SCHOOL OF FINE AND APPLIED ARTS BOSTON UNIVERSITY DOCUMENT DANCE AND JAZZ ELEMENTS IN THE PIANO MUSIC OF MAURICE RAVEL by SISTER M. NATALIE PEPIN, S.N.J.M. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts September, 1972DANCE AND JAZZ ELEMENTS IN THE PIANG MUSIC OF VAURICE RAVEL (Order No, ) Sister M. Natalie Pepin, kus.A.D. Boston University SKAA, 1972 Major Sponsor: Joel L, Sheveloff, Associate Professor of Kusic History and Literature Dane: appears to be one of the greatest influences in the piano music of Maurice Ravel, His work is permeated with rhythms and melo= dies havin; some choreographic aspect. After the 1920's Ravel's craving for novel effects led him to the introduction of jazz elements in his Sonata for violin and piano and in his piano concertos. ‘The purpose of this document is to analyze in some detail in what way these elements were exploited by Ravel and in so doing, to bring about a greater understanding of the music of this eniguatic yet very sensitive composer. Chapter I sketches Ravel's early environment and the influences of his surroundings with specific reference to Chabrier, Satie, Faure, the "Russian Five", and neo-classicisn. : Chapter II analyzes early works stressing Ravel's attraction to the Spanisy idiom, significant compositional elaments such as syn= copated repeated notes, the use of seconds and accented neijhbor notes, Chapters III and IV discuss the use of neo-classical dance forms considering Ravel's use of inner contrapuntal lines, structural in= tervals of seconds and thirds as opposed to fourths and fifths yener«lly used by Ravel as gestural intervals. Chapter V presets considerations onthe climax of Ravel'sDANCE AND JAZZ ELSVENTS IN THE Pe 2 PIANO MUSIC OF MAURICE RAVEL harmonic experience as illustrated in the Valses nobles et entimateles of 1911. ‘The use of ornamental chromaticism as opposed to structural chromsticism is discussed, as well as sonata form within a waltz type, Sugmented fifth chords and embellishing neighbor keys. Chapter VI is conserned with Ravel's use of Americana and jazz elements. The fact that certain elements of this style seem to have deen built in generically in the case of Ravel is illustrated in early works sush as Baphnis aad Chloa of 1909. & comparison between ‘the two piano concertos is incluaed, indicuting sinilerities between these tno works written at the same tine, out in contrastim styles. 4 Gisoussion of Ravel's assimilation of melodic and raythmic elenaats close to Gerskmin is also included.TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PORPACe ‘I. RAVEL: BACKGROUND AND INFLUENCES ..... Ti, MOFIVATING PoncES;© = = Spain - Habanera - Pavane pour une Infante défunte ~ Alborada del gracioso TTI. JUVENILE PIANO DUETS ........... Ma Mére 1'Oye IV. STRUCTURAL AUSTERITY 2... ...-0.0- Menuet Antique - Sonatine - Menuet sur nom d'Haydn - Le Tombeau de Couperin V. GLIMAX OF RAVEL'S HARMONIC EXPERIENCE . . . Valses nobles et sentimenteles - A la mani’re de Borodin Wis | THe Aee IDIOM ‘The Sonata for violin and pisno - The piano concertos APPENDIX - YECTURE/PERFORMANCE ... 4. +40 BIBLIOGRAPHY 2. 1 ee ee ee eee ee eee aa PAGE . aah . 1 . 1 . 38 . 50 le . 77 - 102 » 51 - 159Ait PREFACE Dance appears to be one of the greatest influences in the piano music of Maurice Ravel. In the words of André Suarés: "The dance governs all of Ravel's music just as it governs the music of Spain and the world of the harpsi- chordists."1 His work is permeated with rhythms and melodies having some choreographic aspect. After the 1920's Ravel's craving for novel effects ied him to the introduction of jazz elements in his Sonata for violin end piano and in his piano concertos. The purpose of this document is to analyze in some detail in what way these elements were exploited by Ravel and, in so doing, to bring about a greater understanding of the music of this enigmatic yet very sensitive composer. With sincere appreciation I wish to thank Dr. Joel Sheveloff, Associate Professor of Music History and literature, who has served as main advisor for this document. My thanks also extend to Dr. Béla Nagy, Professor of Piano, for his interest and,oncouragement throughout this project. For the concern and help of many close friends and relatives, I am also deeply grateful. Jandré Suarés, "Pour Ravel,” La Revue Musicale, April, 1925, p. 7.CHAPTER I RAVEL: BACKGROUND AND INFLUENCES Background Music historians often refer to Ravel as the most Spanish of all artists. Stravinsky calls him the "Swiss watch-maker," a title referring not only to his meticu- lous craftsmanship but also to the origin of his father, Pierre Joseph Ravel, a mechanical engineer of French- Swiss origin. There is still much mystery surrounding the ancestry of his mother, Marie Delouart (from Delouhartea, the Basque name). Evidence that Madame Ravel was an adop- ted child has been provided by an old Basque woman who was the last survivor of the Delouart family. The true story is concealed in files at the City Hall at Levallois in Paris, where no release of information has been authorized to this day.1 : The Ravel family moved to Paris a few months after Maurice's birth in Ciboure, in French Basque country, on March 7, 1875. The artistic atmosphere of the age of Impres- sionism and the attractions of Montmartre contributed greatly to Ravel's truly Parisian culture. However, Ravel remains a kind of national anomaly. He is a universal prodigy 1 ‘Victor H. Seroff, Maurice Ravel (New York: Holt 1953), pe 10. ce :interested in and impressed by everything and everyone around him, from the Spanish coast and the Swiss mountains to the Jewish peddlers and the American jazz-musicians, There seems to be no key to the discovery of what kind of person Ravel really was. Never admitting anything, he remained an enigma even to his closest friends, His ten- dency to privacy and secrecy throughout his life removes all hope of getting close to him as a person. One can only guess about Ravel's private life as many music historians have done in the past, without too much apparent success. The revelation of Ravel's true personality should be found in his music, but even in this medium he purposely misleads us. One gets the impression thet the work is the product of a practitioner in mystery. Ravel was a man of unusually small stature. In the words of Roland-Manuel, his features were those of a Basque from the coast with the dark complexion, hollow cheeks, and the long ose common to the daring as well as the naive type, brilliant, dark and closely-set eyes, and thin’ lips, closed as if to hold back a secret....His whole appearal ce vee. both gay and inquiring, alert and smiling,’the open frankness of his eyes giving the lie to the reserve of the firmly shut lips.1 His small home, "Le Belvédare," at Montfort l'Amaury, was filled with minute knickknacks such as seashells, glassware, ARoland-Menuel, Maurice Ravel, translated by Cynthia Jolly (London: Dobson, 7 Pe 130,mechanical toys of all kinds--a whole world of make- believe. His love for small intricate objects is somewhat in keeping with Ravel's inclination toward the shorter musi- cal forms of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, This tendency does not seem to be simply a complying with the neo- classical spirit of the times but rather a natural bent which we discover even in his early compositions such as the Menuet Antique of 1895. The short concise dence forms extend through- out his entire pianistic output as we shall see in the sub- sequent chapters. Jankélévitch explains the use and the imitation of old forms in Ravel's music as a game, ++eone of the pseudonymns used by the humorist, the musician in disguise, to put off the indiscreet and curious. Ravel's music is always more or less a pastiche; not that Ravel often wrote parodies of any- one...but it is true that pastiche is the limit of ironic oe paaeetncd for an intelligence which takes on not only background but characters....This spirit of ironic plagiarism is well suited to the good humor of mutual parody among French composers: Debussy imi- tating Monsieur Czerny...Chabrier payodying Wegnerian pomposity, Satie imitating everyone. Early Influence on Ravel's Style Ravel received his first piano lessons at the age of six under the direction of Henri Ghys, a man best known for his popular waltz-type compositions. No extraordinary signs of talent appeared until six years later when, in iadimir Jankélévitch, Ravel, translated by Margaret Crosland (New York: Grove Press, 1959), p. 128.harmony classes with Charles René, Ravel revealed one of his outstanding qualities--that of the perfectionist aiming at an ultra-polished art. At the age of fourteen, he entered the Paris Conservatory where he remained a student for sixteen years. Satie Wagnerianism had worked itsway into French music and the modern generation was desperate in trying to rid itself of this "heng-over." "We want our music and if pos- sible without the sauerkraut," declared Satie. The works of Satie's middle period, such as Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies, reveal a search for a renewal of expression by means of a purging of texture, a return to antique simplicity. This renewal was to have a strong effect on Ravel.) Madeleine Goss relates a colorful event pertaining to Ravel's admiration for Satie's harmonic contributions, such as his famous ninth chords, which Ravel often played before his classmates. "What are you playing, Monsieur Ravel?" he demanded, peizing the manuscript disapprovingly. “Gymnopédies? Humph.- whet does that mean’ Erik Sstie!!? He threw the music into a corner, "You had better leave such trash alone, my boy. It does not belong in the realm of true music. Iseroff, op. cit., p. 33.The budding young composer never tired of play- ing and studying Satiess fascinsting compositions. One day he took the to his class at the Conservatoire to saten ch ‘and bewilder his comrades with their strange harmonies. Maitre Pessard arriv- ing unexpectedly, could not believe his ears." The musical output of the eccentric cafe pianist Erik Satie was a modest one. However, it was off the beaten path, new and refreshing. Satie's ability as a caricaturist and his biting antisentimental spirit appealed to Ravel, whose secret romantic feelings are always concealed under ironic classical methods of dis- guise. Ravel admits that some of Satie's work is clumsy but nevertheless the latter remains important as a fore- runner of many innovations. The rediscovery of ancient melody with its modal flavor, unresolved chords, modal harmonies, economy of texture--these are but a few of the contributions which served to determine the direction of French msic st the turn of the century and well into the twentieth century. Iadeleine Goss, Bolero (New York: Tudor Publishing Company, 1945), p. 42.Russians. The World Exposition of 1889, which commemorated the centennial of the French Revolution, had a lesting influ- ence on Ravel. He remained intoxicated by the taste of the exotic. The sound of new audacious harmonies combined with the oriental sumptousness of the orchestration heard in the works of the "Mighty Five" opened a new world of sound to him. Rimsky-Korsakoff's Antar and Caprice Es: iol, Massorgsky's A Night on Beld Mountain and Boris Godounow with its parallel octaves and fifths, Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances" from Prince Igor were among the compositions which were 8 revelation to him.1 Borodin's Symphony No. 2 was published and available at this time and its opening thene was used ss a rally call by Ravel and his friends who were christened the "Apaches" by a newspaper vendor swept out of their way as they walked boisterously through the streets of Paris. Serge Diaghilev was amazed to discover that the "Apaches" were familiar with Russian music, even to the point of playing from memory many scores which he thought would be a revelation to then.2 Isulien Tiersot, Promenades musicales 3 L'Exposition de 1889: Musiques pittores ues (Paris: Librairie Fischbacher. 2iélene Jourdan-Morhange, Ravel et Nous (Gendve: Editions du milieu du monde, 1945], p. 59.The Russian gift for conciseness, economy of texture, and directness of expression counteracted the influence of German Romantic music. Intense rhythmic vitality combined with sharp, ambiguous chords, augmented and diminished triads with their possibilities of enharmonic change, artificial scales--all these new sounds were assimilated and later transformed by Ravel into his own personal idiom. Far East Ravel and his close friend Ricardo Virtes, an excel- lent piano virtuoso, listened avidly to native musicians interpreting their national music in the oriental pavilions. The music they heard in no way conformed to the rules and regulations imposed on them at the Conservatory. The novel sounds of the gapped scales of the Far East remained with Ravel even in his most symphonic work, the Concerto in D for the Left Hand Alone. Chabrier The characteristic traits of the French nation were revitalized at this tine by a composition heard at the World Exposition, a composition which could be labeled a Manifesto in French renewal--Espaia by Emmanuel Chabrier. Ironic humor, emotional vitality, lyrical tenderness and sentimental poetry underwent a rebirth in a convincing performance which 4s well described in the words of AlfredBruneau. To see Chabrier advancing toward the frail instrument from the back of @ salon ornamented with wonen of elegance and performing Eapaha in fire- Broken Keys wae a ofght “unepeakably Srol{, but sight which also attained epic grandeur. Several sources mention that Ravel and Vines per- formed for Chabrier the latter's composition, Yalses Romantiquee, with its fascinating dissonances in highly original pianistic writing. This hardly seems possible in view of the fact that Chabrier had been stricken with paralysis and no longer lived in Paris after 1892.2 Nevertheless, Chabrier's influence was felt by the modern French school in its refusal to Mimit tonality to the more obvious strictures of the major/minor system. Ravel adapts various aspects of modality and pseudo-modality as the basic features of his harmonic and melodic language. Chabrier's characteristic doubling of a melody one or two octaves apart is a device which Ravel assimilates as is also the regime of violent contrasts so well illustrated in Ravel's Menuet Antique, sometimes referred to as the twin brother of Chabrier's Menuet Pompeux. Iseroff, op. cit., ps 33- 2Joé Bruyr, Maurice Ravel ou Le Lyrisme et les sorti- ages (Paris: Librairie Plon, 1950), pe 3aFaure Gabriel Faure, a musician of the French Academy of elegance end taste, replaced Massenet as professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory in 1897. He was an open-minded person with keen interest in the creative possibilities of his students. Despite the fact that he was @ severe critic, Faure conducted his classes in a quiet, unobtrusive way. He observed the exceptional musi- eal gifts in Ravel in spite of, or maybe because of, the latter's love of novelty and his use of audacious har- monies. Ravel's innovations had shocked some of his pre- vious influential teachers who had made it a point to prevent his ever receiving the "Prix de Rome." Faure insisted that "you cannot be simple, expressive and, most important of all, accurate unless you have ex- hausted the difficulties of counterpoint."1 Ravel conformed to the necessities of this disciziine under the expert guidance of Gédalge to whom he remained indebted throughout his life. The neo-classic spirit of Saint-Saéna and his disciple, Faure, was a greater influence on Ravel than was Impression- ism. Both Debussy end Ravel were obstinate in their desire to return to a more Latin conception of music after the IRolend Manuel, op. cit., p. 25.10 Wagnerian invasion, but, while Debussy fell under the spell of Massenet's voluptuous sounds, Ravel remained faith- ful to classical structures. The clessical mold through which Ravel expresses himself is mainly that of the dance. "The dance governs all of Ravel's music just as it governs the music of Spain and the world of the harpsichordists.l Couperin and Rameau Couperin and Rameau are part of Ravel's musical heri- tage. Although a limited number of their keyboard works had never really disappeared, within a decade or so before Ravel started composing, complete keyboard editions were resurrected. Problems concerning the sound of the harpsi- chord and the interpretation of the ornements became a fresh new issue. In this atmosphere of revival, Ravel sub- mitted to rigorous discipline at the Conservatory; in doing so, he attained perfection in the art of transforming an- cestral dances into forms scintillating with new color, charged with a new spirit. Iberian and American elements were utilized by Ravel for their novel possibilities. Because of their importance in Ravel's pianistic output, these elements will be dis- cussed in greater detail in subsequent chapters. Jandré Suares, "Pour Revel,” La Revue Musicale, April 1925, p. 5. aeCHAPTER II MOTIVATING FORCES The