Maurice Ravel
La Valse
Out of admiration for the “Waltz King” Johann Strauss, Ravel had already planned a waltz composition in 1906, the realisation of which was hindered by other projects and the outbreak of the First World War. When he received a commission for a ballet in 1919, he took up the idea again and, in his own words, composed “a kind of apotheosis of the Viennese waltz”. After initially rather reserved reactions from the public, the “Poème chorégraphique” for orchestra is now one of the top hits of classical music. The genesis of the work was unusual because Ravel worked simultaneously on two piano versions and the orchestral score. The version for solo piano as well as that for two pianos are therefore not preliminary stages for the final orchestral score, nor are they subsequently created piano reductions, but rather musically independent versions of the work, which Ravel also had published. Even more strongly than in the orchestra, the structure and articulation as well as the clarity of the lines in the composition come to the fore in these delightful piano versions. This testifies once again to Ravel’s mastery. Reason enough to present these two piano versions for the first time in Urtext editions which were prepared on the basis of all the authentic sources.
About the Composer
Maurice Ravel
Together with Satie and Debussy, Ravel numbers among the innovators who had a falling out with academic education and created their own avant-garde tonal languages – inspired, in Ravel’s case, by Russian and Spanish music, but also by exoticism – without abandoning tonality. This master of orchestration begins with piano works, which he orchestrates; songs with piano and piano compositions exist on an equal footing in orchestral versions.
| 1875 | Born in Ciboure on March 7; the family moves to Paris that same year. |
| 1882 | Lessons in piano, theory, and composition. |
| 1889 | Beginning of his studies at the Conservatoire de Paris, from which he will never graduate.around 1893 Influence of Chabrier and Satie. |
| 1901 | “Jeux d’eau” for piano, in a new “Impressionist” tonal language, as is “Miroirs” (1904–05). |
| 1903 | “Shéhérazade” for voice and piano/orchestral accompaniment with orientalist tonal elements. |
| 1905 | Scandal surrounding Ravel’s third application for the Prix de Rome. |
| 1907 | Premiere of the “Histoires naturelles” after Jules Renard provokes astonishment in audiences and critics. |
| 1907–08 | Rhapsodie espagnole for orchestra. |
| 1908/10 | “Ma mère l’oye” (“Mother Goose”) for piano, four-hands, as a ballet in 1911. |
| 1911 | Premiere in Paris of his opera “L’Heure espagnole.” |
| 1911/12 | “Valses nobles et sentimentales” for piano/orchestra. Premiere of the ballet “Daphnis et Chloé” in 1912. |
| 1914/19 | “Le tombeau de Couperin” for piano/orchestra anticipates the coming neoclassicism. |
| from 1920 | Many concert tours through Europe and the United States. |
| 1925 | Premiere of his opera “L’Enfant et les sortilèges.” |
| 1928 | Conferral of an honorary doctorate from Oxford University. “Bolero” for orchestra. |
| 1929–31 | Piano Concerto in G major with elements of jazz. |
| 1937 | Death in Paris on December 28. |
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