Ravel

@& Ravel, Maurice Country Birth Death Period Composition Types

France Mar 7, 1875 in Ciboure, Basses-Pyrénées, France Dec 28, 1937 in Paris, France Modern All Works (118) Vocal Music (56) Keyboard Music (27) Choral Music (9) Orchestral Music (8) Chamber Music (7) Ballet Music (3) Concerto (3) Opera (2)

A French composer of great stature, Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was known for his melodic and tonal invention. Giving lie to the idea that turn-of-the-century trends in French music were divided between Impressionism and Wagnerian excess, Ravel's music avoids allegiance to either school, always speaking directly to the heart through subtle rhythm, exquisite melody, harmonic richness, and iridescent orchestration (the art of stacking partials in Ravel's Boléro, for instance, predates harmonic synthesis in electronic music by half a century). Ravel has certainly been associated with the Impressionist movement, as he has also with Neo-classicism, but neither of these elements accounts adequately for the variety of texture and inspiration characterizing his work. Although occasionally similar to Debussy's in a harmonic/melodic sense, Ravel's music is more transparent -- less blurred, and his extraordinary sense of cleanliness and articulation -perhaps anticipating some works of Stravinsky -- is coupled with a uniquely modern sense of timbre and sonority. Ravel's ballet Daphnis et Chloé, with its gently sustained, wordless vocal chorus amidst heavenon-earth sound-painting, is probably the finest synthesis of his aesthetic. Ravel's melodic abilities and method of making subtle timbre changes by harmonic shift (rather than loud/soft articulation) are beautifully amplified in his piano works, including the famous Sonatine, Gaspard de la Nuit, and in Concerto for Piano (for the left hand in D), which also contain some of his most advanced harmonic writing. The expansive La valse shows a more extroverted Ravel, with much of the same fine orchestral composition. The Quartet in F, with its rich, earthy melodies, shows perhaps a more intimate side of Ravel. Aside from orchestral staples like Daphnis et Chloé, Boléro, and La valse, Ravel's most influential compositions were those for the piano. Not a brilliant pianist himself, he nevertheless produced some of the most stunning, innovative, and idiomatic works ever written for the instrument. The occasionally fiendish difficulty of these works is always offset by great musical reward. Also worth noting are his charming opera, L'enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Enchantments) -- full of imaginative characterizations and musical effects -- and his many groups of songs for solo voice, of which the Chansons madécasses, Cinq mélodies populaires grecques, Chants populaires, and Don Quichotte à Dulcinée are the most popular. -- All Music Guide

Keyboard 1912 -1913 1913 1918 1900 1900 1900 1905 1902 1903 1908 1901 1908 -1910 1895 1904 1909 1904 -1905 1896 1899 1913 1892 -1893 1895 -1897 1903 -1905 1914 -1917 1898 1911 1888 1888

Character/Single-Movement/Miscellaneous Work for Keyboard Danse gracieuse de Daphnis, suite for piano Suite/Partita for Keyboard Frontispiece, for 2 pianos (5 hands) Music for Two Keyboards Fugue for (in four parts) in for piano in F Fugue for Keyboard major Fugue for for piano in D major Fugue for Keyboard Fugue for piano in F major Fugue for Keyboard Fugue for piano in C major Fugue for Keyboard Fugue for piano in E flat major Fugue for Keyboard Fugue for piano in E minor Fugue for Keyboard Keyboard Work with Descriptive or Unclassified Gaspard de la nuit, for piano Title Keyboard Work with Descriptive or Unclassified Jeux d'eau, for piano Title Ma mère l'oye, for piano, 4 hands (or orMusic for Four Hands at One Keyboard chestra) Menuet antique, for piano (or orchestra) Minuet for Keyboard Menuet in C sharp minor for piano Minuet for Keyboard Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn, for piano Minuet for Keyboard Keyboard Work with Descriptive or Unclassified Miroirs, for piano (or orchestra) Title Keyboard Work with Descriptive or Unclassified La parade, for piano Title Pavane pour une infante défunte, for piano Pavane for Keyboard (or orchestra) Prélude, for piano Prelude for Keyboard À la manière de. . . , for piano

Sérénade grotesque, for piano

Music for Keyboard

Sites auriculaires, for 2 pianos

Music for Two Keyboards

Sonatine for piano

20th/21st Century Sonata/Sonatina for Keyboard

Le tombeau de Couperin, for piano

Keyboard Work with Descriptive or Unclassified Title Waltz for Keyboard

Valse in D major for piano Valses nobles et sentimentales for piano (or Music for Keyboard orchestra) Variations on a theme by Grieg, for piano Variations for Keyboard Variations on a theme by Schumann, for piVariations for Keyboard ano

Chamber 1922 1905 1914

Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré, for violin & piano Introduction & Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet, & string quartet Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 70/1

Violin with Keyboard Music for String Quartet with Other Instrument(s) Trio for Keyboard and Two String Instruments

1920 -1922 1923 -1927 1897 1902 -1903

Sonata for violin & cello

Duo for Two String Instruments

Sonata for violin & piano No. 2

Violin with Keyboard

Sonata No. 1 for violin & piano

Violin with Keyboard

String Quartet in F major

Quartet for Four String Instruments