borrowing of Spanish idioms was by no means an uncommon phenomenon among French composers of the nine- teenth and twentieth centuries. Ravel was no exception to this, if one may judge from the strong proportion of Span- eh dance elements in his output. Every aspect of Spanish music was of special interest to him: the precision, the brittle conciseness of the dance rhythms, the exotic atmos- Phere. All these elements were so well assimilated by him that he is said to be more Spanish than Spanish composers themselves. Manuel de Falla, through conversation with Ravel's mother, discovered that Ravel's Hispaniciom was no doubt inherited from her, whose memories of Spain were kept alive and transmitted to her son throughout his childhood. In spite of all these observations, it would be dif- ficult to make a case for the primacy of this particular aspect of Ravel's music because so many idioms--Oriental, imanuel de Falla, "Notes sur Ravel", La Revue Musicale, March, 1939, p. 83. aJewish, Greek and others--were grasped by him with equal facility and became part of his own individual style. Adolfo Salazar explains in La Misica Contemporénea en Espafia how "the exploitation of character of the typical feature in an anecdotal sense becomes in Falla an effort to evoke a setting". Ravel's Spanish disguises are also brought about by the same type of sonorous atmosphere which he seeks. Salazar proceeds to explain: The common place of local color disappears to giv way to the suggestion produced by greatly simpli- fied means, by what might be called the seeds of by brief, allusive details of popular song ted to a harmonic treatment which will ade- quately contribute to their suggestion. Such a procedure presents a triple advantage: (a) the in- @igenous element remains reduced to its vital nucleus which will have undergone development by passing through the composer's personality, instead of the old system in which the composer took it already made as @ cook. takes his vegetables; (b) in the second place, the poetic plane on which the composer places him- self, more withdrawn from the direct impression, is more intense, possesses a greater evocative capacity, while it requires a more intense concentration be- cause it no longer works by means of presentations but by reflections; (c) in the third place, the composer, free of formulas, must create his own manner of expression every moment, something naturally highly desirable to the artist who lives exclusjvely for his creation, for what is authentically his. Iadolfo Salazar, Music in Our Time, Trends in Music Since the Romantic Era, trans, by Isabel Pope, (New Yor} W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1946), p. 306. ‘Habanera Ravel's earliest attempt to depict Spain is found in a work entitled Les Sites Auriculaires, composed in 1695-1896. The work was originally written for two pianos and was made up of two pieces: Habanera and Entre cloches. Unpublished, the first piece, Habanera, was leter orches- trated without undergoing any revision on the part of Ravel. It became the third piece in his Rapsodie Espagnole for orchestra, published in 1907. ‘The popularity of the Habanera was at its highest peak during Madame Ravel's youth in Madrid. It was intro- duced in Paris by Pauline Viardot Garcia and made such an impression that even after it had just about fallen into oblivion in Spain the form remained very much alive in France fifty years later.3 : The Habanera, known in Spain under the name "contra- danza criolla" or "Andalusian tango," is actually a dance in 2/4 time of Negro-Cuban origin. The Creole Gottschalk Janelyzed from a transcription for one piano by Jacques Charlot. Maurice Ravel, "Habanera," no. IIT of the Rapsodie Espegnole (Paris: Durand & Cie, 1911), pp. 1-3. 2yorman Demuth, Ravel (New York: Collier Books, 1962), pe 28, 3ué18ne Jourdan-Morhange, op. cit., p. 155.uy (1829-1869) was the first to write in this style. Ravel was no doubt well acquainted with the Hebanera in Bizet's fermen es well as with Chabrier's version of this dence.) However, none of these composers was as successful as Ravel in creating such a nostalgic, bewitching atmosphere, “not at all effeminate like a drawing-room tango. "2 Although Ravel's Habanera has been criticized for a Jack of form and for vague outlines, Ravel does conform somewhat loosely to the binary division, the usual form of this dence. The tonal structure of his Habanera can be divided into two sections, The first section, A, consists of 39 measures in F sharp, fluctuating between the major and the minor modes. Section B, of a more modulatory character, is momentarily in A major with subtle pulls toward P and B flat in measures 44 and 47, suddenly cadenc- ing in F sharp. The following example illustrates the Wosé Bruyr, op. cit., p. 43. 2Viadimir Jankélévitch, op. eit., p. 133.15 tonal structure of the entire piece. F =e I (mreas.t- ve) vorwa) Cay = 7) Melodically, a rondo-like division seems possible. The first eight measures present a rhythmic prolepsis of the entire piece featuring the typical rhythmic features of the Habanera: a3 Id against 7’ PTI. mese open ing measures serve as an introduction. A (first melodic element): meas, 9-18 IjB (second melodic element): meas. 19-29 (really an extension of A) At (first melodic element): meas. 30-40 u { (third melodic element): meas. 40-47 Ct (repeated and embellished): meas. 47-62 Some of the main characteristics of Ravel's style are to be found in this early work, an excerpt of which will be found on the following page. The first striking feature is seen in the opening measure: the syncopated repeated note C sharp, used as a persistent inner dominant pedal. This feature will become an important issue in Ravel's Miroirs and in Gaspard de la Nuit (particularly the second piece, "Le Gibet"). The use of seconds having the1-14. * tee tt? sees 3 SE Ravel, Habenera, meas. —-—— SS7 character of accented neighbor-note chords is frequent in the Habaffera. Demuth analyses the opening chord as a seventh on D, the B sharp being simply an enharmonic alteration of c.2 It seems evident that the character of the B sharp rubbing continually against the C sharp dominant pedal is that of an accented neighbor note, finally resolving to the C sharp at measure 7. The chord of D accompanying the B sharp also resolves to the dominant harmony in this same measure 7, Measure 2 displays another dominant. The two chords also function as neighbor chords to the tonic har- mony which finally makes it appearance at measure 12. Praia eae Chleds While these delayed resolutions are typical of Ravel's harmonic style, unresolved neighbor notes are extremely Norman Demuth, op. cit., p. 63.16 Another anticipation of Ravel's true style is heard 4n the opening melodic phrase of measure 9 where a modal effect is produced by a flattened leading tone, E natural. The melody acting as though C sharp were the tonic, is actually the result of a melodic prolongation of the dominant chord at measure 9. The harmonies which accome pany this melody consist of passing and chromatically embellished neighbor chords. The seemingly unresolved neighbor-note chords of measures 14 and 15 cleverly resolve to a tonic F sharp chord at measure 18 in a varied presen- tation of this phrase. Measures 19 to 29 consist of an extension of this phrase, a melodic prolongation of the tonic F sharp chord with major-minor inflections, Section B, mainly in A major and F sharp minor, opens with a surprising pedal change. The persistent C sharp dominant pedal undergoes a swift but temporary change to an E, the dominant of the new key, A. Quick chromatic changes such as we see at measures 46 to 47 will become a characteristic Ravel feature. A shift from the key of F to the key of B flat at measure 47 slides into the tonic P sharp within the same measure. Accented neighbor notes,1g typical of Ravel, persist throughout this section. Measures 48 to the end consist of a slightly ornamented Version of the preceding measures 40-47. The rhythmic dominant ¢ sharp pedal was first quoted by Debussy in 1901 in his Lindaraja for two pianos. In 1903 the same habanera rhythm on the same C sharp pedal was used by Debussy in the second piece of his Estampes, the "Soirée dans Grenade." Ravel had left his composition im the hands of Debussy who obviously was greatly influ- enced by the rhythm as well as the general sensuous orien- tal atmosphere. (See example below.) Ravel's own words concerning this “affaire" are as follows: It has been claimed with some resistance that the Sebutey"in the writing SPS sere Ieay influenced Debussy, Soirée dans Grenade, meas. 23-26. —Rempe rubato : pF ee F @D expressif = Fete SS Ss ee poetwhile a coincidence even more striking has beon suggested in the case of the Habanera; but comments ofthis sort I must leave to others. It could very well be, however, that conceptions, apparently simi- Jar in character, should mature in the consciousness of two different composers at almost the same time without implying direct influence of either one upon the other. ‘The Habafiera, first performed by Marthe Dron and Ricardo Vines in 1898, did not enjoy favorable criticism because the manuscript was almost impossible for the per- formers to decipher. Consequently, acid discords which were already a part of Ravel's vocabulary were enriched by chords that were struck together when they should have been heard alternately. Furthermore, there was prejudice against the work. "It is enough to note,” comments Roland- Manuel, "that the ‘Sites Auriculaires,' if only because of its title, was excluded from the privilege of favourable criticism on the part of the Société Nationale de Musique." Pavane pour une Infante Défunte Ravel's attraction to the Spanish disguise is de- tected once again in the Pavane pour une Infante Défunte. lyiiiiem W. Austin, Music in the 20th Century (New York: Wie Norton & Company, -Inces 1986), pe 7S — 2Roland-Manuel, op. cit., p. 26.21 Opinions differ as to the origin of this dance but as a general rule most sources refer to its Italian origin. It was Ravel's opinion that Spanish music was one-third Ital- dan end the rest Moorish.) The word "pavane” is probably derived from Pava, a dialect of Padua. The earliest existing examples of this stately processional court dance can be found in Dalsa's Intabulatura de Lauto (Petruccio, IV, 1508). The idealized musical form reached ite highest peak of per- fection in the works of the Elizabethans, Byrd, Bull and Dowland. In Germany in the early seventeenth century it was used as the opening movement of the German orchestral suite under the name "paduana."2 Its influence is also felt in the opening of the movement of the French overture.? The more generally accepted background for the pavane is the word "pavane" supposedly deriving from "pavo," mean- Ang "peacock." The ceremonial garments worn by the per- formers bore a close resemblance to the peacock's tail.* seroft, op. cit., p. 127. 2yi114 apel, Harvard Dictionary of Music (2nd ed.; Cambridge: Belknap/Harvard University Press, 1969), p. 650, 3percy A. Scholes, The Oxford Companion to Music (London: Oxford University Press, 1955), pe 778. ‘puller Maitland, editor, Grovets Dictionary of Muste and Mustetens, Vol. I1f (Philadel pte; thesdore Presser pany, 1920}, p. 659.22 The virginalist Bull and his imitators, Sweelinck and Scheidt, refer to this form as a Spanish paven, possibly because its form reached England through Cabezon. Ravel's Pavane is a recreation of the earlier styl- ized pavane, written, as were most of these dances, in 4/4 time and in @ slow processional character. Norman Demuth mentions the possibility of Ravel's having been in- spired by a story told to him by his mother revealing old Spanish customs of ceremonial dances being performed in churches.2 It is interesting to read Ravel's explanation for the choice of the title: "...The only thing I dreamt of, upon assembling the words which form this title, was the pleasure of alliteration...."? Ravel was fascinated by sounds and he had an exceptional gift for choosing titles which often did not correspond to the states of mind suggested by the misic. Spanish traits are difficult if not impossible to discover in this Pavane, unless one mistakenly considers the form itself as being of Spanich Trangots Michel et al., Eneyclopédie de la Musique, Vol. III (Paris: Fasquelie, 1961} g yoke 2Norman Demuth, op. cits, p. 66. 3Roland-Manuel, op. cit., p. 35.23 origin. There are no typical Spanish sonorities or rhythms such as one finds in the Habanera, nor is there an obvious funereal atmosphere. A close examination of Chabrier's Idylle shows that this work had a considerable influence on Ravel. An illus- tration comparing the melodic rhythm and accompaniment of the opening measures of the two compositions proves to be quite revealing, Chabrier, Idylle, meas. 1-2. e+ datee #24 Another interesting device often found in the misic of Chabrier is the doubling of the melody one or two octaves apart. Ravel comments on this early composition in a not- too-boastful manner in the Bulletin de la Société Musicale Independant. I find no difficulty in speaking of it for it is sufficiently ancient so that I can look at it as a critic rather than a composer. I ean no longer see its good qualities. But, alas, I see only too well its faults; the very obvious influence of Chabrier and its very poor form. The remarkable ing of this incomplete and unpretentious work. fae’ contributed largely, I think, to its success,+ The very poor form to which Ravel is referring is the short rondo form: AB A'C A'', The sections divide as follows: A: measures 1-12; B: measures 13-27; A': measures 28-39; C: measures 39-59; A": measures 60-72. The use of sequences and embellished ascending and descending melodic scaler lines is a main feature of this second work, Ravel's excellent contrapuntal preparation under the guidance of Faure and Gedalge bears fruit even in such an early work. Ravel, Pavane pour une Infante Défunte 125 The climax of this technique is without doubt the second movement of the Concerto in D which will be analyzed in more detail in a later chapter. A harmonic analysis of the opening section A and, in particular, the concluding measures of section B reveals to what extent Satie's dominant ninths were opening new Vistas to Ravel. Section A, in G major, concludes at measure 11 on a ninth chord on E. This chord, when com- bined with the B minor chord of measure 12, tends to sound like a plagal cadence in B minor. The modal tones of sec- tion B also emphasize this archaic flavor. Section B, mainly in B minor, is supported by a tonic B pedal and is characterized by the use of accented neigh- bor notes and échappées. A cadence in D major is brought about by a sudden drop of the B pedal down to a new dominant, A, at measure 17, The following measures, 20-27, are a repetition of the preceding phrase but with a new harmoni- sation, which includes changing basses contrasting with the use of the preceding pedal note. Measures 25-27 consist of a chain of ninth chords supporting a very conjunct melodic line. In general, Satie's ninth chords are isolated one from the other. They give the impression that he is simply looking for new sounds.Satie, 2® Sarabande, meas. 12-13. On the other hand, Ravel's crafty use of these ninths contributes to the building up of a more traditionally directional counterpoint. Ravel, Pavane pour une Infante Défunte, meas. 25-27. The subsequent refrain sections are slightly modified versions of the first presentation, the lute-like accom- paniment being somewhat enriched by a thicker chordel tex- ture. The third appearance of this refrain can be compared once agsin to the closing section of Chabrier's Idyle in his rhythmic diminution in the plucked accompaniment.Chabrier, Idylle, meas. 59-60. A modal change from G major to G minor occurs in the opening measuresof section C, followed by 8 minor form of the dominant chord at measure 41. The presence of @ lowered seventh gives Ravel's melodies the propensity to vacillate in an almost imperceptible way from one key to another, The chromatic shift to B natural at measure 42 leads to a cadence in C major. The procedure is re- peated a fifth lower at measures 44-47, followed by a28 sequence of seventh chords containing sliding chrematicism and minor "blue" thirds closely related to what is later labeled as "jazz elements." Certain elements of this style seem to have been built in generically in the case of Ravel; otherwise, there is no explanation for their existence at such at early date. (See example below). Measures 50-59 consist of a slightly embellished repetition of the preced- ding section. Ravel, Pavane pour une Infante Défunte, meas, 47-49. moltegrate A humorous anecdote concerning the interpretation of this piece has been related by Charles Qulmont who, after having played for Ravel, received the following piece of advice: "Remember the next time, my friend, that I have written a Pavane pour une Infante Défunte and not a Pavane aéfunte pour une Infente.? a Ignarles Oulmont, "Souvenir," La Revue