); Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932–3).UNACC VOICES: 3 Chansons (1915; also v. and pf.).PIANO: Menuet antique (1895); Pavane pour une infante défunte (1899); Jeux d'eau (1901); Sonatine (1905); Miroirs (1905); Gaspard de la Nuit (1908); Ma mère l'Oye (4 hands) (1908–10); Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn (1909); Valses nobles et sentimentales (1911); À la manière de (1) Borodin (2) Chabrier (1913); Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914–17).2 PIANOS: Sites auriculaires (1895–7, unpubd. but No.1, Habanera, was incorporated in Rapsodie espagnole 1907); Frontispiece (1918). (Ma mère l'Oye is for 1 pf., 4 hands.)TRANSCRIPTION, ETC. OF OTHER COMPOSERS: Chabrier: Menuet pompeux, orch. (1920); Debussy: Nocturnes, 2 pf. (1909), Prélude à L'après-midi d'un faune, 2 pf. (1910), Sarabande, orch. (1920), Danse, orch. (1923); Delius: vocal score of opera Margot-la-Rouge (1902); Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina, completed and orch. by Ravel and Stravinsky (mostly lost), Tableaux d'une Exposition (Pictures at an Exhibition), orch. 1922; Satie: Le Prélude du fils des étoiles, orch. 1913; Schumann: Carnaval, orch. 1914 (unpubd.).