“naturally artificing” – maurice ravel on his 150th birthday

The great composer's th anniversary is on March 7. By Rev Peter Mullen. Most people know only two things about the composer Maurice Ravel : that he wrote Bolero and a piano concerto for the left hand. As Jackson R. There were genuine masterpieces of course such as his ballet Daphnis and Chloe and Le Tombeau de Couperin. Besides, has it never occurred to you that I might be artificial by nature?

No coward, he tried repeatedly to enlist during the First World War but was rejected owing to his poor physique.

Maurice Ravel This month on Mezzo Live Mezzo.

He did serve however as a lorry-driver. Some thought him mad and laughed at his piano piece Alborada del gracioso inspired by a Spanish clockwork toy. He carried with him everywhere lucky charms and amulets and when, as often, he lost one, he would claim an enemy had stolen it and fly into a rage. He deliberately starved himself of sleep for nights on end which gave him a haggard look, popularly attributed to decadent sexual practices.

For many years, he was very closely attached to Ricardo Viner and revealingly the pair used to enjoy reciting the works of the decadent poet Baudelaire together. Ravel pathologically lacked confidence and he was a great weeper.

Arnold Schönberg on his th birthday – the truth in the music (and in the edition) Posted on September 9, by Norbert Müllemann For me, this Arnold Schönberg quotation .

This was written as a piano piece for Princesse Edmond de Polignac, whose father was Isaac Singer, the famous sewing machine manufacturer. Speaking of camp, the ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev commissioned from him the choreographed poem La Valse, paid for it but never used it. The two fell out and in Diaghilev challenged Ravel to a duel.