Musicale (December, 1938), p. 209. i29 Alborada del Gracioso The Miroirs of 1905 are made up of five pieces, all of which are impressionistic in character with the excep- tion of the fourth piece, Alborada del Gracioso, It has often been said that Ravel had fallen under the influence of Debussy in these so-called "impressionistic" works, although it may well have been the other way around. The two composers had many points in common as far as natural attractions were concerned. Machlis writes: Ravel shared with Debussy an affinity for the scales of medieval and exotic music. Both men were attracted by the same aspects of nature...day-break, the play of water and light. Both exploited exotic dance rhythms, especially those of Spain. Both loved the fantastic the antique, and the old French harpsichordists. Both were repelled by the passion of nineteenth-century music, and believed the primary purpose of art to be sensuous delight. It has already been pointed out that Ravel had a very evident influence on Debussy in what concerned the Habanera issue, and the early appearance of his Jeux dteau in 1901.undoubtedly had the same effect on Debussy's Reflets dans l'eau. The particular characteristics which differentiate these two important keyboard composers are of even greater interest to us. Machlis continues: There is an enameled brightness about Ravel's music JJoseph Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music (Rev. ed.; New York: W.W. Norton ae DC. > Pe 506,30 that contrasts with the twilight softness of Debussy's. He is less visionary. His rhythms are more incisive and have a verve, a drive that Debussy rarely strives for, His mind is more cise, his humor drier, his harmonies crisper. ie goes beyond Debussy's conception of dissonance. Ravel's sense of key is firmer, the harmonic move- ment more clearly outlined; he is far less con- ventional in respect to form, and his melodies are broader in span, more direct. His texture is contrapuntal, often being based on the interplay of lines rather than on the vertical blocks of sound that fascinated Debussy. The qualities of precision, humor and incisiveness to which Machlis refers are well illustrated in Ravel's Alborada del Gracioso, the most Spanish among his Spanish works. His ability to capture the most vital rhythmic combinations, his use of twanging guitar effects and other Spanish idioms such as modal melodic lines and slow brood- ing recitative passages--all these elements contribute toward a magnificent choreographic representation of the most colorful aspects of Spain, The Alborada is a very clear-cut ternary form. The first section, extending to measure 70, presents lively dance rhythms very close in character to those of the Spanish jota or even the fandango which first appeared in Spain in the early eighteenth century. The quick triple rhythm of the opening measures, combined with guitar-like lipid., pp. 506-507.31 chordal accompaniment, and the typical ornamental rhythm first heard in measure 6 give the impression of an authen- tic Spanish label at the very outset. Ravel, Miroirs: Alborada del Gracioso, meas. 1-7. oo A Interesting similarities are revealed in a comparison of a few measures of Ravel's work with the "Jota" from Manuel de Falla's Siete Canciones populares Espaiiolas. Manuel de Falla, Siete Canciones populares Espaffolas: dota, meas. 5964. Ir Tempo (atcere vive) 2, r sempre simile32 Ravel, Miroirg: Alborada del Gracioso, meas. 17-19. Section A is structured on three main rhythmic motives. Motive A makes its appearance in the opening meas- ures, motive B in measure 12, and motive C in measure 43. The crisp vitality of Ravel's rhythms is combined with suppleness attained by a drifting from 3/8 to 9/é and 6/8 time. The rhythm also features various syncopations and tie-overs, all these elements preventing the music from falling into conventional patterns. Essentially vocal in character, section B (measures 71-165) consists mainly of an expressive recitative featur- ing repeated notes, ornamented scale passages and rapid Vocal slurs, Jankélévitch states that this recitative33 comparable to the trio section of a scherzo, plays the seme role as the tonadilla in Granado's pieces? ‘The recapitulation of the A section at measure 166 makes ite appearance with another typical Spanish charac- teristic. After a very convincing and prolonged dominant pedal note, the tonic key is cleverly avoided by sliding into the Neapolitan key. The initial rhythmic motive does not return in its original key of D major until measure 196. This time it is preceded not by a dominant but by a oub- dominant harmony. A touch of biting acidity is added to the opening Dainor meledy by a constant rubbing of the notes E flat and F sharp against the melodic notes D and F. Ravel's use ef the major seventh becomes an almost constant feature in subsequent works. The chromatically altered E flat contained in the descending melodic scale at measure 6 functions as part of the diminished fifth chord on the domi- Rant A outlined in this descent but evasively resolving on an open fifth over the tonic D at measure 7. The section based on the first rhythmic motive A ends in measure 10 on the tonic D which becomes III in B flat and gradually leads to a return of the first rhythmic element in B flat at measure 22. Tyankélévitch, op. cit., p. 36.3h The second rhythmic motive, B, first heard in measure 12, becomes full-blown at measure 30, again in B flat. The biting acid sound of Ravel's harmonies is produced by means of neighbor chords such as we find in measure 31, the chord in this case being the Neapolitan of the key of B flat. The chord can also be analyzed as a passing chord leading to II. In measure 33, the non-harmonic tones are neighbor tones to the dominant seventh. The key of D flat is es- tablished in measure 37, gradually rising to G sharp in measure 43. In spite of the fact that this central section Presents a C sharp minor key signature, one gets the feeling of a G sharp major key with tonic-subdominant progressions. Measure 52 has the feeling of a temporary pull toward the key of F sharp, the chord in this measure being analyzed as a dominant seventh of that key. Measure 56 undergoes Slight intervallic changes although the effect is that of @ Sequence. The ninth on E becomes a dominant of A at measure 60, this last key serving as a dominant of the home key, D, in which the final measures of this small ternary section cadence. Measures 58 to 70 represent a modified recapitulation of measures 12 to 30. Section B opens with a recitative in D major but. slides imperceptibly into a tonic seventh in B minor at measure 75, Ravel's special flair for using pedal devices35 is exposed here in a very subtle way. The seventh, A, in the 17 chord becomes the root note of the seventh chord at measure 82. The descending motion of the bass line leads to G at which point the note A becomes an added second and the note E, an added sixth. The embellished scale which follows tends to pull toward the key of D, but we are sur- Prisingly turned away at measure 97 by a ninth on F sharp with an added A, this pedal persisting as far as measure 150. This obsessive F sharp pedal is accompanied for a considerable length of time by its upper and lower neigh- bor notes, E sharp and G. This effect, a favorite of Ravel's, is maintained as far as measure 147. Ravel, Miroirg: Alborada del Gracioso, meas. 105. 4, Measures 126-129 feature rich embellishing seventh chords, the first two of each measure playing the role of lower and upper neighbor chords to the main harmony which is established on the third beat. These main harmonies are chains of seventh chords built on A, E, and B, ending on a ninth chord on F sharp in measure 129. The A pedal suggested at measure 75 becomes fully36 evident at measure 150 and acts as a dominant to the expected key of D of the recapitulation. Measures 157-165 consist mainly of seventh chords on B end half-diminished sevenths on C sharp, while the other harmonies serve as embellishing chords. The harmonic features of measures 166-195 are closely related to those exposed in the first main section, al- though they vary in their manner of embellishment. Techni- cal problems involving glissandos in fourths and thirds become part of this ornamentation. Ravel returns to his initial key of D at measure 196, but instead of ornamenting his chord with the added second, E flat, he chooses a new harmonic color by the use of an added sixth, B flat. His A pedal is picked up momentarily at measure 200 where it supports the following chords: A7--9 ~ E flat7 - B7. A whole-tone scale starting on G sharp in measure 209 supports the ninth chords of G sharp ~ F sharp - E - D, leading to C minor seventh in measure 21h. This is followed by a ninth chord on G. These last two harmonies are repeated, leading to a seventh chord on F sharp which resolves unexpectedly in measure 220 on a climactic D chord, this time in the major mode. The closing measures feature a typical dramatic Spanish gesture--an emphatic tonic played in the lower37 register of the piano followed by a brilliant display of the tonic chord in the upper register. A reflection of this Spanish atmosphere is also re- called in a few sections of "Scarbo," the third piece of Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit (1908), the principal elements appearing from measures 60-108,CHAPTER III JUVENILE PIANO DUETS Ravel's recourse to legendary figures, to a world of imagination, is frequent throughout his musical output. He identified with these forces as did the Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson, the "children's poet." Ravel says very little that is concrete concerning his music or hin- self; however, in spite of this, one feels personal involv- ment in his music, a symbolic involvement in the case of ¥a Mére 1'0ye. Many relaxing moments were spent in the company of Ravel's friends, the Godebskis at Valvins. Ma Mare 1'Oye, a suite of fairy tales in piano-duet form composed in 1908, was written for their two young children, Jean and Mimie. The latter was frightened at the thought of performing in public; consequently, two young girls aged six and seven, students of Marguerite Long, substituted for the Godebski children at the first public performance.) A composition destined to be performed by such young children necessitated @ search for clarity, a simplicity of style stressing the Amportance of melody. Igeroff, op. cit., p. 131.39 I Pavan of the Sleeping Beauty Ravel reveals himself as a true disciple of Faure, following his advice in what concerns the necessity of exhausting all the difficulties of counterpoint in order to attain simplicity and expressiveness. Severe contra- puntal discipline in formative years results here in a simple linear quality.revesling Ravel's mastery of melody. An important aspect to be considered in this lvrical miniature is the modal quality of the melody ag well as that of the accompaniment, at least in the firet three measures. The opening phrase 4s presented in a clear two-part texture in the Aeolian mode, both voices converging on G@, the natu- ral seventh. The modal aspect is once again «wphasized, at measure 8 in the closing esdence and is maintained through-- out this perfectly structured AB A' miniature form, The short central section is made up of four measures, 9 to 12, presenting certain C major implications, especially at measures 10 and 11, where a B natural seems to play the role ef a leading tone. A change in direction drops the B to an A and gradually leads to another dominant harmony on A at measure 12. The C sharp, which is expected to re- solve on D, drops chromatically to a C natural leading to a modified return of the opening A section, harmonized this time as a sub-dominant eleventh instead of a tonic seventh. -40 The purely diatonic melody contains very few accompani- mental chromatic inflections, but Ravel's characteristic major sevenths and minor ninths abound throughout. The crafty avoidance of consecutive octaves at measures 3 and 4 contributes a certain archaic quality to this enchanting lullaby, a quality which Ravel was no doubt intentionally pursuing. The sound is somewhat renewed at measure 16 where a dominant cadence is deprived of its third. Pedal notes, so characteristic of Ravel, are applied in such a way as to emphasize the modal aspect of this Pavan. The dominant vedal serving as a bass from measures 2 to & is accompanied by an inner snh-dominant D pedal which gives the Phrase a certain plagal flavor. The D returns as a bass pedal at measure 13, thereby emphasizing this aspect. Within 20 measures Ravel succeeds in combining variety with simplicity, even in such detail as corresponding domi- nant and tonic cadences. A comparison of measures 4 and 16 reveals in the latter the added feature of a fifth. In the cai subtle rhythmic differentiation. : Ravel is painting details. He has polished the form 80 that it is perfectly square and obvious; thus, the of measures 8 and 20, the change consists purely of a slightest change occurring in a repeated section becomesAL most effective. Ravel is more than a "Swiss watch-maker"; he is a perfectionist experiencing sensual pleasure out of hearing things just right. IV Beauty and the Beast The dance element comas to the fore once-sgein—in- the fourth piece of Ma Mére l'Oye. Ravel adopts the walts type for his conversations between the Beautv and the Beast, A composition in this form is possibly the only point that Ravel had in common with his early teacher Henri Ghys! This form will eventually be treated by Ravel to a point of ex- haustion in the Valses nobles et sentimentales and in La alse. Ravel called Beauty and the Beast "a fourth Gymnopédie."! One can detect the resemblance in the open- ing modal atmosphere, the 3/4 waltz rhythm and the clarity of texture. Satie's influence can also be detected in a composition of @ much later date, the second movement of the Concerto in G. Ravel's melodic approach to the opening "Beauty" theme is of special interest when one compares it with the open- ing Pavan. The two melodies are closely connected by the fact that they both evolve mainly around the note A, within @ limited range in the manner of a Gregorian chant melody, gradually converging toward the note E and returning william W. Austin, op. cit., p. 171.eventually to A. These notes correspond to tonic and dominant functions in the Pavan, while in the waltz the harmonic treatment of the melody consists mainly of seventh and ninth chords, for the most part in F major with a few secondary dominants. Ravel teases us in the opening measures of this waltz by inserting a B natural into the melodic line constituting the Beauty theme. The B flet appearing in the accompaniment at measure ten confirms the F major tonal setting. The augmented fourth suggested by the chromatic alteration is wore apparent in the bass of measures 17 and 18 as Ravel's wrong-note technique becomes even more effective. A ninth chord on G is altered chromatically, replacing a D in the bess by a C sharp (enhamonically D flat). This creates an augmented sixth with the raised third, B natural, in the inner voice. The chord resolves eventually on a dominant seventh at measures 22-23 with the raised fifth and seventh creating what one might qualify as a jacz inflection. Ravel will use this type of harmonic effect in a more obvious way in the piano concertos. The opening Beauty theme undergoes a tonal change from F major to A minor at measure 31, then drops to a domi- nant of C major at measure 42 with no mention of a leading- tone, although the B natural is suggested in the previous43 measures as the ninth of an eleventh chord on A. Such subtleties are typical of Ravel's treatment of harmonic and melodic elements. The Beast theme, appearing at measure 49, outlines a diminished fourth and is also made up of a whole-tone scale fragment ranging from A to B with the omission of F. The result of these sounds heard in a low register is one of tonal confusion and ambiguity. The primitive growl of the Beast is followed by a commentary made up of augmented and diminished melodic intervals (measures 53-58) which add an atonal aspect to the section. However, one detects certain basic fundamental notes such as E at measure 53 serving as @ dominant and accompanied by its third, seventh and ninth. The theme is treated sequentially as the bass rises to F at measure 59, reaching F sharp at measure 63, the latter note again serving as a dominant. The harmony is clarified at measure 69 as a dominant ninth of B minor supporting the return of the first theme in this key. The bass slowly rises chromatically from F sharp to G sharp, characteriz- ing the amorous aspirations of the Beast. The chromatic ascent comes to a temporary standstill on G sharp, the dominant of a ninth chord in C sharp minor, at measure 77, as the first theme continues, alternating its comments with those of the Beast.bly Measures 85 to 105 treat the same two motives sequen- tially but in more compact form, tightening the elements and taking us through E flat