A master orchestrator, Maurice Ravel was one of we most influential composers of the century.
Maurice Ravel was one of the eminent composers of the century, bringing a distinctive style and craftsmanship to his masterful orchestral, piano, vocal, and chamber works. Like his contemporary and fellow Frenchman DEBUSSY, Ravel has remained consistently popular with orchestras and audiences alike.
Ravel was born on March 7, 1875, in the Pyrenees region of France. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Paris where he was based for the rest of his life, although he did travel abroad in Europe and to America in 1928. He began his piano studies at the Paris Conservatory in 1889, winning a First Medal in 1891. Between 1897 and 1899 he studied composition with Gabriel FAURE, and was awarded second place for composition in the Prix de Rome in 1901.
By 1905 Ravel had already written some outstanding works, including the solo piano piece Pavane pour une infante défunte (1899), which was transcribed for orchestra in 1910. Other notable works from this early part of his life include his String Quartet in F Major (1902–03); Sheherazade, for voice and orchestra (1903), which includes the beautiful La flute enchantée; the solo piano work Miroirs (1904–05); and Introduction et allegro, for harp, flute, clarinet, and strings (1905). Taken together, these works, completed by the time Ravel was 30 years old, confirm a remarkable musical personality with highly individual qualities.
In 1908, Ravel completed his Rapsodie espagnole, following it up two years later with the comic opera L’Heure espagnole. Ravel’s attraction to the music of Spain can be traced to the influence of Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–94), who had a profound effect on Ravel’s work. This period of the composer’s life also saw him compose two ballets, Daphnis et Chloé (1909–12) and Ma mere Voye (Mother Goose, 1912), the former being the result of a commission from the Russian impresario Sergey Diaghilev.
Ravel was declared unfit to serve in World War I, but became a driver with the transport corps. He fell ill with dysentery and was sent back to Paris. Shortly afterwards his mother died, which was a shattering blow to the composer. These two events had a traumatic effect on his personality. Ravel became an intensely private man who never formed close relationships with anyone else.
A master orchestrator, Maurice Ravel was one of we most influential composers of the century.
After the death of his mother, Ravel’s emotional life seemed to become increasingly centred on childhood and its private magic. This made him a sympathetic reader of Venfant et les sortileges, a short story by Colette in which a child’s toys come magically to life. Ravel turned the story into an opera, although the process took him seven years, with the composer finally completing the task in 1925.
Ravel’s numerous orchestral works include Alborada del gracioso, taken from the piano work Miroirs (1918); Le tombeau de Couperin (1919); La Valse (1920); Tzigane, for violin and orchestra (1924); Piano Concerto in D Major, for the left hand (1929–30); and the Piano Concerto in G Major (1929–31), which makes use of American jazz rhythms. Outstanding among his chamber works is the song cycle claimed by STRAVINSKY to be Ravel’s most provocative and significant composition, Trois poemes de Stephane Mallarme, for soprano, two flutes, two clarinets, string quartet, and piano (1913).
Whatever style Ravel chose to write in, his orchestration was invariably of the highest quality, comparable with that of SCRIABIN, Debussy, Richard STRAUSS, and Stravinsky. Between them, these five composers offer some of the richest of all orchestration, taking the 19th-century orchestra to its greatest heights of opulence of sound and tone colour, and demanding a high degree of instrumental virtuosity from each member of the orchestra. Ravel also created orchestral versions of several of his compositions for solo piano, including the Pavane pour une infante defunte. At the same time, he worked in the opposite direction: his La valse, for two pianos (1921), was based on an earlier orchestral work, and in 1930 he scored a version of his acclaimed ballet Bolero (1928), also for two pianos.
In 1922, Ravel orchestrated Mussorgsky’s 1874 composition for piano, Pictures at an Exhibition, which is a tour de force in timbre experimentation. The ballet Daphnis et Chloe is another prime example of Ravel’s orchestration, filled with unique timbre combinations and subtle dynamic shades.
Ravel was active as a composer during the first three decades of the 20th century, a time when most composers of his musical talent and stature were struggling to pull away from the conventions of tonality. Ravel, by contrast, seemed content with the old approach to tonality, though he did experiment with bitonality (using two keys simultaneously) once, in LEnfant et les sortilèges. But that does not, of course, mean that his approach lacked imagination. His Pavane illustrates one of his most ingenious harmonic devices: when the beautiful though simple opening melody returns later in the piece, it now has a new harmonic accompaniment. This device can be heard, perhaps to an even greater extent, in his String Quartet.
Ravel and his near contemporary Debussy are often grouped together as “Impressionists,” a term derived from painting, where it referred to an attempt to convey the impression of a scene rather than a precise depiction. In fact, Ravel and Debussy differed in important respects, most notably in their approach to the whole-tone scale. But impressionistic elements can be found in some of Ravel’s music, such as Jeux d’eau, for solo piano (1901), Miroirs (in particular Une barque sur I’ocean), and Daphnis et Chloe.
Ravel claimed that his greatest goal as a composer was to achieve technical perfection. It was in reference to this that Stravinsky once referred to him as a Swiss watch-maker, paying tribute to his intricate precision.
In Ravel’s love of clarity in melody, harmony and form we can see one of the more obvious differences between his music and that of Debussy, the arch-impressionist. This tendency also led Ravel to return to earlier forms, as Stravinsky also did occasionally.
In Ravel’s early works for piano, too, such as Menuet antique (1895) and Pavane pour une infante defunte, we can hear his attraction to earlier music. Another example is the later piano suite, Le tombeau de Couperin, which is based on 18th-century dance forms.
Ravel’s use of harmony was almost invariably clear and uncomplicated He showed no interest in the more adventurous experiments of his contemporaries although his chords are often dissonant and coloured with chromatic notes. He also mostly employed time-honoured musical forms, such as sonata form.
During his lifetime, Ravel received acclaim from both performers and audiences alike for most of his published works. And this reputation has endured. Although he was working at his peak when most gifted and adventurous composers were attempting to pull free of conventional tonality, Ravel happily embraced tonality and maintained his solid relationship with it.
In his last years Ravel suffered from the progressively debilitating Pick’s disease, and he died on December 28, 1937.
Richard Trombley
SEE ALSO:
BALLET AND MODERN DANCE MUSIC; IMPRESSIONISM IN MUSIC; ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
FURTHER READING
Larner, Gerald. Maurice Ravel (London: Phaidon, 1996);
Nichols, Roger. Ravel Remembered (New York: W. W. Norton, 1988).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Alborada del gracioso; Bolero-, Carmen Fantasies-, Daphnis et Chloe; Gaspard de la nuit; Mother Goose Suite; Pavane pour une infante défunte; Rapsodie espagnole; Tzigane; La valse; Valses nobles et sentimentales.