RAVEL THE ECLECTIC:A Man of Many Flavors

Lucas AbegglenDecember 4, 2014

1

2

Maurice Ravel is primarily known for his work in the impressionist idiom, but he touched

on a plethora of musical styles and genres within his compositions. A relentless craftsman, he

certainly fits the description of dandyism given by Michael J. Puri, who says, “the dandy is an

artist whose artwork is ‘his life itself’”1. Ravel soaked in a plethora of experience and color

throughout his life, influences which manifested in his unique and renowned compositional style.

His style features melody dominant work, with modal and colorful harmony underneath. Clearly

not contented with one style, however, his music searches for the exotic influence – particularly

from Spain, the Orient, and from American jazz. Ultimately, Ravel was able to establish himself

as a musical legend in the way that he was able to use his personal account to begin to shape his

compositional style. Yet, it was in his successful exploration of flavors and musical ideas beyond

his cultural sphere that mark his success as an eclectic and versatile composer.

Ravel’s upbringing—particularly his mixed heritage, musical schooling, and war

experience—is important to understanding the world from which he emerged as a musician.

“Maurice-Joseph Ravel was born on March 7, 1875, at Ciboure, a small fishing port in the

Basses-Pyrenees between St. Jean-de-Luz and the Spanish frontier. He was of mixed Swiss-

Basque descent; Swiss on his father’s side, Basque on his mother’s”2. From birth, Ravel was

thrust into a world shaped by a blend of cultures, and his mixed heritage foreshadows the passion

he had for the exotic in his music. Shortly after his birth, Ravel’s family moved to Paris, and he

began study at the Paris Conservatory in 18893. The repertoire he learned for his keyboard

examinations included pieces by Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Weber4. Thus, from an early age,

1 Michael J. Puri, Ravel the Decadent: Memory, Sublimation, and Desire, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 85.2 Rollo H. Myers, Ravel: Life and Works, (New York: Greenwood Press, Inc., 1977), 13.3 Mark A. Radice, Chamber Music: An Essential History, (Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2012), 186.4 Arbie Orenstein, Ravel, Man and Musician, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975), 15.

3

Ravel was exposed to the harmonies and techniques of past music. Moreover, intently studying

and soaking in the musical flavors of those composers proved influential in his future

compositions. Ravel’s talent was not always unanimously recognized, however. He was

eventually dismissed from the Conservatory in 1895 due to a lack of piano skills5, and more

significantly, he repeatedly failed to win the coveted Prix de Rome prize. Noting these failures in

the scheme of Ravel’s eventual success illustrates his ability to continue to improve his craft

regardless of setbacks.

Certainly the most publicized setback of Ravel’s compositional career was his failure to

win the Prix de Rome prize. Not letting his first three unsuccessful attempts to win the prize from

1901 to 1903 deter him, Ravel competed again in 19056. His attempt was met with the judges’

shocking decision “to exclude him from the final trial, thus preventing a candidate who had been

successful four years earlier from competing”7. Only adding to the controversial circumstance

was the fact that “all the candidates approved were found to be pupils of the same Lenepveu who

sat on the jury”8. Furthermore, the majority of Parisian society was deeply perturbed by the

decision: “The scandal passed beyond musical circles. The press outside echoed it”9. In spite of

the decision, however, Ravel produced Jeux d’eau and Scheherazade, works that were only the

beginning of the diverse and influential collection he would eventually compose10. While the

decision to exclude Ravel struck a mighty chord with his surrounding supporters, it seems not to

have made any dent in Ravel’s compositional confidence. In fact, it was amid those failures that

5 Radice, Chamber Music, 186.6 M. Roland-Manuel, Maurice Ravel, trans. Cynthia Jolly, (London, UK: Dobson Books Ltd., 1972), 38.7 Roland-Manuel, Maurice Ravel, 38.8 Roland-Manuel, Maurice Ravel, 39.9 Roland-Manuel, Maurice Ravel, 39.10 Roland-Manuel, Maurice Ravel, 38.

4

he produced a brilliant piano piece in Jeux d’eau and one of his first explorations into the

exoticism that would later be integral to his compositional sphere in Scheherezade.