minor, G flet major, B flat minor and D flat minor by means of dominant ninths. An en- harmonic change at measure 97 presents a certain pull to- wards the key of B minor, as the half-diminished seventh lasting for seven measures suddenly settles on an E chord at measure 105. A chromatic shift re-establishes the initial key of F with an ingenious presentation of the two themes heard simultaneously at measure 106. The melody of the opening theme remains exactly the same as it was pro- sented in the opening section. As one would expect, a new harmonization takes place in this recapitulation offer- ing chromatic alterations which add ambiguity to passages such as we find at measures 113-114. The hamony involved here is basically a dominant seventh of F chromatically altered to form what could be 8nalyzed as a diminished nth of D minor. Dominant ninths on A and D are pre= sented at measures 117 to 120, clarifying the harmony for a short moment. Measures 121 to 127 offer a succession of seventh and ninth chords in or closely related to the main key of F major. The chromatic alterations at measure 122 result in an avoided dominant chord in F, replaced by notes which are one half-step lower than the desired dominant45 harmony, The accented neighbor notes in the following measures are less accumlative and are all resolved even- tually, contrary to the neighbor-note chord at measure 122, which is left without resolution. The Phrase concludes on @ dominant cadence in F at measure 127. Sequencing similar to that heard earlier from meas- ures 87 to 105, which alternate motivic elements from the two themes, is resumed from measures 128 to 147, climaxing on @ diminished seventh on B natural. The mgic spell pro- duced by @ prolonged moment of silence is broken by a long ascending pianissimo glissando on B natural, an extension of the diminished seventh harmony of measure 147. The glis- sando leads to a vague presentation of a tonic chord in F in a second inversion with an added sixth. The transformation of the passionate Beast into a Prince-Charming is cleverly represented by the appearance of the characteristic Beast theme heard in an extremely high register, contrasting with its first appearance at measure 49. The final coda at measures 150 to 174 contains an in- teresting pedal-note whose sound is anticipated at measure 156, picked up in the harmony at measure 162 and revealed in ite true function at measure 165, The atmosphere produced by this A pedal at measure 169 is heard against a tonic pedal46 in the bass, accompanied by a melodic Presentation of @ dominant seventh on F sharp in the inner voice. This is strangely reminiscent of Le Gibet from Gaspard de Ja Nuit written the seme year. Qne is tempted to refer to the form of this waltz as one closely related to the sonata form. Although the Second theme becomes obvious only after the close of the first section at measure 49, its characteristic diminished fourth interval is apparent in an augmented form at meas- ures 17 to 20. Measures 48 to 105 are therefore considered developmental, followed by a recapitulation presenting both themes simultaneously in the initial key. The sonata form within a walts type will appear once again in the Yalses Robles et sentimentales of 1911. V The Fairy Garden Ravel's inclination toward the use of dance forms persists in the closing movement of Ma Mére l'Oye. He adopts the mid-seventeenth century tradition of concluding &@ suite with a slow saraband movement in triple meter with @ characteristic prolonged tone on the second beat. The fact that the saraband is a Spanish contribution to the suite certainly does not contribute any Spanish _ a Willi Apel, "Ssrabend,” Harverd Dictionary of Music, PeAT atmosphere to this final movement. The zarabanda, as it was known in Spein during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was a quick dance in triple weter and had pre- Yiously been condemned in the sixteenth century as a wild, lascivious love dance.) It seems obvious that Ravel's models concerning the general characteristics of this styl- ized dance were the French clavecinists of the mid- seventeenth century. Contrasting with the triadic melody of the Pavan in A minor, with its strong tonic and dominant inclinations, The Fairy Garden's opening diatonic melody in C major has a tendency to lean toward the mediant E and the sub-mediant A, these two notes corresponding to the tonic and dominant of the Pavan, The structural scalar imitative effects with par- ticular stress of degrees other than tonic and dominant give this closing movement a certain Faurean ring in spite of Ravel's very characteristic accented neighbor notes, such as those heard on the strong beats of measures 5 to 8. Deceptive cadences and modal implications are a con- stant feature of this simple diatonic A B At structure, Measure 3 presents a dominant harmony which finds its resolution in measure 4 on what could momentarily be con-sidered as @ tonic chord with an added sixth, but which in reality is a sixth degree in its first inversion followed by a mediant harmony. This smooth transition produces a certain pull toward the sub-mediant key of A minor, which in turn serves as a sub-dominant harmony in measure 5 fol- lowed by its temporary resolution in E minor. The plagal sound becomes an important feature throughout the piece. Measures 1, to 19 are harmonized over the sub-dominant note P, actually a first inversion of II7 avoiding an expected Plagal cadence at measure 20 by dropping to the mediant harmony, thus producing a Phrygian cadence. The return of section A at measure 40 leads to another prolonged sub-dominant sound at measure 44, this time resolving on the tonic harmony at measure 50. The sub- dominant sound maintained from measure 44 to measure 53 is in conflict with a tonic-dominant pedal enriched at measure 50 by a glissando also built on the dominant. The enchant- ment ends in a triumphant affirmation of tonic-dominant sonorities. Ravel's predilection for the interval of a descend- ing fourth and of its inversion, the fifth, is of particu- lar interest throughout his entire musical output. Rarely of structural importance, the fourth end its inversion are gestural intervals, a process of arpeggiation of his melodyag mingling with two or three other lines moving along contrapuntally. The structural intervals are usually sec- onds and thirds. This is illustrated in the first phrase of The Fairy Garden where Ravel ornaments an ascending scale with descending fourths which play the role of choreo- graphic gestures. Particular stress of the fourth and fifth is also of in- terest in the opening Pavan of Ma Mére l'Qye as well as in the Sonatine for piano which will be discussed in the following chapter.CHAPTER IV STRUCTURAL AUSTERITY Menuet Antique A natural inclination toward the use of neoclassical dance forms is manifested in Ravel's earliest published composition for solo piano, the Menuet Antique of 1895. Structural austerity is maintained in this minuet and trio, both sections written within the framework of an incipient: ternary form often referred to as a rounded binary form. The minuet is restated after the trio resulting in a com- Plete ternary form. Certain deficiencies are apparent such as repetitious- ness (measures 34-36), excessive sequencing (measures 8-25) and poor contrapuntal maneuvering in the trio section at measures 52 and 53. There is also an abuse of melodic elements in the lower register of the piano. The short connecting link at measure 53, leading back to the repetition of this section at measure 46, involves a repeated bass note, F sharp, an awkward contrapuntal move which is most uncharac- teristic of Ravel's later works abounding in smooth flowing transitions, The use of the lowered second is a common feature of Ravel's later works, In the Menuet Antique, it appears in the recapitulation at measure 38, The original G sharp51 of measure 1 becomes a @ natural. The effect is far from being as appealing as it will become in the first movement of the Concerto in G, but the sound does come through as an irritating wrong note gradually falling into place, a dis- turbing element for the ears of the more conservative har- mony teachers of the "Conservatoire." A subtle inner F sharp pedal effect heard during the first seven measures of the Menuet Antique is somewhat significant, although this particular aspect of Ravel's technique is in its primary Stages in this work. The awkward contrapuntal handling of measures 20 to 26 gives one the impression that this dance could be a piano reduction of a work originally conceived for an instrumental ensemble. Problems of proper balance in tone strengthen this hypothesis as one considers the extreme registers and contrasting dynamics indicated at measures 25 and 26. In spite of a few technical flaws, Ravel reveals a personal idiom which will remain throughout his entire compositional output. His early attraction to the lowered seventh is apparent in the opening F sharp minor melody. As mentioned above, this melody is transformed at measure 38 by the use of a lowered second, The first measures reveal Ravel's early interest in the plagal progression, This feature is combined with his52 characteristic biting acid tone, E sharp, heard in the opening chord, an accented neighbor note, actually the leading tone resolving to the F sharp, Another distinctive trait which is detected in the early Menuet Antique, as well as in the second movement of the Sonatine of 1905 and in the Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn, is the two-note slur element out of which the entire Menuet Antique grows. (See example delow. ) Ravel, Menuet Antique, meas. 1-2, Sonatine, 2nd mvt., mees.5-7. = Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn, meas. 1-2. —, Entering on the weak part of the third, first and second beats, the off-beat accents throw off the natural rhythmic balance. The same procedure is repeated in measure 2 as the slur motive is transferred to the left hand.53 The triple meter of the minuet does not persist in spite of regular 3/4 division in what concerns bar lines. A duple meter is felt very strongly from the last beat of measure 7 to measure 21. It is picked up once again in the chordal progressions of measures 34 to 38 as well as in the final cadence at measures 44 and 45. Meter flexibility persists throughout the trio section from measures 46 to 77. The closing of the trio at measure 70 offers a contrapuntal Presentation of the main minuet theme below the trio theme. The syncopated slur which is present throughout the minuet is replaced in the trio by a more conventional rhythm, the stress being placed on the beat rather than on an up-beat. The slurs are made up of intervals consisting mainly of descending fourths and fifths, an aspect which has already been pointed out in Ma Mere l'Oye. Pedal notes are not a dominating feature in the Menuet, Antique. However, the pedal heard in the minuet from meas- ures 26 to 36 and in the trio from measures 5h to 61 seems significant enough to be considered as a prediction of things to come. The following example illustrates a combination of Ravelisms: slurs, accented neighbor notes, inner contra- puntal lines, and the arpeggiation of a melody which consists structurally of a simple descending scalar line. Theseelements are all heard over a sustained dominant pedal. Ravel, Menuet Antique, meas. 30-33. It is interesting to note how close Ravel really is to the technique used in his Jeux d'eau of 1901. In reference to this early work, Cortot states: The works which will follow will bring us the testimony of an art more stylized, of a more re- fined craftsmanship, of a more original sensiti- vity, but the essentials of the style are already present, the tendency and the manner; the coexis~ tence of the classical plan and of the fresh and acid fantasy which renews the deteils and commni- gates to the traditional develoment the surpris- ing charm of the unforeseen, Sonatine 1905, second movement. The second movement of the Sonatine is very mch in the spirit of the minuet but is written in an asymmetrical binary form. The first A: B section is followed by a tran- Jalfred Cortot, La Musique frencaise de piano, Vol. II (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1948), p. 20.55 sition (measures 39-52) which replaces the usual trio, resulting in the following over-all form: A: B, transition, At Bt, The entire movement is based on the opening measures and could actually be considered as a monothematic sonatina form. The first theme in D flat major pulls slightly toward B flat at measure 5, followed by a few measures consisting mainly of seventh and ninth chords which waver from F minor to A flat major. There is a cadence at measure 12 in F minor, announcing the key of the second theme at measure 13. The key of D flat returns at measure 23 with a II7 chord supporting the opening theme in the same key but melodically a third lower than what was heard in the opening measures and harmonized differently. A dominant ninth chord at me: ure 26.leads to a closing theme of this section at measure 27. This theme is based on the 1. PF nythm of measure 2. A ninth chord on B flat heard from measures 35 to 38 undergoes a chromatic shift at measure 39 as the transition opens on a dominant thirteenth chord of A. An enharmonic change occurs at measure 53 bringing back the first theme in the initial D flat major key. This is followed by the second theme, also in D flat major, although presented en- harmonically at measure 65. The closing theme of measure 27 is repeated at measure 79 in the form of a coda.A slur occurring on an accented weak beat as seen previously in the Menuet Antique is again featured in the A section of this second movement as illustrated at measures 5 to 9 and at measure 11. This type of slur is by no means a new feature of the minuet. An interesting example of its use can be seen in a work by J.P. Rameau: J.P, Rameau, Menuet, meas. 1-16. Rameau also varies his rhythmic emphasis, combining a char- acteristic stress of the second beat so common to the minuets of the baroque period.37 A subtle use of an inner pedal can be detected in Ravel's minuet. The note F persists throughout the first 38 measures, either in intermediate parts or as a more obvious bass pedal heard from measures 13 to 22. An E pedal replaces that of F during the transition period, with the F pedal returning in the modified A section at measure 53. Interrupting this sound from measures 65 to 77 are the C sharp and F sharp pedals, these two notes corresponding to tonic and sub-dominant pedals in the initial key of D flat major. Once again, this confirms Ravel's attraction to the plegel sound. A change in meter similar to that already examined in the Menuet Antique occurs in the first two measures of the coda. Another feature of the second movement is the un- relenting use of the interval of a fifth and of its inver- sion, the fourth, the latter being used especially in the transition section. The melodic interval of a descending fourth is the basic interval of the first movement, and the ascending fourth, that of the closing movement. The motive heard in the soprano at measure 39 is imitated two octaves lower in augmentation and will be used in the last movement, giving the entire work a cyclic quality.58 Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn A tendency to imitate baroque forms leads Ravel to the composition of another minuet written in 1909 com- memorating the centenary of the death of Haydn. The Menuet, ‘Sur le nom d'Haydn is a musical anagram, one more challenge which Ravel enjoys imposing upon himself. Two notes of the scale were renamed according to the following diagram proposed by the Revue Société Musicale Bo ¢ (D) E F G, a tn) = x 1 om (a) o pairs tiu v woex (y) fs Since the letter H already corresponded to the note B, the order of the letters H and I was reversed, resulting in the following motive: Ravel treats the motive in retrograde motion, mirror inver~ sion and retrograde transposition in the B section of the minuet.59 Tempo indications given to Vledo Perlemuter by Ravel himseif) lead to the conclusion that this dance is more in the spirit of a baroque minuet in moderate tempo rather than a fast Haydn minuet. Four-bar phrasing is adhered to in the opening A section (measures 1 to 16) of this inci- pient ternary form. He cadences in tonic and dominant keys as Rameau had done two centuries earlier.? However, Ravel's Personal style can be detected even in the first four meas- ures of this very brief composition. The use of the seventh and ninth chords used as simultaneous accented neighbor notes or as strudc suspensions on strong beats is already at this point a very characteristic Ravel label. The antici- Pation of the bass of measure 5 on the third beat of meas- ure 4 adds a certain suppleness to-the phrasing, another distinctive Ravel effect. The first tonic chord heard at measure 4 is combined with a double struck suspension which resolves in an upward sliding motion. This effect might be labeled as a jazz