Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, France, on March 7, 1875. After
studying music with private teachers in Paris he entered the Paris
Conservatory in 1889, remaining there fifteen years, and proving himself
a brilliant (if at times an iconoclastic) student. While still at the
Conservatory his _Menuet antique_ for piano was published, and _Les
Sites auriculaires_ for two pianos was performed. By the time he left
the Conservatory he was already a composer of considerable stature,
having completed two remarkable compositions for the piano—_Pavane pour
une Infante défunte_ and _Jeux d’eau_, both introduced in 1902—and an
unqualified masterwork, the String Quartet, first performed in 1904. The
fact that a composer of such attainments had four times failed to win
the Prix de Rome created such a scandal in Paris that the director of
the Paris Conservatory, Théodore Dubois, was compelled to resign. But
Ravel’s frustrations from failing to win the Prix de Rome did not affect
the quality of his music. In the succeeding years he produced a
succession of masterworks: the ballet _Daphnis and Chloe_, its première
by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in Paris on June 8, 1912; the
_Spanish Rhapsody_ (_Rapsodie espagnole_) for orchestra; the suite
_Miroirs_, for piano. During World War I, Ravel served at the front in
an ambulance corps. After the war, he withdrew to his villa in Montfort
l’Amaury where he lived in comparative seclusion, devoted mainly to
creative work. Nevertheless, in 1928, he toured the United States,
making his American debut in Boston with the Boston Symphony on January
12, 1929; Ravel died in Paris on December 28, 1937, following an
unsuccessful operation on the brain.
One of the most significant of Impressionists after Debussy, Ravel was
the creator of music that is highly sensitive in its moods, elegant in
style, exquisite in detail, and usually endowed with the most stunning
effects of instrumentation, rhythm, and harmony. Some of his best-known
works derive their inspiration and material from Spanish sources. It is
one of these that is probably his most popular orchestral composition,
and one of the most popular of the 20th century, the _Bolero_. A
“bolero” is a Spanish dance in ¾ time accompanied by clicking castanets.
Ravel wrote his _Bolero_ in 1928 as ballet music for Ida Rubinstein who
introduced it in Paris on November 22, 1928. But _Bolero_ has since then
separated itself from the dance to become a concert hall favorite. When
Toscanini directed the American première in 1929 it created a sensation,
and set into motion a wave of popularity for this exciting music
achieved by few contemporary works. It was performed by every major
American orchestra, was heard in theaters and over radio, was reproduced
simultaneously on six different recordings. It was transcribed for every
possible combination of instruments (including a jazz band); the word
“Bolero” was used as the title of a motion picture. Such immense appeal
is not difficult to explain. The rhythmic and instrumental virtuosity of
this music has an immediate kinaesthetic effect. The composition derives
its immense impact from sonority and changing orchestral colors. The
bolero melody has two sections, the first heard initially is the flute,
then clarinet; the second is given by the bassoon, and then the
clarinet. This two-part melody is repeated throughout the composition
against a compelling rhythm of a side drum, all the while gradually
growing in dynamics and continually changing its colors chameleon-like
through varied instrumentation. A monumental climax is finally realized,
as the bolero melody is proclaimed by the full orchestra.
Another highly popular Ravel composition has a far different
personality—the _Pavane pour une Infante défunte_ (_Pavane for a Dead
Infante_). Where the appeal of the _Bolero_ is strong, direct, immediate
and on the surface, that of the Pavane is subtle, elusive, sensitive. A
Pavane is a stately court dance (usually in three sections and in ⁴/₄
time) popular in France. Ravel’s _Pavane_ is an elegy for the death of a
Spanish princess. Ravel wrote this composition for piano (1899) but he
later transcribed it for orchestra. An American popular song was adapted
from this haunting melody in 1939, entitled “The Lamp Is Low.”