While Ravel squashed any effect that the Prix de Rome scandal might have had on his

persona, he was by contrast deeply affected by his time at war. A man who could have claimed

many different heritages, Ravel exemplified a fierce French nationalism during wartime. Arbie

Orenstein writes, “Ravel was determined to serve his country”11. Moreover, “during the First

World War he was not in the trenches, but neither was he very far behind them: he served as a

truck and ambulance driver, tending the wounded and constantly within sound, and often within

range, of the guns”12. Ravel was not only involved in the French military, but he wedged himself

into the thick of the action. The death of several of his friends in the war, along with his own

military involvement, led to his renowned piano suite Le tombeau de Couperin13. There was,

therefore, no shortage of surrounding influence upon Ravel’s life. Factors such as his mixed

heritage, musical training, and wartime experience fashioned the unique world from which Ravel

emerged as a composer. It was from that context that Ravel emerged to make his compositional

mark.

Ravel produced a unique and vast compositional canon, writing pieces in a variety of

styles and genres, but he primarily focused on melody, modality, and innovative rhythms. When

analyzing Ravel’s compositional style, there is likely nothing more revealing than the way

Stravinsky looked upon him. Roger Nichols writes that Stravinsky thought of Ravel as “the most

perfect of Swiss clockmakers”14. Seemingly odd, Stravinsky’s comparison is actually a high

praise of the intense mechanical skill that Ravel implemented in his work, both composition and

11 Orenstein, Ravel, Man and Musician, 72.12 Paul Roberts, Reflections: the piano music of Maurice Ravel, (Milwaukee, WI: Amadeus Press, 2012), 107.13 Roberts, Reflections, 108.14 Roger Nichols, Ravel, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011), 1.

5

orchestration. Ravel even claimed, “My objective…is technical perfection. I can strive

unceasingly to this end, since I am certain of never bring able to attain it”15. Ravel here provides

an important insight into his scrupulous compositional process, regardless of genre or type of

piece. His mechanical approach to composing, however, does not diminish the beauty of his

music. Alexis Roland-Manuel’s opinion highlights the striking lyricism of Ravel’s compositions:

“Among the fundamentals of Ravel’s style, melody must obviously be considered first”16. A

composer of countless cantabile melodies, Ravel was using his mechanical process to create

beauty.

Beneath his melodies, Ravel typically wrote with modal harmony. Roland-Manuel claims

that Ravel had a particular affinity for the Phrygian and Dorian modes, especially the latter17.

Bolero is a terrific example of his use of the Phrygian mode, as it is the dominant harmonic scale

of the piece18. Another prominent feature of Ravel’s harmonic vocabulary is his use of 9ths,

particularly dominant 9ths. They are especially apparent in the way that “they acquire relief and

enrichment from internal pedals, appoggiaturas and constant acciaccaturas”19. 9th chords feature

two extended color tones on top of a triad, so when moving from 9th chord to 9th chord, there will

often be repeated notes. Those repeated notes provide opportunity for appoggiaturas and

sustained notes that resolve on off beats. Those kinds of harmonic tools serve to create the

impressionistic, soft-edged sound that is so often associated with Ravel. Ravel’s Jeux d’eau

provides several examples of the use of 9ths, even featuring an arpeggiated E major 9 chord to

begin the piece20. His use of modality—often switching between modal scales—and 9ths creates

15 Peter Kaminsky, Unmasking Ravel: New Perspectives on the Music, (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2011), 50.16 Roland-Manuel, Maurice Ravel, 111.17 Roland-Manuel, Maurice Ravel, 112.18 Ravel, Bolero.19 Roland-Manuel, Maurice Ravel, 115.20 Bryan J. Simms, Music of the Twentieth Century, (New York: Schirmer Books, 1986), 10.

6

an open and vast harmony. Particularly in the case of Jeux d’eau, the flowing arpeggios

compound the extended color tones of his chords, creating an incredibly smooth and magical-

sounding aesthetic. Thus, while Ravel was known for his rigid, meticulous compositional

method, he still produced a body of work that featured colorful and free-sounding harmony.

Ravel’s rhythmic exploitations are also noteworthy. Stephen Zank writes, “Ravel’s

rhythm, exuberant and diverse, often manifests syncopation as well as the horizontal alternation

and/or juxtaposition of meters”21. This draws attention to Ravel’s mastery of rhythm and ability

to present it as, itself, a distinguishable feature of a particular piece of music. In his orchestral

works Bolero and Pavane pour une infant Defunte, Ravel uses a mechanical percussive rhythm

for the former and subtle syncopation for the latter. This adds yet another texture to the music,

best presenting his musical vision22,23. Zank writes further that Ravel even wrote polyrhythms in

a formalized way24. Ravel clearly wrote with rhythmic intention and a willingness to explore all

the complexities that rhythms can present. Moreover, his mastery of rhythm added another

dimension to his already textured music.

Ravel’s affinity for rhythmic exploration parallels his apodictic tendency to explore

surrounding cultures, which created the most significant feature of his compositions: exoticism.