inflection if it were in a different context. This .JWéléne Jourdan-Morhange and Vlado Perlemuter, Ravel Staprés Ravel (Lausanne: Editions du Cervin, 1957), p. b0e See previous Rameau example.particular element will be discussed in a subsequent chapter. The sliding ornamental slurs of the B section (measures 16 to 43) are a transformation of the slur of messure 4. This motive is followed by @ prolonged sequencing on a motive first heard at measure 19. A touch of tonal ambiguity sets in as the B section opens at measure 16 in the key of G leading to a G pedal at measure 18 which serves as a sub-dominant pedal in the key of D. This pedal resolves at measure 22 as it becomes the seventh of a Vq chord in the same measure. A slight pull toward the key of E leads to ninth chords on C sharp and F sharp, carrying this section as far as the ultra-chromatic re-transition at measure 38. This section could have been completely eliminated by simply connecting the bass pedal B of measure 38 to the B chord of measure 42. The measures in between these two points are not necessary, tonally speak- ing, nor do they serve a specific purpose as @ re-transition. The diagram on the following page explains the direction of the esgential notes moving from measure 38 to measure 42. Chromatic augmented fourth chords rise over a B pedal which serves as a dominant to a vague E minor key, gradually converging toward the main key of G. The soprano line is made up of a simple descending scalar line ranging from D> to G?, moving in contrary motion to the rising chromatic lines.61 Ravel, Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn, meas. 38-44. she B £ fy —————__-% &%% The melodic interval of a perfect fourth serves once again as a gestural element maintained throughout the minuet. Le Tombeau de Couperin Ravel's response to the neo-classical trend which swept the French musical circles of his generation was a revival of the style of the French clavecinists, a return to the spirit of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In Ravel's output, this trend is best illustrated by his suite Le Tombeau de Couperin, written between the years 1914-1917. The title is a bit misleading, this Tonbeing, in the words of Ravel, "an homage addressed less din reality to Couperin alone, than to the French music of the eighteenth century." The baroque forms adopted by Ravel in the Tombeau include a Prelude and Fugue, three dences: Forlane, Rigau- don and Menuet followed by a brilliant concluding Toccata. Forlane The forlana is said to have originated in northern Italy in the sixteenth century as a dence similer to a Passamezzo in duple meter. In the baroque period, the forlana's distinguishing features were triple meter with dotted rhythms and characteristic repeats of motifs.2 A humorous passage quoted from a letter written by Ravel himself to his friend Cipa Godebski sheds a bit of ight on Ravel's ironic and witty personality: ++sIn the,meantime, I am working on the intentions of the Pope. JRené Chalupt, Ravel au miroir de ses lettres (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1956), p. 150. «wut Appel, "Forlena," Harvard Dictionary of Music, Pe 326. ee a 3In 1914, attempts had been made by the Archbishop of Paris to ban the tango and have it replaced by the forlana. Ravel is referring to the Archbishop when speaking of the Pe.63 You know that this venerable person...has introduced @ new dance, the forlane. I have transcribed one by Couperin. I am going to try to have it danced by Mistinguett and Colette Willy in disguise. The Archbishop's efforts resulted in an extremely slow for- Jana used as an accompaniment to the usual tango! The formal structure of Ravel's Forlene is that of a short rondo form concluding with an extended coda. The opening section A extending from measure 1 to measure 29 is a small ternary form in itself, the divisions being the following: a) measures 1-9; b) measures 9-24; c) measures 25-29. Section B, extending from measure 29 to measure 52, also contains a ternary division, each sub-division starting on & weak beat contrasting with section A. Section C, extend- Ang from measure 61 to measure 93, follows the same struc- tural pattern. Ravel's use of baroque dance forms includes classical harmonic progressions which involve a very crafty use of linear chromaticism. The opening melody of the Forlane is different from the melodies observed in earlier works. Its apparent grotesqueness is due to the use of octave transfers such as we see in the opening melodic gesture which settles om an unresolved leading tone. These transfers produce Anistinguett and Colette were the two greatest stars of the Music. Hall at this time.abrupt jumps of sevenths and sixths resulting in an extremely jagged melodic line, Altered notes appearing in the inner voices contritute to the complexity of the chro- maticism. Basically, the melody consists once again of mall intervals which make up a descending line ranging fron E? to El; * ee pees The main tonality of E minor becomes more evident at measures 4 and § than in the opening measures, The first chord, a Second inversion of the tonic major seventh chord, under- goes chromatic alterations on the second beat, a raised third and fifth giving one the impression that the harmony ie functioning as an altered dominant seventh in the key of the sub-dominant; actually, it is a chromatically al- tered tonic chord. Measure 2 consists of the sub-dominant ninth harmony which also undergoes the same chromatic alter- ations, A super-tonic ninth chord also chromatically altered at measure 3 is transformed into a diminished seventh of V followed by the classical Tly-Vg-I close, The process is repeated note for note in the following four measures,65 Measures 9 to 18 offer certain harmonic inclinations toward the keys of ¢ sharp and E, closing on a dominant of © sharp.2 A bridge starting at measure 19 presents dominant thirteenths in C cadencing momentarily in this key but pre- ceded on the first beat of measure 19 by a minor form of the dominant of C sharp prolonged from the preceding measure. The dominant thirteenth at measure 21 undergoes a chromatic alteration of a minor third, preparing the way for an E flat resolution at measure 21. The process is repeated a step lower ending on a D flat at measure 24. The A section is rounded off by a repetition of measures 5 to 9 at measures 25. to 29. Sections B and C are devoid of harmonic complexities. They are separated by the return of the A theme at measure 53+ Measure 57 offers an imitative presentation of the opening theme, the harmonisation being basically the same as the opening four measures. The first section of the coda, extending from measures 221 to 137, is essentially in E major and is based motivi- cally on section C. Measures 121 to 125 consist of tonic seventh chords and a dominant ninth at measure 122. The ithe seventh chord on F sharp is actually a super- tonic seventh in E.66 following four measures are a repetition of the same thythmic and motivic pattern, the harmonies being enriched by elevenths and thirteenths. Measures 133 to 137 round off this small ternary section with a new harmonization of the same idea. ‘The harmonies consist of a dominant ninth of F sharp followed by an F sharp ninth whose bass is heard as an anticipation at measure 134, The B sharp in the following chord, clashing with the B natural in the bass, functions as a dissonance which re8olves to the C sharp in measure 136, the phrase finally cadencing with a Vya-T Progression in E major. S. Dubbiosi analyzes the following eight measures as bitonal, the first two measures consisting of a seventh chord on F followed by an E flat chord, enharmonically altered, over a seventh chord on F in a first inversion. These chords are followed by a diminished fifth chord on A sharp in a first inversion.2 In the opinion of the present author, an analysis of the separate voices, particularly the bass, leads to the conclusion that the basic harmonies involved are those of Jstelio Dubbiosi, "The Piano Music of Maurice Ravel,” Morte! (Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1967), Pe Ole67 the sub-dominant and tonic, followed at measure 1,0 by a traditional I,-V-I cadential formula. 7 The soprano oscillates in the following manner: (eee A similar oscillation is found in the intermediate voices. eee (ad The fact that the bass already suggests a sub-dominant/ tonic pull is strengthened by the existence of a German aug- mented sixth built on a lowered super-tonic at measure 137. This chord finds its resolution at measure 14,0 on a tonic 6/k chord. ‘The same sub-dominant/tonic oscillation exists in the bass of measures 146-148 but harmonized as a super-tonic68 seventh in a first inversion followed by a tonic ninth, the D sharp in this case being used as an accented neigh- bor note to C sharp, Temporary modulations on dominants of C sharp and F sharp precede a perfect cadence in E minor at measures 153-154. A few measures recalling the initial opening motive over chromatically altered dominant thirteenths and tonic major sevenths close this light-hearted dance which, in spite of biting, acid dissonances, fits well into the mold of classical analysis. Rigaudon The fourth piece in the Tombeau de Couperin, entitled Rigaudon, falls into the category of optional dances often found in the suites of the seventeenth-century clavecinistes. This lively dance, said to be of Provencal origin, is usually in 2/4 or 4/4 meter, the phrase often beginning on the last beat of the bar.2 This is well illustrated in an early example by J. Ph. Rameau and in the last movement fron Grieg's Holberg Suite. 1, Percy A. Scholes, The Oxford Companion to Music (London: Oxford University Press, 1955), p. 801.Rameau, Rigaudon, meas. 1-4 of each section. 1° Rigaudon Double du 2“ Rigaudon .70 The same type of phrasing exists in the first section of Ravel's Rigaudon, preceded by two measures of emphatic Preparatory chords which increase the rhythmic vitality of thie dance. These chords serve as cadential closes at Various points throughout the A section of this ternary forn. A pastoral B section, measures 37 to 92, does not give the impression of being any kind of "double" or varia- tion. of the A section as is the case in the Rameau example ef the second Rigaudon. However, the descending scalar line which is present in the bass, in the prolongation of the tonic seventh chord from measures 3 to 5, becomes an important underlying feature of section B. The motive is extended to a much greater degree starting at measure 37 on the note D and descending to the note A at measure 40, Measure 47 continues the descending scalar line on G in the bass and gradually drops to a D flat, momentarily avoiding @ perfect descending scale in C minor. The use of descending as well as ascending scale patterns becomes a major feature in the second movement of Ravel's Concerto in G, to be discussed in Chapter Six. The eighth-note accompaniment of the B section is Somewhat similar to the accompaniment of the first section from measures 3 to 7 as far as note values are concerned, but the displacement of the bass note to the last half of2 the second beat offers an interesting variation which mildly prefigures the rhythmic displacement in the eighth- note accompaniment of the second movement of Ravel's Concerto in G. A rhythmic inversion of the initial ITS vytha com~ bined with the use of a flexible syncopated motive con- tributes a refreshing diversion to the regular strong-beat accents of the surrounding sections. The elements which make up the opening two measures of the Rigaudon are of utmost importance in view of the fact that the entire piece is structured on the same prin- eiple--a building up of thirds. The opening sub-dominant seventh chord is enriched on the second beat by an added third, G in the soprano and a D in the bass. The following beat maintains all the same notes as common tones with a change of bass consisting of the octave transfer of the G which was previously in the soprano, The effect is of one Sonority all the way through. y—_—__,1 The leading tone, B, omitted in these preparatory chords, appears at measure 3 and is accented for the duration of six beats against a descending scale in the bass, which72 seems destined to cadence in C, However, Ravel uses a favorite device, cleverly shifting at the last instant into @ cadence in G. The building up of thirds is pursued through- out this section in the following way: ft : tt pote = —| 4 (meen? 1a re on The process continues in a descending sequence starting at measure 25, the descent cadencing in G at measure 34. The A section is rounded off at measures 35-36 in C major by the same chordal progression which served as an introduction to the Rigaudon. It is interesting to note that similar ca- dential effects exist in the third movement of Ravel's Concerto in G. The central section, mainly in C minor, opens on a tonic ninth chord which is maintained for several measures with short appearances of subtonic sevenths and passing chords. A slight pull toward the key of A flat is suggested at measure 50 with the appearance of a D flat. This tone supports a subdominant seventh chord which is followed by @ dominant seventh in the same key. Ravel cleverly avoids eadencing in this key by shifting chromatically to a D natural at measure 51, announcing @ subdominant ninth2B harmony in C which eventually goes to a dominant and finally to a tonic in C at measure 53. The succeeding measures venture through the keys of E flat and G. Measures 69 to 84 consist of sequences based on the main rhythmic motive of this central section, a motive also based on a building up of thirds, involving subdominant and tonie chords in the keys of C sharp, G sharp, E, F sharp and A, measures 80 and 81 finally cadencing in F sharp. A short bridge prolongs these closing measures, leading to a very slightly modified version of section A at measure 93. The whole-step descent of the bass, starting at mea- sure 81 on F sharp, pursues its way to E at measure 87, drops to D at measure 93, and reaches its ultimate goal on © at measure 94. This procedure is reminiscent of a passage analyzed earlier in the Alborada at measures 209 to 214. Ravel's unexpected tonal shifting comes to the fore once again in the final measures, 122.to 126, as he cadences firmly in F major. The chord of F becomes part of a super- tonic eleventh chord followed by a dominant and a tonic conclusion in the home key of C major. Menuet Ravel is once again attracted to the minuet for his last borrowing from baroque dance forms. This is obviously Ravel's favorite dance type, at least in what concerns thoseTh of this period. Simplicity of form and harmony best qualify this light and elegant Menuet with its delicate ornaments to be played on the beat as requested by Ravel himself.2 This is very much in conformity with the prac- tices of Couperin's time. A comparison of this minuet with Ravel's carly Menuet Antique of 1895 reveals interesting points of resem- blance as well as dissimilarities. The minuet of Le Tombeau is of a very regular 3/4 meter without any meter flexibility such as was pointed out in the earlier work. A purging of texture and harmony enables Ravel to capture the pure French style of the early clavecinistes. The later minuet no longer beara the evidence of Chabrier's influence observed in the earlier compositions. ‘The use of the lowered seventh, although present, is not as constant in this lete minuet, with the exception of the Musette section which hes more modal content than any of Ravel's other works. A melody in the Aeolian mode on G is detected in the opening measuresof the Musette. This melody could also be considered in the Dorian mode if it were not for the presence of the bass. This ambiguity is again a typical Ravel gesture. An interesting contrapuntal effect appears at measure 73, rounding off the G minor Musette section simultaneously S 1uéiéne Jourdan-Morhange and Vlado Perlemuter, op. cit., Pe 72.75 with the appearance of the opening minuet theme, both in Q major. This effect is not new for Ravel; it is found in the Memet Antique's closing section of the trio. How- ever, in the later work, the last eight measures of the Musette are incorporated into the modified recapitulation of the minuet, an added subtlety of Ravel's technical craftiness. Subtle chromatic alterations create ambiguous tonal situations in what sppears to be a rather simple harmonic organization. The opening phrese in G major concludes at measures 7 and 8 on dominants in the keys of Dand BE. A winor form of the latter chord pulls back the harmony into the key area of G. The B minor chord, now functioning as a mediant, leads to a supertonic followed by a dominant chord with a lowered third. The wavering from F sharp to F natural creates a certain insecurity which clears up at measure 15 as the key of D becomes apparent with its clas- sical F sharp-C sharp alterations. Measures 25 to 32 con- tain passing modulations in the keys of A minor, ¢ major, concluding in the initial key of G major. The gliding chords