7 March: Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel, French composer whose most famous composition is the Bolero, to which Torville and Dean skated at the 1984 Olympics, was born on this date in 1875.

1. Ravel was born in the Basque region of France. His father Joseph was an inventor who invented a machine called the ‘Whirlwind of Death’, used in circuses until there was a fatal accident involving one in 1903. He also invented an early internal combustion engine. He'd take his sons to factories to instill in them an interest in science, and also fostered in them an interest in Music. Ravel's mother was barely literate but she was a free thinker, and influenced him considerably, too.
2. Ravel started music lessons at the age of six. As a young man, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire. He studied composition with Gabriel Fauré, who was one of relatively few of the tutors who understood him. The Conservatoire was a conservative institution and Ravel has been described as "only teachable on his own terms" and had strong opinions. He was admitted as a pianist, but his goal was to become a composer. Hence he was expelled from the Conservatoire twice. The reason given was that he'd failed to win any prizes.
3. He wrote some substantial works while studying with Fauré, including the overture Shéhérazade, which had a mixed reception from audiences - applause mingled with boos - and a Violin sonata.
4. Another of his famous works was the Pavane pour une infante defunte. (Pavane for a Dead Princess). This piece was commissioned by Princesse Edmond de Polignac, whose father was Isaac Singer, the sewing machine manufacturer. Despite the title, it wasn't a funeral lament but music the little princess as painted by Velazquez might have danced to.
5. Ravel belonged to a social group which called themselves Les Apaches ("The Hooligans"). The group was made up of young artists, musicians and poets who saw themselves as "artistic outcasts". Ravel was a lover of conversation and debate, which, along with supporting one another at their performances, were regular activities of the group. Igor Stravinsky was also a member. The Apaches were fond of Debussy's music, and Ravel attended all the performances of opera Pelléas et Mélisande, while the directors of the Paris Conservatoire forbade their students to attend.
6. When the first world war started, Ravel tried to join the French Air Force, but was rejected because he was too old and had a minor heart complaint. Eventually, at the age of forty, he joined the Thirteenth Artillery Regiment as a lorry driver and was stationed at the Verdun front. The war had a profound effect on him, and he virtually stopped composing during the war. He did complete Le Tombeau de Couperin, at this time, though, with each movement dedicated to a friend who'd died in the war. The death of his mother in 1917 didn't help either - he was very close to her.
7. Ravel’s Boléro was a commission from a Russian ballerina, and was originally going to be called Ravel’s Fandango.
8. He refused the French government’s Legion d’honneur award in 1920. Nobody knows exactly why although war weariness and an avant-garde antipathy to awards in general have been put forward as possible reasons. He did, however, accept honorary membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society in the United Kingdom, in 1921, the Belgian Ordre de Léopold in 1926 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1928.
9. Neither Ravel nor Debussy liked to be called impressionist composers. Ravel considered Debussy to be impressionist, but rejected the term when applied to himself. During a tour of the US in 1928, he attended jazz performances and became a great fan of jazz. Some of his later works contain some jazz elements.
10. In 1932, Ravel suffered a blow to his head in a taxi accident, which affected his memory and ability to write music. He also suffered from a nervous disorder called Pick's disease which increasingly affected his speech and movement, although his mental faculties remained intact. He died after an unsuccessful operation to treat the condition in 1937.

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