Timothy D. Taylor provides the context for Ravel’s plethora of work in the exotic style, writing,

“Europe’s others were increasingly introduced to Europeans through a new form of consumer

culture…thanks in part to international expositions, the ‘exotic’ was increasingly consumed,

increasingly viewed as a stimulus of fantasy”25. There was already precedent for exploring

21 Stephen Zank, Irony and Sound: The Music of Maurice Ravel, (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2009), 96.22 Maurice Ravel, Bolero, (Paris: Durance & Cie., 1929).23 Maurice Ravel, Pavane pour une infant Defunte, (Mineola: Dover Publications, 2001).24 Zank, Irony and Sound, 96.25 Timothy D. Taylor, Beyond Exoticism: Western Music and the World (Refiguring American Music), (North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2007), 89-90.

7

surrounding cultures by the time Ravel started composing, but the influence of the exotic was, in

fact, present for him as early as his infancy. Paul Roberts quotes Ravel recounting his childhood,

saying, “It was…the Spanish folk songs sung by my mother in the evening to rock me to sleep,

which formed my first musical education”26. Born in France to a Swiss-French father but

exposed to Spanish melody, Ravel was much like a cultural canvas, painted with various strokes

of cultural color from birth. Roberts continues, revealing how those evening melodies ultimately

manifested in Ravel’s composing, especially in the ambience of Bolero, which “Ravel referred to

later as ‘folk tunes of the usual Spanish-Arabian kind’”27. Roland-Manuel similarly refers to the

tunes Ravel’s mother sang, writing, “such was the music which the composer of L’Heure

Espagnole breathed in with his native air, and his mother’s voice infinitely prolonged its echoes

as she rocked her spoilt child to sleep; one day the artificial glitter of those Spanish ditties was to

evoke a Spain of dreams and illusions, the Spain of Maurice Ravel”28. Though his mother surely

did not realize the impact her lullabies would have, that strong Spanish influence found its way

into Ravel’s music nonetheless. Such influence and manifestation of Ravel’s culture is

characteristic of the plethora of sources from which Ravel pulled to color and enhance his

compositional style.

Spanish culture was not the only flavor of Ravel’s broad exotic palate, however, as his

music also shows a strong Oriental influence. Despite Ravel’s failure to ever actually travel to

the Orient, his fascination with it was still quite strong29. Ravel captured a strong Oriental flavor

with his modal harmonies as well as several specific melodic motions. Zank explains that in

“Asie” of Scheherezade, Ravel employs a modal harmony featuring the “haziest of dominant

26 Roberts, Reflections, 11.27 Roberts, Reflections, 12.28 Roland-Manuel, Maurice Ravel, 16.29 Deborah Mawer, The Cambridge Companion to Ravel, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 32.

8

9/13 chords”30 as well as “octatonic flavoring”31. Moreover, the piece showcases “a typical

swaying of minor and augmented seconds”32, which capture the exotic sound of the Orient.

Taylor affirms this, writing that the augmented second is a sound used by “composers for

centuries to represent the Oriental Other”33. Thus, Ravel was able to identify a particular musical

expression that captures the sound of the Orient and implement it in his music to exhibit that

flavor. Ravel’s exotic explorations were not limited to harmony and melody, however, as he

captured his desired sound with crafty and purposeful orchestration. Zank comments about

“Asie,” “Ravel again invoked the generic, Oriental timbre with a solo oboe in the opening

measures” as well as entering a solo voice in a “mysterious, alto range”34. The oboe was an

instrument composers used to approximate the sound of a zurna, a typical double-reed instrument

of Asia35. Therefore, Ravel not only transfused his music with notably Asian-sounding melody

and harmony, but also with a distinctly Asian-sounding instrument. He sought to provide that

authentic sound, and did so through careful harmonic and melodic structure supplemented by

clever orchestration.

Finally, Ravel’s exoticism includes an undeniably jazzy flavor. The influence of

American jazz reached Ravel’s ears by way of both “imported records during the Great War”36

and his American tour37. There is no question of Ravel’s exposure to the powerful harmonic

influence of jazz. Deborah Mawer writes, “Ravel translated an American jazz into his vernacular,

creating a French-accented and personalized practice”38. The influence of American jazz,

30 Zank, Irony and Sound, 191.31 Taylor, Beyond Exoticism, 94.32 Zank, Irony and Sound, 189.33 Taylor, Beyond Exoticism, 93.34 Zank, Irony and Sound, 189.35 Taylor, Beyond Exoticism, 94.36 Mawer, The Cambridge Companion to Ravel, 42.37 Arbie Orenstein, A Ravel Reader, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), 7-9.38 Deborah Mawer, Ravel Studies, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 114.