of the Musette over tonic-dominant Pedal points move in melodic modal formulas from G minor through C minor and E flat, reaching a climactic point on a Neapolitan chord of C major at measure 57. A descending76 sequence carries the vhrase through the key of A flat major-minor end, with slight chromatic alterations, the key of G minor returns at measure 65. ‘The recapitulation of the Menuet contains key changes which differ from the key organization of the opening sec- tion, measure 81 being a third higher than its corresponding measure, 9. A coda at measure 104 is based on the melodic element of measures 5 and 6 followed at measure 112 by a rhythmic augmentation of the melodic idea expressed earlier at measures 21 and 22. The concluding trill over a tonic ninth chord comes as a surprise, creating an impressionistic effect within a neo-classical context. This conclusion is some- what related to the closing measures of the opening Prelude, which terminates with a similar trill.CHAPTER V CLIMAX OF RAVEL'S HARMONIC EXPERIENCE Yalses nobles ot sentimentales In Ravel's words, “The title of Valses nobles et Sentimentales is sufficient indication of my intention to compose successive waltzes in the style of Schubert "2 In spite of thie revelation on the part of Ravel, it seems obvious that the poetic title and the time signature are about the only features that Ravel and Schubert have in common. Ravel most probably meant that these waltzes were written in the "tradition" of the waltzes of Schubert. A certain resemblance to the style of Johann Strauss can be seen in the melodic and rhythmic exuberance of Ravel's waltzes, particulerly the seventh, which he considered the most characteristic.2 ——— Inaurice Ravel, "Esquisse autobiographique,” La Revue Musicale, December 1938, p. 21+ ae 2rpta, Ravel, Valses nobles et sentimentales no. 7, mees. 57-60.78 In 1910, Ravel was still under the influence of French symbolism. The Velses nobles et sentimentales por- tray to perfection the ultra-refined world of poetry by the use of harmonic and melodic effects in keeping with this spirit. The atmosphere of easy living is described by the symbolist poet Henri Régnier, whose words are quoted below the title Valses nobles et sentimentales: "Le plaisir Aélicteux et toujours nouveau d'une occupation inutile." (The delightful and ever-refreshing pleasure of a useless Occupation.) The Wagnerian harmonic idiom had reached its culmina- tion in the works of Richard Strauss. In the opinion of G. Abraham, Der Rosenkavalier, produced in 1911, the same year as the Valses nobles et Sentimentales, featured "Wagnerian chromaticism turning over-ripe."! ‘The melodic meanderings of Strauss roam from one key to another, often in third relationships. Frequently they resemble a type of collage where excessive chromaticism used as a structural element leads to a loss of a sense of direction. \oeraid Abraham, 100 Years of Music (3rd ed.; Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1967), -p. 227. ;79 Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier, meas. 26. 4 ~ Ravel aasinilated the chromatic idion as he did all other musical idioms to which he was exposed. However, Ravel's chromaticism, like that of Chopin, is ornamental. It functions as a secondary element treated with extreme subtlety and involving very smooth connections. The first of the Valses nobles et sentimentales is written within the framework of an incipient sonata form, very much the same form that we find in the Trio of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. Ravel had great admiration for Mozart, whose classical musical forms were a model to him,l es- pecially in what concerns certain aspects of sonata form, 4Roland-Manuel, Ravel (sixth edition; Paris: Libreirie Gallimard, 1948), p. 127. :The G major exposition, extending from measure 1 to mea- eure 20, consists mainly of one rhythmic motive (JJ JJ ) built on a melodic fourth. This motive persists through- out the section with the exception of measures 15-20. These last six measures, concluding the exposition in D major, return in the recapitulation section at measures 75-80, bringing the waltz to a close with the same material heard in the exposition but in the initial key of G. The lack of thematic dichotomy is replaced by the presence of tonal Sonata mechanics constituting the necessary ingredients for @ sonata form. The development section, three times the length of the surrounding sections, exploits the main rhythmic idea in combination with the melodic fourth out of which Grows a new theme at measure 33. In its augmented form, the fourth is used in the bass from measures 49 to 60, present- ing a circle of fifths supporting an ascending chromatic line which builds up to the recapitulation. This chromatic ascent can be considered one of the summits of Ravel's harmonic experience.él Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales no. 1, meas. 56-60. The opening two measures are analyzed by Dubbiosi as a aimple tonic thirteenth chord in G;1 however, combined with this tonic chord, there is the feeling of a definite dominant pull including chromatic tendency tones. The A sharp and C sharp are a raised fifth and seventh within this dominant harmony. The E sharp is considered as an incomplete neighbor note rising to the leading tone F sharp which resolves not to the tonic G but down to E, the added sixth of the tonic chord. Thus, the resolution of all chromatic tones is made possible. Sona Ped 1s, Dubbicsi, op. eit., p. 50.82 The climactic chromatic progression of measures 56 to 60 is a development of this introductory material. The tonic G chord at measure 5 is extended to measures 7 and 8, where the chord becomes a tonic seventh with an added sixth, At this moment, a syncopated bass ( ol af a ) 4s presented simultaneously with the rhythmic pattern JJ | JJ in 3/4 meter resulting in an interesting example of hemiola. A dominant on E persists as far as the closing measures of the exposition, which consistsof a prolonged dominant thir- teenth in D cadencing at measure 20. Ravel slides into this dominant key by means of an imperceptible shift at measure 15. One does not get the feeling that a modulation has taken Place. In spite of its smoothness, the change to D major 4s not a logical outcome of the preceding measures. Mea- sure.75 presents the more normal G major conclusion to the same material. This Pococo device (a favorite of Haydn) becomes, in the hands of Ravel, an agent of tonal ambiguity which surpasses complex chromatic passeges in subtlety. Ravel's crafty resolution of dominant harmonies is well-illustrated in the opening measures of the development. The dominant on E, first heard at measure 9, reappears at Measure 21, resolving chromatically and enharmonically to an F minor chord. The same procedure is found in the follow- ing two measures, where a dominant ninth of ¢ resolves to83 an A flat minor chord. A slight chromatic change from an A flat to an A natural at measure 26 causes the chord to take on the fimction of a dominant in the key of E, a rela- tively stable key for the new theme at measure 33. The ninth harmony on B flat (A sharp) at measure 25 suggests a possibility of an eventual resolution to the key of E flat. After eight measures of hesitating over a D pedal, which has been persisting since measure 21, the preference goes to the key of E. Measures 39 to 45 consist of ninth chords on ¢ sharp and G, the bass sounding the interval of an aug- mented fourth which will appear sequentially as far as mea- sure 56. The uninterrupted chromatic line which starts at mea- sure 57 consists mainly of seventh chords, each chord contain- ing one wrong-note which provides the necessary tension in building up an ascending chromatic line which climaxes on two successive German sixths,The recapitulation is a modified version of the exposition. Measure 67, corresponding to measure 7, shifts its harmonic weight to a dominant ninth of C with an added sixth, E. Corresponding to the melodic D of the exposition, this added note maintains structural significance until the final tonic chord is attained. Measures 75 to 78 are built on a supertonic eleventh, which brings the material back to its opening key for the final cadence. Ravel avoids the use of the leading tone, F sharp, since he is reserving it for an effective opening to the second waltz in G minor. A different aspect of sonata form appears in the senti- mental second waltz which opens with eight measures of prep- aratory material. The opening half-diminished seventh chord on G is symmetrically transposed a whole-tone lower in mea- sures 2 and 4, giving one a sense of tonal uncertainty in spite of the fact that the first waltz, which concluded in G major, was followed by another chord on G. The symmetrical transposition drops another whole-step at measure 5 with the exception of the bass, which avoids an expected EB flet by dropping to C sharp. The D in the soprano tends to pull toward C sharp but the wrong note turns out to be the C sharp which drops to C natural in the bass at measure 7. The dominant seventh of G minor is completed at measure & as the B flat drops to A over a D in the bass. The leading-toneF sharp 18 lowered, thus creating a blue-note feeling. After eight measures of teasing, Ravel smothly glides into @ model melody over tonic sevenths and dominant ninths in the established key of G minor. In the manner of a refrain, the preparatory materiel reappears at measure 17 but this time a minor third higher in the key of B flat. This leads to the second theme at measure 25 in the key of E flat, the Neapolitan of the dominant. The second theme closes in the classical dominant key at measures 29 to 32. Based on the opening measures, the short eight-measure refrain on a dominant ninth of E flat replaces the de relop= ment and discreetly slides into the recapitulation of the first theme at measure 41. Ravel transforms his initial harmonisation of the modal melody, first heard at measure 9, by substituting for the B flat ite neighbor notes, A natural and B natural. In measure 42, he substitutes C sharp and B flat for the D, thereby prolonging the whole-tone inflec- tion. The sense of a G minor tonality is resolidified at measure 49 as a third, G, is added to the bass of what wes earlier a tonic seventh in B flat at measure 17. This added third enables the bass line to drop gradually to the key of the Neapolitan of the tonic for the appearance of the second theme at measures 57-58, as opposed to the Neapolitan of the86 dominant key heard in the exposition at measures 25-26. A drop of a half-step at measure 61 situates the closing Measures in the initial G minor key. The use of the Picardy third, B natural, enables Ravel to slide smoothly into the third waltz in E minor. The added sixth of G becomes the new tonic, The third waltz consists of a modified ternary form. Section A comprises measures 1-16; section Bl, measures 17-32; section B2, measures 33-56, serving as a retransition; and section Al, rounding off the walts, measures 57070. A pen- tatonic melody constitutes the most important element of this welts, the melody being made up of notes having the Propensity for being in two keys--E minor and G major, In the first case, which pertains to the opening A section, the D 4s analyzed as a seventh of the tonic chord, while in the closing section the E becomes an added sixth, The opening melody consists of ascending and descending slurs constituting the main portion of the A section. Binary phrasing at measures 5 and 6 upsets the rhythmic 3/4 lilt of the opening measures. Eleventh and thirteenth chords in D major enrich the texture of the Bl section which also includes @ new three-beat phrasing, offering variety within simplicity of rhythm. Measures 25 to 32 pick up the binary phrasing of measures 5 and 6. Section B* consists of a chain of seventh87 chords written entirely over two successive dominant pedals, F sharp and B, leading to a modified return of section Ay this time in G major. A short coda at measure 65 concludes the walts with a new dotted rhythmic figure which acts es an anticipation of the main rhythmic figure of the fourth walts, The added sixth, E, also serves as a link to the next waltz. The fourth waltz of the Valses nobles St sentimentales opens on ninth chords built on C sharp, B flat and E. Alternating fourths and thirds, containing unresolved neigh- bor notes, neighbor tones, and chromatically embellished tones, are directed toward a cadence in A flat at measures 5, 6 and 7. Actually, the entire phrase from measures 1 to 8 is Supported by basses which correspond to those of a classical Progression consisting of a subdominant, supertonic, dominant, and tonic chord in A flat. The phrase is repeated from mea- sures 9 to 16, shifting to a C major conclusion at measures 15 and 16. Throughout the first eight measures of the following B section, a persistent E resounds, playing the role of a subtle pedal in the soprano. The C major chord of measure 17 is dnmediately enriched by an added seventh which is lowered in measure 18 to change the chord into a dominant of F. A quick unexpected chenge to a half-diminished seventh on F sharp resolves chromatically to a C sharp minor chord at86 measures 19-20 and, again unexpectedly, to E major at measures 23-24. An augnented sixth on B (measure 25) re- solves at measure 27 to a D sharp minor chord, omitting the expected dominant sound on A sharp, D sharp represents the leading-tone key of the surrounding phrases. The sus- tained G sharp in the soprano acts as an accented neighbor note to the F sharp heard at measure 27, These three mea- sur re repeated without arriving at a conclusive effect. Measures 31 to 38 consist of a return to the material of section A, but the fact that the material is in the key of E, rather than in the initial key of A flat, delays the brief and modified return to measure 39, The waltz is thus con- structed wifhin the framework of a rounded binary form. As complex as the opening four measures of the fifth waltz may appear, they are actually a horizontalizetion of @ dominant ninth chord followed by its tonic in E. The bass line opens on the seventh of the dominant chord followed by the fifth. The D natural in measure 3 is a neighbor note to the third of the chord, D sharp, heard on the third beat in an inner voice, For the first time, the entire dominant ninth chord, with the exception of the fifth, F sharp, is heard on the third beat of measure 3. The F sharp could logically have been heard at this point in the soprano voice, but Ravel avoids this sound in the melody in spite of the89 fact that all the embellishing notes in this voice from measure 1 to measure 3 have been circling around this absent tone. The notes C netursl--D naturel, accompsnying the basa and the melody throughout these first three measures, are dissonances which resolve to C sharp--D sharp on the third beat of measure 3. The following four measures are a slightly varied version of the opening measures. At measure 6, Ravel uses an E sharp, neighbor note of F sharp, in his horizontal outlining of the dominant ninth chord in the bass. The chords in the bass include the neighbor notes G and B natural which resolve to the A and C sharp of the dominant ninth chord on the third beat. Section B of this ternary form extends from measure 9 to measure 24 and can be separated into two parts, the first eight measures resembling section A as far as the general graphic contour is concerned. A slight pull toward the key of B is felt at measures 9 and 10 involving supertonic and dominant harmonies, but the resolution to the bass note B becomes part of a dominant ninth resolving to C major at measure 12. The phrase is repeated sequentially a third higher, this time cadencing in E minor. One gets the impres- a major third higher at measure 17, although the bass and melodic motives are trans- formed. A Il7-Vg-I progression in F sharp is horisontally sion that the sequence continuoutlined from measures 17 to 20, leading the sequence a step higher to the key of A flat in the following measures. An enharmonic change occurs at measure 25 where the A flat becomes G sharp, announcing the slightly modified return of section A. This same enharmonic transformation had occurred Previously at the closing measures of the fourth waltz to Prepare the way for the following waltz in 5 major. The subtlety of the chromatic ornamentation involved in the fifth walts is combined with syncopations and sliding chords which are reminiscent of the Americana effects from LtEnfant et les Sortiltges. Ravel's use of resolved end unresolved neighbor tones is one of the main features of the sixth walts. The aug- mented fourth, € sharp--G, outlined in the bass in the open- ing two measures, is the result of an unresolved accented neighbor note, C sharp, which should normally have resolved to D, as the accented neighbor note F sharp in the soprano resolves to A. This technique is maintained throughout most of the sixty measures of this waltz. The opening section of this A-B-A form extends from measure 