4. Synopsis
Claude Debussy was born into a poor family in France in 1862,
but his obvious gift at the piano sent him to the Paris
Conservatory at age 11, where his instructors and fellow
students recognized his talent but often found his attempts at
musical innovation strange. At age 22, he won the Prix de Rome,
which financed two years of further musical study in the Italian
capital. When he was just 22 years old, Debussy entered his
cantata L'Enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Child) in the Prix de
Rome, a competition for composers.
18. Synopsis
• Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875, in
Ciboure, France. Ravel was admitted to the Paris
Conservatoire at age 14, and later studied with
Gabriel Fauré. His ballet Daphnis et Chloé was
commissioned by Sergey Diaghilev. Other pieces
include the the orchestral works La
Valse and Boléro. Ravel remains the most widely
popular of all French composers. Ravel died in
Paris in 1937.
20. À la manière de
• This brief piece, together with "A la maniere
de Borodin", was Ravel's contribution to an
anthology by Alfredo Casella of pieces
written in the style of other composers.
Written in 1913, this was an homage to a
composer much admired by Ravel. The piece
is a paraphrase on a theme that appears in
Gounod's "Faust". It evokes the elegant style
of Chabrier in a waltz with lots of rubato with
a subtle touch of melancholy.
21. Alborada del Gracioso
• In 1918, almost 14 years after originally
composing the work, Maurice Ravel made an
orchestral version of Alborada del gracioso
(The Jester's Morning Serenade), the fourth
of the pieces that make up Miroirs (1904-
1905). While the original piano version
remains a recital favorite, the orchestral
version has enjoyed even greater popularity
as a concert-hall staple.
22. Boléro
• Boléro is easily its composer's most famous
work. It is famous to historians and record-
books for ostensibly containing the longest-
sustained single crescendo anywhere in the
orchestral repertory; it is famous to collectors of
anecdotes for having been humorously dubbed
a "piece for orchestra without music" by Ravel;
and it is famous to musicians and music lovers
for being both the most repetitive 15 minutes of
music they are likely to play/hear and also one
of the most absolutely well-composed 15 such
minutes.
23. Ballade de la reine morte d'aimer
• The "Ballade de la Reine morte d'aimer" reveals
some of his earliest influences, notably Wagner,
the Russian school, Chabrier, and Erik Satie.
Composed in 1893, this song betrays Ravel's first
meeting with Satie through its generous use of
modal harmonies. Opening in the Dorian mode
and remaining in the key of B-natural
throughout, it also reflects the ironic and archaic
flavor of the text by the little-known Belgian
author and journalist Roland de Marès (1874-
1955).
24. Gaspard de la nuit
• Though competent at the piano, Ravel was no virtuoso;
so, when he set out to compose a work for the
instrument that would be, in his own words, "more
difficult than [Balakirev's] Islamey," he drew heavily on
the brilliant pianistic style of Franz Liszt to fulfill his
ambition. The resulting three-part suite, Gaspard de la
nuit (1908), forever changed the technical landscape of
keyboard music. Perhaps pianist Alfred Cortot put it best
when he called the work "one of the most extraordinary
examples of instrumental ingenuity which the industry of
composers has ever produced."