9

therefore, was obvious, but Ravel still used it within his own compositional idiom. Much like his

Orient-flavored music, Ravel captured jazz sounds through his use of harmony and melody, as

well as his orchestration. Melodically and harmonically, Ravel employed the “flexible melodic

bending of seventh and third scalic degrees”39. Moreover, Ravel used harmonic flavors such as

the “semitonal key combination of Ab and G major,” as found in his Sonata for Violin and

Piano, to capture a distinctly blues and jazz aesthetic40. Regarding his orchestration, Ravel used

clever instrumentation to resemble jazz ensembles. For example, “in L’Enfant, Ravel’s ragtime-

foxtrot is introduced by a small bandlike ensemble. Three trombones, bass clarinet,

contrabassoon, bass drum, percussion, voice, and piano are supplemented by upper winds”41.

Thus, Ravel emulated jazz styling within his more classical idiom through careful melodic and

harmonic deviations, as well as innovative instrument-family groupings in his orchestrations.

Ravel’s compositional style was strongly influenced by the exotic, but specific classical

composers equally influenced him, most of whom he spent time studying. Roland-Manuel writes

of Ravel: “he learnt the technique of the classics. He made a methodological analysis of the

scores of Liszt, Chopin, and Chabrier”42. Spending time studying the technique of the musical

figures before him instilled a classical foundation in Ravel’s musical perspective. Robert

Gartside echoes this, claiming, “as a composer, he was enormously innovative within traditional

musical parameters. Mozart was one of his principle models”43. Ravel clearly had a firm footing

in the classical idiom. His familiarity with and ability to implement classical technique is visible

in his compositions; he was a true neo-classical composer. A particular example of his classical

39 Mawer, Ravel Studies, 131.40 Mawer, The Cambridge Companion to Ravel, 42.41 Mawer, Ravel Studies, 125.42 Roland-Manuel, Maurice Ravel, 24.43 Robert Gartside and Maurice Ravel, Interpreting the Songs of Maurice Ravel, (Webster, NY: Leyerle Publications, 1992), 17.

10

background is his piano suite Le tombeau de Couperin. The song was a reflection on war, but it

was also an “homage to Couperin,”44, shown in the baroque techniques that Ravel incorporates.

For example, the second movement is a fugue, which is a harmonic tool far more reminiscent of

the Baroque than characteristic of his Impressionistic and Neo-classical styles. Roberts goes on,

describing the piece as “elegant, formal, and untroubled”45. Not only did Ravel honor a respected

Baroque composer, but he did so while remaining “faithful to his art as he conceived it”46. In

writing a piece such as Le tombeau de Couperin, especially in the midst of a repertoire featuring

sounds of jazz and Spanish melody, Ravel showed his versatility as a composer. He also

accomplished the difficult task of paying homage to the past while venturing forward with

innovation and creativity.

Another composer who influenced Ravel’s compositional style was Franz Liszt. The

piece that most noticeably shows an influence from Liszt is Ravel’s Jeux d’eau. Specifically,

Roberts notes, “Ravel uses Lisztian figurations to highlight a plethora of dissonances, largely in

the upper register of the piano”47. Furthermore, Ravel surely wrote Jeux d’eau’s sweeping

arpeggios mindful of the immense number of notes Liszt packed into his piano pieces. In fact,

Jeux d’eau seems to use Liszt’s own piece Les jeux d’eaux a la Villa d’Este as a significant

compositional model. Ravel, however, still made the piece completely his own. Roberts

mentions a particular distinction, “Ravel replaces Liszt’s spirituality with a conception of water

as sensation, at once tactile, aural and visual”48. Moreover, Ravel’s piece offers significantly

more progressive harmonic texture through its extended color chords and modality49 50. Jeux

44 Roberts, Reflections, 112.45 Roberts, Reflections, 112.46 Roberts, Reflections, 115.47 Roberts, Reflections, 30.48 Roberts, Reflections, 27.49 Simms, Music of the Twentieth Century, 10-22.50 Franz Liszt, Les jeux d’eaux a la Villa d’Este, (Leipzig: Breitopf & Hartel, 1916).

11

d’eau, a piece that revolutionized piano playing, is yet another example of Ravel exhibiting the

products of his influences while still forming his own distinct flavor and style.