1 to measure 16 and makes use of rising chromatic scale motives involving dominant and tonic harmonies in C major. Certain rhythmic combinations similar to those seen at measure 7 of the first waltz cause meter ambiguity whichot persists throughout the waltz. The rhythmic balance is further upset by the fact that more weight is usually placed on the third beat of the measure than on the first beat. Section B alternates two measures of 3/4 meter with four measures that have a well-defined 3/2 organizetion. This six-measure phrase presents a rising chromatic motive resolving to a descending scalar motive within the key area of G minor. This material is presented sequentially a step higher in the next six measures in the key of A minor. Mea- sures 29 to 36 consist of a dominant ninth chord on F sharp over which is heard a chromatic design similar to the pre- ceding ones. However, repeated notes delaying the resolution of chromatic passing tones slow down the harmonic rhythm. The dominant chord does not resolve to a B chord as one would expect. Ravel simply embellishes the F sharp chord with neighbor tones thet form a C major triad. The process is repeated an octave lower, leading to a long chromatic ascent which starts at measure 37. The climax leads directly into an exact repetition of the opening section A at measure 45. The following example illustrates the way in which Ravel manipulated the various voices connecting the dominant seventh chord on F sharp (measure 37) to the dominant seventh chord on G (measure 45).A motive recalling measure 7 of the preceding waltz serves as an introduction to the seventh waltz. Another interesting link between the two waltzes is the note C, which served as the main key of the sixth waltz and which is Maintained as a bass note in this introduction. Ravel avoids a key signature during the first eighteen measures. However, a certain pull toward the key of F major Seems audible with a constant dominant pedal persisting in the bass. All chromatic alterations are ornamental with two exceptions. The B flet at measure 1 is a seventh which arises chromatically to a B natural at measure 5, while the G sharp at measure 2 may be considered a raised fifth, a typical jasz harmonization of a dominant seventh chord. The resolution to a tonic chord in F with an added sixth is heard at measure 6, The consecutive augmented fifth chords are repeated in varied positions, leading chromatically at mea- sure 9 into the A section in A major, the main tonality of93 this waltz. Ravel persists in the use of augmented triads on tonic and dominant harmonies from measure 19 to measure 28, A pungent harmonic effect is produced on the third beat of measure 19 as the dominant ninth harmony coincides with D sharp, the neighbor note of the bass, E. An added subtle rhythmic effect completes the novelty of this section as Ravel stresses the second beat of measure 20, thereby pro~ ducing a 4/4 plus 5/4 meter sensetion fram measure 19 to measure 24. This 1s followed by a variety of rhythmic com binations which nourish the instability of the meter. A similar motive is repeated a step higher, smoothly connected by chromatic chords, at measures 29 and 30, Supertonic and submediant harmonies support this sequence which is still within the key of A major. The phrase closes on a dominant eleventh, leading to the second part of this A section at measure 39. A tonic seventh chord supports flowing descend- ing arpeggios in the soprano voice while passing chords fill in the intermediate voices, enriching the harmony end the texture from measure 39 to measure 42. A slight pull toward D major is indicated at measure 43 by the lowered seventh, B natural, resolving to a D chord at measure 47 where it is venth chord in A. The voices cross at this point as the passing chords continue transformed into a subdominant.oh to rise in the soprano voice, reaching a supertonic ninth chord at measure 51. This chord then resolves to a dominant/ tonic cadence at measure 54. The phrase is extended and takes on renewed vitality at measure 55 as a dominant bass supports sweeping diminished seventh arpeggios which chro- matically rise to a dominant seventh with raised fifth and seventh, cadencing on a tonic chord at measure 56. Even greater exuberance is displayed at measure 59 as the melody of measures 51-54 1s repeated, though harmonically renewed with fresh chromatic alterations and neighbor notes. Chromatic side steps lead surprisingly to a dominant ninth of F, the Neapolitan of the dominant. This is followed by another chromatic turn which leads to a dominant thirteenth with a raised eleventh in the home key of A, followed by its logical tonic conclusion. Section B, extending from measure 66 to measure 101, opens in F major, this key having already been announced by its dominent ninth harmony at measure 63 and earlier in the introductory measures 1 to 18, The upper voice consists of E major triads embellished by neighbor chords which are finally assimilated by the F major chord at measure 77. The process is repeated a tone higher, in G, with F sharp embellishing chords above. The dominant bass, D, is anti- cipated at measure 77, and the harmony becomes clearly95 established as the F rises to F sharp at: measure 60, followed by its tonic resolution at measure 61, Alternating dominant ninths on E and on C finally rest on C for the recapitulation of the A section at measure 102. The slightly modified introductory chromatic material consisting of augmented fifth chords appears as a result of the combination of these two dominant harmonies. A process of elimination concludes the section at measure 110 on the same chord as that in mea- sure 16 which was previously analyzed. An exact repetition of the main section A follows this introduction. The over-all tonal structure of the seventh walts is simplified in the following summary: section A: III-I; section B: VI; section At: III +1, The eighth walts, entitled "Epilogue," contains frag- ments reminiscent of sll the preceding waltzes with the exception of the fifth. A connection with the preceding waltz is brought about by a prolonged A in the bass. This tone is actually the root of a supertonic ninth chord in G. ‘The tonic is reached at measure 5 but is immediately trans- formed into a dominant of C, while chromatic neighbor chords surround these basic chords. The phrase cadences at measure 8 and is repeated with a new harmonization consisting of a dominant ninth on A followed by another dominant with a lowered fifth on F sharp, The phrase cadences on a B major96 tonic chord at measure 20, A half-diminished seventh on B builds up to a dominant ninth chord at measure 25. A cadence in C occurs at measures 27-28 in the position of a Second inversion, that is, on a G, the final tonic. The bass drops to E, the start of a long horizontal presentation of the dominant ninth chord in G. The ninth, E, at measure 29 i followed by the raised seventh, C sharp, at measure 33. At measure 37 the F sharp, the third of the dominant seventh, rises chromatically in an inner voice to the fifth of the chord A at measure 39. This note A will in turn be raised to A sharp at measure 40 and finally resolve to the B of the tonic chord. The bass of the dominant ninth chord is reached at measure 38 and remains unresolved as the tonic chord is heard in a second inversion, Above the horizontal presen- tation of this dominant ninth chord, chromatically embel- lished G minor and G major chords are heard. The G is maine tained as a pedal note from measure 41 to the end, support ing motives in various tonalities, However, the G is often accompanied by an F natural which contributes to the dis- Antegration of this tonality. The closing measures, a return to the opening chro- matic chords of the "Epilogue," are also supported by the G pedal combined with the F natural, The major seconds, used as ornamental grace notes from measure 68 to the end,make up a whole-tone scale when combined with the F natural and G of the second walts theme. The whole-tone scale further contributes to the dissolution of the tonality. A cyclical quality can be detected in the Valses nobles st sentimentales in view of the extraordinary unifying ele- ments existing throughout the entire work, such as thematic transitions, the ever-present sigh motive, tonal links from one waltz to another, and the general tonal plan which drops in thirds. It seems incredible that these waltzes, 50 rich in melody, rhythm, and harmony, were "performed for the first time mid protests and shouts,") and were attributed to com- posers such as Kodaly, Satie and Dubois.2 A Ja maniére de Borodin Ravel's unusual talent for assimilating various musi- cal idioms was encouraged by pianist Alfred Casella. The latter had published an album of A la menitre de... with Pastiches of composers like Wagner, Fauré, Debussy and others. Ravel's A la maniére de Chabrier was written for the second album of this collection and was followed by a pastiche of Borodin. Ravel, op. cit., p. 121. 2demuth, op. cit., ps 3h.98 A la maniere de Borodin is a waltz in which Ravel amuses himself by caricaturing Borodin's natural tendency to continually shift back and forth from a major key to its relative minor key or vice verse, The opening phrase of this waltz, extending from measure 1 to measure 16, starts pulling away from the tonic key of D flat major at measure 9 as a dominant ninth in G flat appears, followed by a diminished seventh in the next measure. This resolves, sur- Prisingly, to what could be interpreted as a tonic chord in E flat or a sub-mediant in G flat. The instability con- tinues as a diminished seventh of B flat is suggested at mea~ sure 13. The fact that the modulations take place over an alternating D flat/A flat pedal maintains the impression of @ continuing D flat tonality, in spite of the fact that the A natural leading tone of measure 13, resolving to the B flat at measure 15, seems quite convincing. Measure 15 is there- fore analyzed as a tonic harmony in D flat with an added sixth, B flat. The presence of two other more subtle pedals can be pointed out in the upper voice: the F which persists through- out the first eight measures and the A flat which follows and becomes chromatically altered as it is heard in an inner Voice at measure l,, returning to its original form at mea- sure 16,99 A slightly varied repetition of the opening phrase appears an octave higher in the following measures but this time it concludes in the expected key of B flat. The D flat pedal at measure 29 drops to a C followed by an F, resulting in a clear V7 harmony in B flet. The submediant key is thus clearly esteblished at measures 30-31, conclud- ing the A section of this binary form. Section B features long chromatic strings of notes which are a reminder of fragments from Borodin's Polovtsian Bances from the opera Prince Igor. Measures 35 to 38 con- sist of a descending chromatic line over a tonic B flat pedal which supports a sub-dominant harmony. The phrase is expec- ted to resolve to a tonic chord, but a slight chromatic shift at measure 39 pulls the key area to A flat at measure 40. However, the subdominant harmony which was maintained from measure 33 to measure 38 gives one the impression that the A flat minor harmony of measure 40 is actually a subdominant in E flat, in which case the B flat is momentarily a dominant pedal. The descending chromatic line is resumed at measure 41, supported by an A flat minor chord, always over the B flat pedal which is maintained until measure 49, Descend- ing chromatic half-steps lead to a supertonic seventh chord in A flat followed by its dominant seventh in the position of a second inversion. The B flat bass drops to its tonic,100 A ‘flat, {actually the dominant of the initial key of D flat) and the entire dominant eleventh harmony is approached chromatically at measure 55. The dominant pedal is main- tained at measure 56 as the harmony rises to the submediant, pulling us momentarily away from the tonic chord. Three simultaneous descending chromatic linea give one the feeling that the music is striving for a far-away tonality. This typical Borodin device finally slides into the tonic B flat chord at measure 61. The following measures contain another chromatically altered melodic descent which cadences at mea- sure 69, again in the home key of D flat. The Coda, extending from measure 70 to the end, is based on the opening section A. An interesting chromatic alteration appears at measure 79 as one wonders whether the A natural will resolve to A flat or to a B flat, in which (latter) case one would be in B flat, the relative minor Borodin device. Finally, at measure 82, the resolution side- steps to a B flat, cleverly treated as an ornamented neigh- bor note which starts a long chromatic descent over a tonic D flat bass, The chromatically altered F flat at measure 87 corresponds enharmonically to the fifth of a dominant seventh harmony in the key of the Neapolitan. This harmony is com- pleted in the following two measures with the appearance of the A natural, C sharp, and G natural. The last E natural101 of the descending arpeggio at measure 89 is expected to continue to a C sharp, which it does, although with an en- harmonic alteration. The upper voices side-step chromati- cally to F and D flat as we suddenly but smoothly find our- selves back in the hone key.CHAPTER VI THE JAZZ IDIOM Ragtime groups had appeared in Europe as early as the first decade of the twentieth century; consequently, "Ameri- cana" sounds were familiar in Paris. Many elements close to what could be labelled "Americana" exist in Ravel's early works, particularly in Daphnis and Chloe, a ballet written in 1909, Elements such as the dance in 7/4, the glissandos and chromatic descents surrounding Dorcon's dance, and the sliding brass effects could not have been the result of direct influence at such an early date. Ravel, Daphnis and Chloe (Complete ballet), meas. 141-142. Si Sas WEteie —= | =—_——— Ravel, Daphnis and Chloe (Complete ballet), meas. 265-267,103 Ravel, Daphnis and Chloe (Complete ballet), meas. 1199-1202. raiment cure git Tie lemon One may then conclude that in so-called "jazz-inspired" works, Ravel uses his own technical devices, but in an American way. Ravel's first conscious attempt to use Americana ele- ments is found in a work written between 1920 and 1925--the lyrical fantasy L'Enfant et les Sortileges, a colorful mix- ture of Americana waltzes and musical comedy effects. Paris was introduced to its sirst jazz band in 1918 by Gaby Deslys and Harry Pilcer at the Casino de Paris.2 ARobert Rogers, "Jazz Influences on French Music," Musical Qusrterly, January 1935, p. 60.104 The latest jazz hits were also performed at the Boeuf sur le Toit, a cabaret founded by Jean Cocteau in 1919; Ravel was one of its regular customers. Evenings never came to an end for Ravel who suffered from insomnia. He would spend many sleepless nights roaming from one night club to another enjoying and assimilating the novel jazz effects, the new rhythmic combinations, and the nostalgic melodies of the blues. ‘THE SONATA FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO Between 1923 and 1927, Ravel borrowed once egain from the American idiom for the second movement of his Sonata for violin and piano, entitled "Blues." Apart from the glissendo, there are eight basic ingre- dients in this movement. They provide a happy mixture of Americana effects which could be labelled "fox-trot,” "rag- time," and "blues"--in short, an assortment of early American popular music elements. (See musical examples on following page.) The first eleven measures, introductory in character, consist of a plucking of the violin strings in the manner of105 & guitar or a banjo.2 Ravel, Sonata for Violin and Piano, second movement bo Meas a z 4. meas. 9 4. —_ rea mens v4, 4, By, Fh 6 Meas. do .. pees 2S —— dg “& yb : The piano picks up this element in measure 11, Héléne Jour- dan-Morhange, to whom this work was dedicated, explains that Ravel wanted these chords played in the manner of metallic 1the banjo had been imported by slaves from West Africa and was the typical instrument of the early American Negro. Its combination with the brass bass was a regular feature of the Dixie-land jazz bands.106 strings gripped by the fingers even in the most pianissimo passages. This gives the composition a very steady beat in spite of the sliding vocal line of the violin. the second motive is a typical pseudo-fox-trot rhythm, not in the blues style but very much that of ragtime. It makes up many of the accompanimental parts of this composition. The cut-of-tune flavor produced by the combining of the neighbor keys A flat and G reminds one of the old honky-tonk Pianos which most probably were never regularly tuned. The Ancompatibility of the piano and violin is also brought out by this tonal friction. Special attachments producing twang- ing percussive sounds were often an added attraction. The main theme (motive 3) ie written in free improvisatory rhythm typical of the blues singer and consists mainly of small