II
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was born March 7, 1875, in the town of Ciboure, in the department of the Basses-Pyrénées in the extreme southwest of France, close to the Spanish border. From early childhood, however, he lived in Paris. At the age of twelve his predisposition toward music asserted itself by his delight in the major seventh chord, which he employed with such insight later.[66] He was accordingly given lessons in piano-playing and composition. His earliest works were some variations on a chorale by Schumann, and the first movement of a sonata. In 1889 he entered the Paris Conservatory, where he studied the piano with de Bériot, harmony with Pessard, counterpoint and fugue with Gedalge, and composition with Fauré. Despite his application he did not meet with the success his efforts deserved. In 1901, however, he was awarded the second prix de Rome for his cantata Myrrha, and it is said that some of the jury favored him as a choice for the first prize. In the two following years he was unsuccessful, and in 1904 he did not attempt to compete. In 1905 he offered himself as candidate, but was refused permission. This exclusion, when he had already attracted much attention as a composer, which may have been partly due to his audacity in 'writing down' ironically to the reactionary jury of 1901, aroused protests of so violent a nature as to start an inquiry into conditions at the Conservatory, with the result that Théodore Dubois was forced to resign as director and Gabriel Fauré was appointed in his place. Since then Ravel has devoted himself entirely to composition and the record of his life is to be found most persuasively in his work. Ravel has served several times on the committee of the Société Nationale, and he is a charter member of the Société Musicale Indépendante.
Before proceeding to a consideration of Ravel's music, it may be well to enumerate the various influences he has undergone. The first was Chabrier, whose Trois Valses romantiques for two pianos aroused his admiration when scarcely more than a boy. Then, as in the case of Debussy, the fantastic personality and curious music of Erik Satie appealed to his imagination. Some of Fauré's harmonic procedures and some of his mannerisms, such as the abuse of sequence, have left their traces in the pupil. Some of Debussy's harmonic innovations have obviously affected Ravel, just as he has accepted his impressionism, but a careful study of the latter's works will show a definite line of cleavage in both particulars, beginning at an early stage of his career. The exoticism of the Neo-Russians and their sense of orchestral timbre have undoubtedly exercised a powerful charm over Ravel.
After some unpublished songs, and a Sérénade grotesque for piano composed in 1894, Ravel published his first music in 1895, a Menuet antique for piano, which Roland Manuel describes as 'a curious work in which are voluntarily opposed, so it seems, scholastic contrapuntal artifices and the most charming radicalism (hardiesses).' Ravel's next work was two pieces for two pianos entitled Les Sites Auriculaires, one a Habañera (1895), showing an astonishing harmonic independence for so young a composer, which was utilized later in the 'Spanish Rhapsody' for orchestra, the other Entre Cloches (1896), which is said to have been incorporated in La Vallée des Cloches, included in the piano pieces entitled Miroirs in 1896 also. Ravel composed the first of his published songs, Sainte, on a poem by Mallarmé, for which the music is charmingly archaic, somewhat in Fauré's manner, but not devoid of independence. In 1898 followed the 'Two Epigrams' for voice and piano, on texts by Clément Marot (fifteenth century), in which Ravel again appropriately employed an archaic idiom curiously intermingled with ninth chords. In this same year Ravel composed his first orchestral work, the overture Shéhérazade (performed by the National Society in the following year), which has never been published. Two piano pieces, a Pavane pour une infante défunte (1899), whose poignantly elegiac mood shows its composer in a new light as regards sensibility, and brilliant tour de force, Jeux d'eau (1901), full of harmonic novelty and strikingly original pianistic style, are both significant advances. It was the bold personality of the latter piece that served to expose and accentuate the ironic caricature of a sentimental style to be found in Myrrha which prejudiced a reactionary jury against him. A string quartet (1902-03) at once made a profound impression on account of the relative youth of its composer, for its command of a difficult medium, its polish and symmetry of form, its poetry and depth of sentiment. If the last two movements are inferior in substance and inspiration, the scherzo is piquant and novel, while the first movement, particularly in its poetic close, stands in the front rank of modern French chamber music literature. If the theme of the first movement by its harmonization in a sequence of seventh chords suggests Fauré, there is no denying the personality of the work as a whole. Three songs for voice and orchestra, Shéhérazade (1903), on poems by Tristan Klingsor (pseudonym for Tristan Leclère), are unequal, but the first, Asie, reflects the varied exoticism of its text with sympathetic charm.
Five pieces for piano entitled Miroirs (1905) present Ravel's individuality in a clear light as regards his impressionistic method. Without the maturity of a later collection of piano pieces, they reflect, as their title indicates, various aspects of nature with the illusion demanded by impressionistic method, and at the same time exhibit profundity of insight and delineative poetry. The foundation of Ravel's thematic treatment, unusual pianistic idiom, his personal harmonic flavor, and his personal sentiment are all to be found therein. In these pieces no trace is to be found of external influence; the composer speaks in his own voice. Oiseaux tristes, a melancholy landscape with some realistic touches; Une barque sur l'Océan, broadly impressionistic sketch of large dimensions; Alborada del Graciosa, exhibiting that Spanish exoticism which has often tempted Ravel; and La Vallé des Cloches, of sombre yet highly poetic atmosphere, are the most striking. A sonatina for piano of the same year pleases by the polish of its form, its successful correlation of detail and the individuality of its contents. A humorous song, 'The Toy's Christmas' (also 1905), later provided with orchestral accompaniment, is an ingenious and vivacious trifle.
