A few thoughts on Maurice Ravel, Part 1

Few composers have had their works played more times than Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937). In a brief lifetime of 62 years, Ravel managed to become, through patience, one of the world's best known and loved contemporary French composer. His scores are known for their crystal-like sheen that has a clarity of thought and purpose seldom seen in 20^th century music. True to his father's profession of being a Swiss watch maker, Ravel employed a perfection in orchestration seldom seen in classical composers. This high gloss hid the man's emotions although in a few works, this side came out briefly and tellingly.

Born in Ciboure, France to a Basque mother and a Swiss father (who was an inventor and industrialist), the parents provided a mentally stimulating childhood for their children. Ravel's father Joseph was a Swiss inventor whose completed projects included an early form of the internal combustion engine and a loop-the-loop invention called "the Whirlwind of Death" which remained popular with circuses around the world. Young Maurice was equally fond of his Basque mother who sang lovely folk songs from her region. The Ravel's (including favorite son Eduoard) moved to Paris shortly after Maurice's birth. There his brother would study to become an architect while Maurice studied piano with Henry Rhys while receiving his education in harmony, counterpoint and composition from Charles-Rene. Ravel made his debut as a pianist in 1889 at the age of fourteen.

Both of Ravel's parents encouraged his music activities, sending him to the Paris Conservatory where he majored in piano. However, instead of flourishing, his studies began to deteriorate for while he was a very gifted young man, he was judged to be rather heedless in his taking classes. Nevertheless, his father introduced Ravel to a café pianist named Erik Satie who would have an enormous influence both philosophically and musically. Although he was a highly skilled pianist, Maurice Ravel began showing a powerful interest in composition. He was fascinated by the music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakoff who had come to Paris to conduct his music at the Exposition Universelle in 1889. This was the year Ravel met his lifelong friend and musical champion, the Spanish pianist Riccardo Vines.

After not having earned a competitive medal in three years at the Conservatory, Ravel was dismissed in 1895. He turned down a professorship in Tunisia and returned to the Conservatory in 1898 and began studying with Gabriel Faure. For fourteen remarkable years, Ravel concentrated heavily on composing alone, establishing a bond of friendship with Faure that was to last the rest of Faure's life. Ravel also studied with Andre Gedalge from whom he learned much in the way of compositional techniques. He began studying each instrument of the orchestra carefully, trying to find out what each instrument was capable of playing. This proved enlightening to the young composer who later became one of the most sensitive of orchestrators among the great composers. His first significant work during this early period was a Habanera for two pianos which was later to become part of his Rapsody espagnole. His first published work was the Menuet antique which was premiered by his friend Riccardo Vines and later orchestrated. During 1899, Ravel worked on his first masterpiece "Scheherazade" which was greeted at its first performance with a mixture of boos and cheers. This would be the forecast for years to come for Ravel who would never curry favor with the critics in spite of his great reputation among musicians.

Around 1900, Ravel joined a group of young poets, writers, composers and musicians known as the "Apaches." The name translates as "hooligans" in French! This inspiring group met regularly every week to discuss their works intellectually and to perform their own compositions. One of Ravel's works which he submitted for the group's approval was his "Jeux d'eau" for piano as well as another piano work, the famous "Pavanne for a Dead Princess." Riccardo Vines was the pianist for work's world premiere in 1902. During this same period, Ravel tried to win the Prix de Rome several times but to no avail, primarily due to the ultra-conservative views of the director of the Paris Conservatory Theodor Dubois. So outraged were the public and students that Dubois was forced to resign and Ravel's friend Gabriel Faure was appointed the Conservatory's new director in 1905.

Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel's colleague in the Impressionist school of composition, first met in the 1890's. During 1900, Ravel was invited to visit Debussy at his home where they began discussing composition, musical values, etc. There was much playing at the piano of their compositions and a friendly acquaintanceship was established with pianist Riccardo Vines being their go-between in setting up times for their meetings. Both Ravel and Debussy attended concerts together and were seen at other public events although both were exact opposites of each other musically.

A flurry of activities kept Maurice Ravel busy in the pre-World War 1 era. There was the composition of his best known piano pieces "Miroirs" and his first opera "L'Heure espagnole" (The Spanish Hour) which expanded the use of percussion instruments. This expansion also inspired his composition of "Rapsodie espagnole" which was originally for two pianos but later orchestrated in a glorious pallette filled score for orchestra. This was followed by another work in 1910 with the original two-piano version of "Mother Goose" which was later orchestrated into a wonderful, child-like work that exposed the composer's tender, lyrical style.

In 1910, Ravel wrote his ballet "Daphnis and Chloe" for the Sergei Diaghilev ballet company. It took three years of arguments among Diaghilev, Feixian and Nijinsky plus Ravel for the work to take its final form for full orchestra and chorus. So exhaustive was the effort of composing this work that Ravel had the first of several health break-downs, this one lasting several months during which he wrote his difficult but exquisite Trio for violin, piano and cello.