2. Maurice Ravel
Born: March 7, 1875
Died: December 28, 1937
Maurice Ravel was born
Joseph-Maurice Ravel on
March 7, 1875, in Ciboure,
France, to a Basque mother
and a Swiss father.
He was musically gifted, so his
father arranged him to have
piano lessons. He entered the
Paris Conservatory where he
composed some of his most
renowed works.
3. Ravelโs pieces were very impressionistic and they stirred up
images of different moods and places. His music revolved
around fairytales and fantasies. His harmonies were subtle yet
ravishing. His music resulted from a variety of styles that
include French Baroque, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Spanish folk
traditions, and American jazz and blues.
His works were of extraordinary high quality, a mastermind of
melodies and orchestration, richly evocative harmonies, and
inventive instrumental textures and effects.
4. He worked at each composition until it was perfect and
never showed it to anybody until it was ready. His music is
always so personal, full of perfection and humor that nobody
can imitate it.
His works include the Pavane pour une infante defunte (Pavane
for a Dead Princess; the Jeux dโeau (1901), also known as
Fountains or Playing Water, a piece that Ravel dedicated to
Faure, the orchestral piece Bolero, the ballet Daphnis et Chloeโ,
commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev, and the La Valse.
6. Debussy walked to his own tune
instead of playing to what people
wanted.
Ravel played his music in order to
please the audience no matter
what his personal decision would
have been.
Debussy had more of a French
influence to his music no matter
what style was considered in at
the time.
Ravel grew with the times and
adjusted his music to fit the
changing times.
Debussy did put his all into his
music while also expecting
Ravel perfected his music, but
always seemed to hold back
7. Wrapping Up
- The 20th century is a period of great expansion and
development brought by the advancement in technology. This
century leads to wide experimentation of new musical forms
and styles.
- Impressionism is a French movement style borrowed from
painting which was started by Claude Debussy.
- French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel are
proponents of impressionistic movement who developed the
impressionistic style in music.