Plaintive sliding intervals which definitely belong to the world of blues. The above-mentioned elements combined with the glissando effect of measure 26 constitute the open- ing section of the work. The second section starts out with a typical cake-walk formula (motive 4, meas. 38) followed by the same fox-trot rhythm announced in the introductory section (motive 2). Sliding blues effects are illustrated in motive 5, particu- larly in.measures 43-44 and in the closing measure (53) of this section, Aué1ene Jourdan-Morhange, op. cit., p. 193.107 The Scotch snap rhythm of the third section (motive 6a, meas. 54) is accompanied by a steady pulsating beat often referred to as "stomping" (motive 6b), The inverted dotted rhythm said to be of Scottish origin is a common feature of American Negro music and jazz. Section four introduces a new syncopated pattern (motive 7, meas. 64), a distinctive rhythm and accent pat= tern which probably originated in the work of W.C. Handy, “father of the blues." His Memphis Blues (published 1912) and St. Louis Blues reveal the same three-note grouping over metrical groupings in, fours. SS Blue 2 pause oe to eS This type of grouping creates a successive backward shift- ing of accents which results in ".,,exciting crossplay be- tween two types of accentuation, namely, metrical stress in fours and offbeat accents in threes." The rhythm becomes even more complex in the imitative passages at the interval of diminished fifth, two beats apart at measure 75, A new theme introduced by motive 2 at measure 78 is presented at measure 61 (motive 6) where for the first time the blue third, in this case the lowered seventh, is heard (measure 84). The blues scale, as explained by Gunther Schuller, divides into two identical tetrachords. In the Jvenry Levine, "Gershwin," Clavier, October 1970, p. 17.108 ease of the passage from Ravel's Blues, the tonic is F sharp. The two tetrachords are therefore: D sharp, ~ FP sharp, G sharp, A natural and A sharp, © sharp, D sharp, £_nstural, the arrows indicating in what direction the pitches invariably move. In this passage the second tetra- chord of the scale is used. Ravel changes the position of the blue note by alternating its position in the varying rhythmic organization. This plaintive minor third, a repre- sentative mode of expression used by the earlier American Negroes to express their pain and suffering, culminates at measure 94 in an improvisational "break," consisting of a brief instrumental cadenza. This leads to a recapitulation of all the previous elements but in a different order. The return to a fragment of motive 3 and to the bi- tonal effect of the super-imposed tonalities of A flat and @ produces a rondo-like feeling in this sectional structure, a feeling which appears once again at measure 110 accompanied by the complete restatement of the first main blues theme, motive 3. The harmonic aspect of Ravel's Blues is not really characteristic of this style, with the exception of the open- ing measures where I, IV, I, V, I harmonies are used ex- elusively, these being typical Blues chord progressions. Jgunther Schuller, Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development (New York: Oxford Wniversity Press, 1968).109 Ravel uses chains of dominant sevenths and ninths as well as other sevenths and ninths, a jazz technique which he mixes with his ow. The added wrong notes and changing notes tend to pull toward certain keys but hardly ever reach them. An example of this can be found from measure 31 to measure 39. In measure 31, Ravel strikes a ninth chord on C with @ minor third, In doing so he gradually pulls away from the bitonsal opening phrase. The fifth of the chord is lowered in measure 33 and finally becomes a Vg of B flat followed by @ Vo of E flat, only to pull away from this area completely in measure 37 by starting another chain of domi- nant seventh and ninth chords. Ravel's ability to deal with complex contrapuntal Problems is well displayed in this Blues movement. The "Music Hall" sound heard in a blasting fashion in measures 104 to 106, followed by the superimposed motives 6b - 1 - 7a - 3 in measure 110, are reminiscent of the improvisations of the early jazz bands. They are also a pale reflection of the contrapuntal polyrhythmic character of African music which gradually degenerated into monometric and monorhythmie syn- copated patterns. As the closing measures draw near, motive 3 reappears, fragmented between the violin and piano. The movement cadences in a typical blues finish--a sliding tonic A flat leading to the flat seventh, G flat, the "bluest™of blue thirds! The third movement, Perpetuum Mobile, contains a few elements which are reminiscent of the second movement. This @ives the Sonata a certain cyclical quality. Measures 55 to 57 correspond rhythmically to motive 7b of the Blues. The four-note blue motive of measure 58 can be compared with motive 2 of this seme second movement as used in measure 78. Here the third of the blue motive is major in its first appearance but the interval gradually converges toward the minor form before the entrance of the violin's lowered seventh in measure 84. Actually, measures 57 and 58 of the Perpetuum Mobile are almost an exact reproduction of the Blues movement. Ravel, Sonata for Violin and Piano, Perpetuum mobile, meas. 55-60. Ravel, Sonata for Violin and Piano, Blues, me2 The syncopated flavor in the Perpetuum Mobile at measures 93 and 94 is also reminiscent of Jazz rhytha. Ravel, Sonata for Violin and Piano, Perpetuum mobile, meas. 92-9. THE PIANO CONCERTOS Ravel's pianistic output reached its climactic point in the two piano concertos of 1931. One might even say that his orchestral genius was manifested at its highest point in the Piano Concerto in D for the Left Hand, Ravel had made an earlier attempt at writing a Basque rhapsody for piano and orchestra entitled Zas) iak-Bat, but he abandoned the Project at the outbreak of the first world war. Gustave Samazeuilh, a close friend of Ravel's, mentions that most of the material of Zaspiak-Bat appears in the first and thira movements of the Fiano Concerto in G+ this, of course, would exclude some of the jazz elements found in this Concerto, Iseroft, Maurice Ravel, p. 255.12 elements which were probably assimilated by Ravel during his four-month visit to America in 1928, Ravel manifested a great deal of interest and enthus- dasm in the jazz of the 1920's, especially as used by Gershwin. Ravel had met him through Eva Gauthier, a French singer in New York, and at this time had heard him play his Rhapsody in Blue.l By some process similar to that of osmosis, Ravel absorbed melodic, rhythmic and even orchestral ideas during this encounter as well as during the many sessions he spent listening to jazz bands in Harlem. In the hands of Ravel, these jazz effects, although recognizable, become integrated into his own personal vocabulary, one of sophistication and refinement. Ravel also had the capacity to revitalize mo- tives. His technical ability enabled him to extend his musi- cal ideas to great lengths, creating long moments of tension culminating in powerful climaxes, SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE TWO CONCERTOS The Concerto in G end the Concerto in D for the Left Hand were written at the same time, but in contrasting styles. However, they have several common traits. The "blue-third" which appears in the Concerto in G, first movement measure 162 and measure 289, appearing once lipid., p. 247.13 again in the third movement constituting the B theme at measure 37, Ravel, Concerto in G, lst mvt., meas, 162, 3rd mvt. ,meas.37-36. g z, bee =p ic ——— (fe _ —— is also an important motive in the Concerto in D in the orchestral prolepsis, measure 8, and actually on the same notes as those seen in the first movement of the Concerto ing. Ravel, Concerto in D, meas. 8-9, é qa Se 5 - oo14 Ravel's use of sliding chromatic neighbor and pas~ sing notes constitutes another interesting element in both concertos. Ravel, Concerto in G, 3rd movement, meas. 224-225. Ravel, Concerto in D, meas. 139-141. The effect produced in each individual case is obviously quite different, the sliding motive being used within dif- . ferent contexts and also in opposite directions, However, the idea in both cases was Probably taken from the smearing brass of the jazz bands, Stomping chords are also a main feature of the Goncerto in G, from measure 79 to 139, and in the middle5 section of the Concerto in D, starting at measure 121, The lower neighbors in both stomp exemples here (the D naturel and F double-sharp respectively) are a brilliant kind of Jazz acclaccature. Ravel, Concerto in G, 3rd movement, mei a An interesting relation exists between measures 53-56 of the third movement of the Concerto in G and messures 497- 499 of the Concerto in D, In spite of the fact that there are striking contrasts of atmosphere, texture and rhythm be- ‘tween these two examples, the basic material is identical: the modal melody on E over modal harmonies,n6é Ravel, Concerto in G, 3rd movement, meas. 53-56. Ravel, Concerto in D, meas. 497-499. y17 The truncated recapituletion of the Concerto ing (3rd movement, measure 214) is also a feature of the Goncerto in D, as well as the presence of asymetry in rhythm, acciaccaturas, augmented fourths end bitonal effects, Glissandos are used as a unifying factor throughout the Concerto in D, as illustrated at measures 58, 167, 206, 245, 459, 471 ond 530, This element mekes fewer appearances in the Concerto in G after its use in the opening measures 16 to 25 in the first movement. Measure 171 consists of a eadensa which could be considered an elaboration of a glis- sando playing the same role it does in the Concerto in Dat measure 459; that is, the connecting link to the recapitu- lation. A more subtle yet convincing relation between the two works can be found in a comparison of the melodic second theme of the first movement of the Concerto in G (measure 75) with the opening melodic fragment of the Concerto in D. The relation consists of a certain resemblance in vhythmic and melodic contour. It is interesting to note that the melodic fragment in measures 80-81 of the first movement of the Concerto in G is identical to a seetion of the second theme in the Concerto in BD, measures 85-86, except for one note.118 Ravel's approach to the solo cadenza, actually the Second theme in the recapitulation of the first movment of the Concerto in G, is really a miniature presentation of the compositional technique appearing in the solo cadenza of the Concerto in D at measure 475. This technique con- sists in a transferring of all compositions] elements to the left hand with the exception of an ethereal trill. The elements include the thematic material, which is played by the thumb, and the flowing arpeggiated accompaniment. The descending block-chord element found in the third movement of the Concerto in G at measure 37 ig extended from three to seven successive chords in the Concerto in D at measure 122, The process of extension can also be applied to Ravel's use of pedal notes which he prolongs through much longer periods of time in the Concerto in D. This particuler Point will be discussed at greater length as the concertos are analyzed individually, The Concerto in G I - Allegramente The statement by Samazeuilh concerning the fact that the Concerto in G contains certain Basque-inspired elements can be justified in the rhythm of the rustic opening theme. Henri Gil-Marchex points out that the rhythm of this theme derives from a Navarre dence called the "bransle", Ravel's119 orchestration of this section also creates an atmosphere recalling the fife and drum music of the Basques, The wrong-note technique which Ravel uses in his off- beat rhythmic accompaniment of the first theme in the open- ing measures is strengthened by the clashing of two neigh- bor tonalities in the arpeggios of the piano accompaniment. The two keys, G mJjor and F sherp major, rubbing against one another, produce a dissonant effect adding more bite and acidity to this already lively dance tune. In no way does this effect confuse the establishment of the key of G. The jasz-like syncopated accentuation of this first theme at measure 10, made up essentially of a descending fourth (the inversion of the perfect fifth in measure 2), will become an important element in the development of this movement. It is interesting to note that the perfect fourth and fifth are intervals that remain of primary importance even in Ravel's late works. The off-beat accentuation combined with bletant brass entering at measure 20 indicate that a significant amount of jazz effects is in store for us, if not in the harmony, at least in melodic, rhythmic and orchestral effects. The episodic F sharp major theme appearing at measure Ifenri Gi1-Marchex, "Les Concertos de Ravel,” La Revue Musicale, December, 1938, p. 88.4» has a certain languorous exotic flavor, Ravel te: us with an opening wrong-note in the melody: an accented @ natural to which the tonic F sharp is subordinated. The A natural is a jazz "blue note," a lowered third which slides into the melodic line conflicting with the persistent A sharp in the bass. The G is finally sharpened in the clarinet motive at measure 53 and subordinated to the F sharp, outlining @ melody that has a definite Gerehwin flavor. One might even consider this line as a rhythmical transformation of the opening theme of the Andante from Gershwin's An American in Paris, although the theme is somewhat transformed by subtle changes in accentuation. Gerehwin, An American in Paris Ravel sets up the motive to bring out th ntial inter- vallic structure: the augmented fourth and the blue third. The melody is prolonged after this interruption which con- eludes with a chromatic slide at measure 54, again typical of Gershwin Jas style. The blue melody is then transposed on E but always over the same harmonic bess, an F sharp121 major chord, the A sharp continually rubbing against the A natural in the melody, pursuing its major-minor clash. The effect is labelled as "jazz" within the present context, but actually this technique is part of Ravel's early vocabu- lary. The same procedure prolongs this episodic section at measure 67, but this time on A over the same F sharp bass, Through descending chromaticiem, this bass eventually reaches B, the dominant of the key of the second thene at measure 75. The melody on A at measure 67 finally returns to the notes G and F sharp first heard in the opening measure 44 of this section. The F sharp at measure 74 serves as the fifth of ‘the dominant harmony and terminates the section in an excep- tionally unified manner. Ravel's second theme at measure 75 bears significant resemblance to Gershwin's thematic transformation of the second theme from his Concerto in F. Gerahwin, Concerto in F, meas. 307-310. Poco meno (Ure) * fee eee122 The melodic turn toward a lowered seventh in Gershwin's melody, accompanied by the dominant. harmony at measure 310, results in a major-minor clash of thirds, C flat and C natural. The seme lowered seventh, although quite audible, is used in a more subtle way as part of a dominant chord in @ sudden pull toward the new key of A, The tension of the D natural against the E is present with the added dissonance @ sharp against G natural. One could raise the question as to whether the lowered sevenths used by Ravel are jazz or modal inflexions. Both the modal and jass flavors were in the air at this period of the twentieth century, and Ravel certainly assimilated various aspects of both elements. However, his filtering process is complicated and impossible to trace back because of the absence of a direct line. Even in his use of the major mode, Ravel rarely resists the temptation of lowering the seventh, and in many ceses, deliberately neglects to re- solve the melodic leading tones as one would expect, The sudden interjection of off-beat jazz-flavored chords (measure 78) within an expressive phrase is most ef- fective, not only for reasons of added rhythmic and dissonent flavor, but because this particuler rhythmic element made up of repeated notes is used by Ravel throughout this movement and can be detected even in the a@ unifying element123 rhythmical background of the second movement. It is firat suggested in the opening theme at measure 2: pei and becomes more insistent as the theme progresses at meas- LHAE? The rhythmic accompanying chorda in this exposition of the first theme also contribute to stabilizing this important compositional element. The motive reappears in the first episodic section at measure 55 in the rhythmic accompaniment: under s melody which is in essence a rhythmic augmentation of these repeated notes, ure 10: Ravel's expert craftsmanship enables him to manipulate melodic elements in an extremely skillful manner. A melody such as his second theca glides smoothly from one key to enother in an almost imperceptible way, winding around ona or two notes in a most ingenious fashion. Gershwin's treat- ment of essentially the same pentatonic melody shows obvious