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Maurice Ravel (1875—1937)

1. Born in 1875 in the Basque region of France, Ravel began music lessons when he was six. At 14, he gave his earliest public piano recital. “As a child, I was sensitive to music,” noted Ravel, “to every kind of music.”

2. By 20, Ravel was something of a dandy – meticulous about his appearance and demeanor. He was a lifelong smoker and enjoyed good food, fine wine, and spirited conversation.

3. Ravel studied composition with Gabriel Fauré, whom he admired. Ravel generally had strong opinions on music and musicians, describing much of Beethoven’s works as “exasperating,” Wagner’s influence “pernicious,” and Berlioz’s harmony “clumsy.”

4. Debussy and Ravel admired each other’s music. However, Ravel occasionally criticized Debussy, particularly regarding his orchestration, “If I had the time, I would reorchestrate La Mer.”

5. In 1899, Ravel conducted his first orchestral piece, Shéhérazade, and was greeted by a raucous response of boos and applause. One critic described the composer as a “mediocrely gifted debutante… who will perhaps become something if not someone in about ten years, if he works hard.”

6. Ravel became a master orchestrator, carefully studying every musical instrument to determine their possibilities. His famous orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition brought Ravel substantial income.

7. Ravel began working on his ballet Daphnis et Chloé during 1909 as a commission from Diaghilev for the great dancer Nijinsky. It was not an easy project, and the reception was unenthusiastic. Stravinsky later called Daphnis et Chloé “one of the most beautiful products of all French music.”

8. The Pavane pour une infante defunte was written as a piano piece for Princesse Edmond de Polignac, whose father was Isaac Singer, the famous sewing machine manufacturer. Ravel went to great pains to point out, despite the title, the piece is not a funeral lament but “rather an evocation of the pavane that might have been danced by such a little princess as painted by Velazquez.”

9. Ravel spent World War I as a truck driver stationed at the Verdun front. The war caused him such deep distress, a number of important projects never came to fruition. He did manage, however, to complete Le Tombeau de Couperin with each movement dedicated to a friend who died in the war.

10. In 1932, Ravel suffered a blow to his head in a taxi accident. Afterwards he was frequently absent-minded. The remainder of his life was plagued by a malfunction of the brain probably caused by Pick’s disease, which increasingly affected his speech and movement. He died after a final, unsuccessful operation in 1937.