Educated at the Paris Conservatoire, Ravel studied under the composer Gabriel Faure and was influenced by Satie and Chabrier whom he met while studying. He began composing songs and piano pieces and also produced a string quartet, but failed on numerous attempts to win the Prix de Rome. He left the Conservatoire in 1905 and began a period of composing that would produce some of his finest work, including the piano pieces Miroirs, Gaspard de la Nuit (1908), Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (1911) and Ma Mere l'Oye (1912). In 1908, he produced the orchestral work, Rhapsodie Espagnole and in 1912, was commissioned by Dyagilev to produce the ballet Daphnis et Chloe. In 1922, he produced undoubtedly the finest orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. In 1928, he produced his most popular piece, the ballet Bolero, and in 1930 his Concerto in D Major. The latter was composed for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein who had lost his right arm in the war. Ravel also completed a version of the Concerto for two hands in 1931. Together with Debussy, Ravel was the major composer of 20th century Impressionism. Influenced by American jazz on his many trips to the US as a conductor, Ravel's later works show a definitive blues element, such as the slow movement of his Sonata for Violin. |
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