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EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES No.14/10.07
- victorshramko
- Jul 10
- 4 min read
Nowadays, everything has to be counted, included in statistics. Even music. Which hit is the most frequently performed in the whole world? The statistical answer is: Bolero by Ravel. Performed every quarter of an hour, day and night. This is a world record. Bravo. The composer would be a multimillionaire if he were alive, from royalties. But too late.
Bolero is a Spanish folk dance. Ravel composed it in 1928, in Paris. The year 2025 is Ravel's Year. He was born in 1875, 150 years ago in the Pyrenees Mountains. His mother was Basque, his father a Swiss businessman. Their son Maurice became one of the greatest French composers.
It's hard to climb to the stars
He started to play piano with his mother. He began performing as a pianist at the age of 14. Then he also started composing and passed the exam at the Paris Conservatory. He struggled with his studies from 1898 to 1905. From that school, he was expelled twice. There he competed three times for the prestigious scholarship Prix de Rome. Without success. The third time he was not even allowed to compete.
Sometimes the jury's verdicts are different from the verdicts of life and history. At first glance, he seemed like a special person. Tiny, 161 cm tall. Reserved, with a hint of irony, full of inner elegance. Rather lonely. He was so precise in his work and life that he was called by Igor Stravinsky:
'The most perfect Swiss watchmaker'
When he grew up, he rented an office in the city. Came and went always at the same time, worked for a number of hours. Regardless of his inspiration or mood. He composed all his pieces at the piano. Only then did he write them out for different instruments. And he is considered one of the greatest masters of instrumentation! And it's hard to find more sensual music than his works!
Loneliness doesn't have to mean antisocial. In 1914, the First World War broke out. He volunteered for the army but was deemed unfit for service. However, he persisted and became a military driver. At the front, he participated in risky actions. Because of his illness and the death of his beloved mother, Ravel ended his war chapter in 1916. As a result of the war atrocities, he fell into depression. But composing music saved him. Each of the six parts of his composition 'The Tombstone of Couperin' is dedicated to one of his six friends, victims of this war.
One-armed pianist
Later he also wrote Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. In WWI, 9.5 million soldiers and 5-7 million civilians died and about 20 million were wounded. One of the victims was the famous Austrian pianist, Paul Wittgenstein (1887-1961). During the war, he lost his right hand. Despite this, he decided to continue performing. People were moved by the artist's tragedy. Some of the greatest composers wrote for him a number of pieces for the left hand only. Ravel's Concerto in D became one of the most known.
Nobody is a prophet at home?
From his first overture 'Shéhérazade' (1899), Ravel's works were faced with criticism bordering on scandal in his country. After Debussy's death, he began steadily to be seen as the outstanding living composer in France. But even the premiere of Bolero was greeted with boos. Only recognition abroad of Bolero changed his position in France.
Bolero – a rocket to fame
Bolero was just supposed to be a musical joke. Rhythm thumped on the snare drum. One 18-bar theme. Repeated for 18 minutes, successively on all instruments and their groups. In the ballet version, the place of action is the tavern. A girl starts dancing. Others join in. Finally, there is a crowd. Hypnotizing euphoria. To the extreme. From the bottom to the sky?
In Paris, its premiere was a scandal. Whistles. In the world – triumph. A tour of all of Europe and the States. Awards and medals. Ravel refused only one: the French Legion of Honour.
There is no music...
One day the young composer, Arthur Honegger, asked him:
- 'Which of your works do you consider to be a masterpiece?'
- 'Of course, Bolero, although there is no music in it at all' – replied the composer.
Ravel had been seriously ill since 1934. He died after 3 years of treatment and an unsuccessful operation. His last piece was '3 Cantos from Don Quixote to Dulcinea'.
Who was he?
Considered an impressionist but also a neoclassicist. As a pianist, he was a successor of Franz Liszt. He combined Spanish vitalism and folklore with French elegance, lightness, sophistication, and brilliant irony... He was unique!
NB, Ravel's Bolero lasts 18 minutes, so before one performance of it ends on one stage, on the other they have already started playing it from 3 minutes!!! Amazing, isn't it?!
Enough words.
Let us play: Maurice Ravel – Bolero
Performed by Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela, conductor Gustavo Dudamel
Written by
Cezary Owerkowicz
Co-founder of Kuwait Music Academy and
Director of Treasure of Talents Festival in Kuwait