Scholar Michael J. Puri has studied intensely to show Wagner’s influence on Ravel,

despite the fact that the two composers are often seen as antithetical to one another. In analyzing

Ravel’s Trio for piano, violin and cello, Puri exposes the Wagner’s influence on Ravel’s

compositional style, particularly in the “Passacaille” movement51. Puri comments, “Phrase 6 in

Ravel’s Passacaille is indebted to Wagnerian harmony, especially that found in the ‘Wehelaute’

from Parsifal”52. Puri further explains that Ravel’s use of a half-diminished seventh chord to

replace a chord with an expected tonic function is distinctly Wagnerian53. While subtle, these

examples highlight a particular harmonic scheme that Ravel expresses that was also expressed by

Wagner. The similarities extend to Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe as well. Puri finds a similarity in

the form, noting that Ravel’s piece follows a three part ABA’ format in the same way the

Wagner’s Parsifal does54. While three-part form is common in various strands of music, there is

a connection nonetheless between the two programmatic pieces. Furthermore, Puri reveals that

the “same half-diminished seventh chord on E# to interrupt the flow of music” is found in

Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe and Wagner’s Parsifal55. He further writes that it is “a gesture of

negation that epitomizes the Wagnerian sound from Tristan on”56. This example is much more

specific and shows a direct harmonic influence from Wagner on Ravel. Overall, the pieces are

quite different in general, but Puri’s insight shows Ravel’s ability to draw from even the most

unlikely sources and to shape such influences to enhance his own compositions.

51 Michael J. Puri, “The Passion of the Passacaille: Ravel Wagner, Parsifal,” Cambridge Opera Journal 25, no. 3 (November 2013), 306.52 Puri, “The Passion of the Passacaille”, 309.53 Puri, “The Passion of the Passacaille”, 309.54 Puri, “The Passion of the Passacaille”, 313.55 Puri, “The Passion of the Passacaille”, 315.56 Puri, “The Passion of the Passacaille”, 315.

12

A composer of apparent grandeur, Ravel has certainly made his unique mark in the

compositional world. Emerging from a life featuring a variety of experiences, Ravel provides a

distinct style of composition, distinguished by his beautiful melodies, creative harmonies, and

mastery of rhythm. His ability to represent culture beyond his immediate contact and draw from

a multitude of compositional influences only cements the incredible compositional skills that he

exhibited in his lifetime. Having created music that still pervades the repertoire of modern

pianists and orchestras is a mere symbol of the timelessness and innovation that Ravel presented

to music through his works. The pleasantry of his sounds and the creativity of his style have

influenced and will continue to influence the music of the future.

13

Works Cited

Gartside, Robert and Ravel, Maurice. Interpreting the Songs of Maurice Ravel. Webster, NY:

Leyerle Publications, 1992.

Kaminsky, Peter. Unmasking Ravel: New Perspectives on the Music. Rochester, NY: University

of Rochester Press, 2011.

Liszt, Franz. Les jeux d’eaux a la Villa d’Este. Leipzig: Breitopf & Hartel, 1916.

Mawer, Deborah. The Cambridge Companion to Ravel. New York: Cambridge University Press,

2000.

Mawer, Deborah. Ravel Studies. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Myers, Rollo H. Ravel: Life and Works. New York, NY: Greenwood Press, Inc, 1977.

Nichols, Roger. Ravel. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011.

Puri, Michael J. Ravel the Decadent: Memory, Sublimation, and Desire. New York: Oxford

University Press, 2011.

Puri, Michael J. “The Passion of the Passacaille: Ravel Wagner, Parsifal,” Cambridge Opera

Journal 25, no. 3 (November 2013): 285-318.

Orenstein, Arbie. Ravel: Man and Musician. New York: Columbia University Press, 1975.

Orenstein, Arbie, Ed. A Ravel Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.

Radice, Mark A. Chamber Music: An Essential History. Michigan: University of Michigan

Press, 2012.

Ravel, Maurice. Bolero. Paris: Durance & Cie. 1929.

Ravel, Maurice. Pavane pour une infant Defunte. Mineola: Dover Publications, 2001.

Ravel, Maurice. Sheherazade: three poems for voice and piano. International Music Company:

1958.

14

Roberts, Paul. Reflections: the piano music of Maurice Ravel. Milwaukee, WI: Amadeus Press,

2012.

Roland-Manuel, M. Maurice Ravel. Translated by Cynthia Jolly. London, UK: Dobson Books,

Ltd, 1972.

Simms, Bryan J. Music of the Twentieth Century. New York: Schirmer Books, 1986.

Taylor, Timothy D. Beyond Exoticism: Western Music and the World (Refiguring American

Music). North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2007.

Zank, Stephen. Irony and Sound: The Music of Maurice Ravel. Rochester, NY: University of

Rochester Press, 2009.