Maurice Ravel, 1925 (Bilbioteque Nationale de France)
Maurice Ravel was one of the great mainstays of musical life in Paris of the 1920s. He personified a respect for the greatness of France’s musical past alongside his advocacy of modern techniques of musical composition. He was often thought of mistakenly as a mere imitator of his older rival, impressionist composer Claude Debussy. Ravel had flirted with impressionism as a young composer, but when it fell out of fashion following Debussy’s death in 1918, Ravel continued to develop a range of alternative styles. Among his later masterpieces was Bolero (1928), one of the most beloved orchestral compositions ever written.
Musicologist and pianist Daniel Freeman explores the musical genius and virtuosity of Ravel in lively discussions highlighted by recordings and live piano performances.
9:30 to 10:45 a.m. A Life Lived for Music
Ravel was born in a Basque town in 1875, but as an infant moved with his parents to Paris, where he would be centered for the rest of his life. He was a brilliant student at the Paris Conservatory, and after struggling for recognition in the early years, he was acknowledged as one of France’s leading composers in France before the outbreak of World War I. His ballet Daphnis et Chloé was performed by the Ballets Russes in 1912. Music he composed in the 1920s include La valse, Bolero, and Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. His health began to deteriorate in 1932 and he died in Paris in 1937.
11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Musical Styles and Interests
Ravel’s musical interests were quite eclectic. Along with evocative piano pieces in impressionist style in his early years, such as Jeux d’eau and the Miroirs, he wrote subtle re-interpretations of pre-19th-century modes of expressions, inlcluding his Sonatine for piano and the piano suite Le tombeau de Couperin. Bolero, Rhapsodie espagnole for orchestra, the opera L’heure espagnole, and the Alborada del gracioso for piano reflect his enduring fascination with Iberian music. The Sonata for Violin and Piano from the mid-1920s reveal a surprising interest in American popular music.
12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Lunch (participants provide their own)
1:30 to 2:45 p.m. Ravel’s 1920s Masterpieces, Part 1
The leading exponent of neo-classicism active in Paris in the 1920s was Igor Stravinsky, but Ravel’s neo-classical compositions from the same era also resonate with modern audiences, including the Sonata for Violin and Piano (mid-1920s) and the opera L’enfant et les sortilèges (1925).
3 to 4:15 p.m. Ravel’s 1920s Masterpieces, Part 2
Ravel’s ethnic evocations are the basis of several enduring favorites with modern concert audiences. Bolero, based on Spanish dance music, is constructed with deceptively simple and repetitive musical elements. The Tzigane for violin and orchestra, written in 1924, suggests the gypsy style. La valse offers an interesting and fresh mix of Viennese and Parisian waltz styles.
