Maurice Ravel

:For other uses of Ravel, see Ravel (disambiguation).

Musical influence

Ravel considered himself in many ways a classicist. He relied on traditional forms and structures as ways of presenting his new and innovative harmonies. He often masked the sections of his structure with transitions that would disguise the beginnings of the motif. This is apparent in his Valses nobles et sentimentales — inspired by Franz Schubert's collections, Valses nobles and Valses sentimentales — where the seven movements begin and end without pause, and in his chamber music with many movements are in sonata-allegro form, hiding the change from developmental sections to recapitulation.

Related Topics:
Classicist - Harmonies - Valses nobles et sentimentales - Franz Schubert - Sonata-allegro form

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On the surface, he was influenced by Debussy, but also the music of Russia, Spain and the jazz music of the United States, as reflected in the movement titled Blues from his G major violin sonata. He also once stated that he had never written a piece not influenced by Edvard Grieg.

Related Topics:
Russia - Spain - Jazz - United States - Edvard Grieg

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Ravel has almost always been considered one of the two great French musical Impressionists (the other being Debussy), but in reality he is much more than a mere Impressionist. In his A la maniere de...Borodine (In the manner of...Borodine), Ravel plays with the ability to both mimic and remain original. In a more complex situation, A maniere de...Emmanuel Chabrier /Paraphrase sur un air de Gounod ("Faust IIeme acte"), Ravel takes on a theme from Gounod's Faust and arranges it in the style of Emmanuel Chabrier. Even in writing in the style of others, Ravel's own voice as a composer remained distinct.

Related Topics:
Musical Impressionists - Gounod - Faust - Emmanuel Chabrier

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Ravel wrote, in 1928, that composers should be aware of both individual and national consciousness. That year, Ravel had toured the United States and Canada by train performing piano recitals in the great concert halls of twenty-five cities. In their reluctance to take jazz and blues as a nationalistic style of music, he stated America's composers' "greatest fear is to find themselves confronted by mysterious urges to break academic rules rather than belie individual consciousness. Thereupon these musicians, good bourgeois as they are, compose their music according to the classical rules of the European epoch." When American composer George Gershwin met Ravel, he mentioned that he would have liked to study with the French composer if that were possible. The Frenchman retorted, "Why should you be a second-rate Ravel when you can be a first-rate Gershwin?"

Related Topics:
1928 - United States - George Gershwin

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His two piano concertos in many ways reflect the style of Gershwin. Of the Concerto in G, Ravel said the concertos of Mozart and Saint-Saëns served as his model. He intended to write an earlier concerto, Zazpiak Bat, but it was never finished. The Basque title for "Seven of One" reflects his Basque heritage, and this was a motto often used in connection with the idea of a Basque nation. Surviving notes and fragments also confirm that this naturally was to be heavily influenced by Basque music. Instead, Ravel abandoned the piece using its nationalistic themes and rhythms in some of his other pieces.

Related Topics:
Piano concerto - Concerto in G - Mozart - Saint-Saëns - Zazpiak Bat

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Ravel commented that André Gédalge, his professor of counterpoint, was very important in the development of his skill as a composer. As an orchestrator, Ravel studied the ability of each instrument carefully in order to determine the possible effects. This may account for the success of his orchestral transcriptions, both his of own piano works and those of other composers.

Related Topics:
André Gédalge - Counterpoint

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Ravel had very meticulously crafted manuscripts. Unfortunately, early printed editions of his works were prone to errors. Painstakingly, he would work with his publisher, Durand, in correcting them. In a letter, Ravel wrote that when proofing L'enfant et les sortilèges, after many other editors had proofread the opera, he could still find ten errors per page. Each piece was carefully crafted, although Ravel wished he could write the great quantity of works like the historical composers he admired. Igor Stravinsky once referred to Ravel as the "Swiss Watchmaker", a reference to the intricacy and precision of Ravel's works.

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