In 1906 Ravel reasserted his gifts as a delicate realist with the songs entitled 'Natural Histories,' on texts by Jules Renard. With a musical imagery that is at once ironic and replete with sensitive observation, Ravel depicts the peacock, the cricket, the swan, and other birds. An Introduction and Allegro (1906) for harp with accompaniment of string quartet, flute and clarinet is chiefly remarkable for the grateful virtuosity with which the harp is treated. In 1907 Ravel showed at once technical mastery of the orchestra and a skillful reproduction of Spanish atmosphere with a 'Spanish Rhapsody,' which is both brilliant and poetic. This work must be considered with Chabrier's España and Debussy's Ibéria as one of the graphic pictures of exoticism in French musical literature. To this same year belongs 'The Spanish Hour,' text by Franc Nohain entitled a 'musical comedy' (but not in our sense), in which Ravel attempted to revive the manner of the opera buffa. The comedy contains inherent improbabilities and the text is often far from inspiring, but Ravel has written ingenious, humorous and poetic music which far exceeds the book in value. This opera presents a running commentary in the orchestra on a few motives, leaving the voices to declaim with freedom, while the brilliant and picturesque orchestration adds greatly to vivacity and charm of the music.
In 1908 Ravel composed a set of four-hand pieces, 'Mother Goose,' of ingenuity, humor, and poetic insight. These pieces have since been orchestrated with incomparable finesse and knowledge of instrumental resource, forming an orchestral suite, and, with the addition of a prelude and various interludes, they have also been transformed into a ballet. In 1908, also, Ravel composed three poems for the piano, Gaspard de la Nuit, on prose fragments by Aloysius Bertrand, which in technical style and contents mark the acme of his achievement in literature for the piano. Ondine and Scarbo, the first and third of these pieces, illustrate their 'programs' with an illuminating poetry that is both brilliant and profound in insight. The second, Le Gibbet, with a persistent pedal note in the right hand over extraordinarily ingenious harmonies, possesses a genuinely sinister and tragic depth.
These poems contrast sharply with Debussy's Images of the same year. The latter are more obviously impressionistic, but Ravel has disposed his uncanny technical equipment with such expressive mastery and such interpretative vitality as to fear no comparison with the older composer. If by contrast the Valse nobles et sentimentales (1910) for piano are agreeable jeux d'esprit, they none the less possess qualities that win our admiration. Frank boldness of style, fantastic irony, and sentimental poetry go hand in hand, united by a grateful piano idiom. The epilogue in particular, with its reminiscences of various waltzes, gives a formal continuity which relieves the set as a whole from any charge of disjointedness.
Ravel's masterpiece is his 'choreographic symphony' Daphnis et Chloé (1906-11), first performed by Diaghilev's Russian Ballet in 1912. In this work Ravel disproves emphatically the possible charge that he is a composer of miniatures, for from the formal aspects it shows continuity and coördination of development in the symphonic manipulation of its motives. Dramatically it is in remarkable accord with the atmosphere, the action and the development of the scenario by the famous ballet-master and author of plots Michel Fokine. The music not only possesses interpretative vitality on a far larger scale than Ravel has ever shown before, but, aside from its astonishing brilliancy and its coloristic poetry, it has a contrapuntal vigor of invention and treatment which are absolutely convincing. From the harmonic standpoint Ravel has attained a new freedom and an elastic suppleness of idiom that is bewildering. His treatment of a large orchestra, augmented by the use of a mixed chorus behind the scenes, is vitally brilliant and marvellously poetic even in the light of his previous achievements. All in all, Daphnis et Chloé is one of the most significant dramatic works of recent years, and can worthily be placed side by side with Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande and Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-bleue for its intrinsic merits and historical attributes.
For some years Ravel has been engaged upon a setting of Hauptmann's Versunkene Glocke. It is also announced that he is at work upon a trio, a concerto for piano on Basque themes, and an oratorio, Saint François d'Assise. With his recent successes in mind, these projected works engage a lively expectation.
In conclusion, it must be acknowledged that Ravel cannot, like Debussy, claim to be a pioneer. He was fortunate in being enabled to profit by the swift development of new idioms, to absorb the exuberance of Chabrier, the suave mysticism of Fauré, the illuminating impressionism of Debussy, and the scintillant exoticism of the Neo-Russians. But, while he owes no more to his predecessors than Debussy, he has had the advantage of having matured his style at an age which was relatively in advance of Debussy. It must be recognized that as a whole Ravel's music lies nearer the surface of the human heart than Debussy's. It is not usual to find that depth of poetry or of human sentiment which distinguishes so considerable a portion of Debussy's music. Ravel, on the other hand, is more expansive in his scope; he captivates us with his humor, his irony, his dappling brilliancy, and with an almost metallic grasp in execution of a pre-conceived plan. His harmonic transformations exert a literal fascination, though their technical facility obscures their purpose, but underneath there is seldom an inner deficiency of sentiment. If his impressionism is tinged with quasi-realistic effects, there is no lack of genuine homogeneity of style. In fact, his skillful blending of the two tendencies is one of the chief features of his originality. In such works as the Pavane, the first movement of the String Quartet, in Asie from Shéhérazade, in La Vallée des Cloches, in Ondine and Le Gibbet, and in many episodes of Daphnis et Chloé Ravel offers a convincingly human sentiment which only emphasizes his essential versatility of expression. For in his characteristic vein of ironic brilliance and fantastic subtlety he carries all before him.