Ravel, Maurice << ruh VEHL, moh REES >> (1875-1937), was a French composer. Ravel’s music is finely crafted, and his piano music is especially brilliant. Many critics classify him as an Impressionist along with Claude Debussy. Indeed, Ravel’s piano works Mirrors (1906) and Gaspard de la nuit (1909) fall into the Impressionist category. However, Ravel’s music is generally less experimental than Debussy’s and relies more on the forms and mannerisms of earlier periods.
Ravel used Classical forms in his early String Quartet (1904) and Sonatine for piano (1906) and in his late Piano Concerto in G (1932). The Tomb of Couperin (1919) takes the form of a Baroque keyboard suite. His orchestral suite La Valse (1920) paints an exaggerated portrait of the Viennese waltz of the 1800’s. A more modern influence, jazz, can be found in portions of the Concerto for Left Hand (1932) for piano. Ravel was especially known for his skill as an orchestrator. In addition to his own compositions, his orchestration in 1922 of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is a standard symphonic work. Ravel’s works for the stage include the comic opera The Spanish Hour (1911) and the ballet Daphnis and Chloe (1912).
Joseph Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, near the Spanish border, on March 7, 1875. A Spanish influence appears in such works as the orchestral Spanish Rhapsody (1907), the opera The Spanish Hour, and Ravel’s famous ballet music Bolero (1928). Ravel died on Dec. 28, 1937.
