No. 2049 Subscription (Program C)

The year 2025 marks the 150th anniversary since the birth of the French composer Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) whose constant clarity, minuteness and sophistication earned him a byname “Swiss Watchmaker” (his engineer father was Swiss). A keen student of Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924) at the Conservatoire de Paris, Ravel was self-admittedly influenced by Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894), Claude Debussy (1862–1918) and Erik Satie (1866–1925) handing down the French tradition to next generations including Olivier Messiaen (see also p. 60).
Pavane pour une Infante défunte was first composed for piano solo in 1899 when Ravel was still trained by Fauré, before the former arranged it for a small orchestra in 1910. Pavane, a slow-moving processional dance, was in vogue at European courts during the 16th and 17th centuries. One theory holds that its majestic nature is related to the name derived from the Spanish word “pavón” for peacock.
Ravel’s poetic title, likely chosen as it has a nice ring to it in French (“Infante défunte” meaning “defunct infanta”), refers to a pavane once danced by a little princess at the Spanish court. He could have been inspired by a painting of the 17th-century Spanish court painter Diego Velázquez. The composer chose a simple rondo form (ABACA) for this elegant piece full of nostalgia opened by the French horn solo giving the main tune in G major. The inner sections B and C in minor keys introduce new melodies on an oboe and a flute respectively.

[Kumiko Nishi]

France’s humiliating defeat in the war against Prussia in 1871 caused a rise in patriotic sentiment among French composers, developing their admiration for French Baroque music. Four decades later when World War I broke out, Maurice Ravel at age 39, as with Debussy in his final years, renewed fascination for the nation’s glorious musical heritage as represented by François Couperin (1668–1733) and Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764).
Ravel first composed Le tombeau de Couperin as a piano suite in 1914–1917 during the war, living turbulent days: he, with a surge in patriotism, joined the transport corps as a truck driver and fell ill. Then he lost his beloved mother in January 1917 before completing Le tombeau in November.
“Tombeau” (meaning tomb) was for French Baroque composers a musical form to eulogize a notable deceased person. Compared to requiem (Catholic Mass for the dead), they could communicate more freely their personal message through this secular form. Ravel pays tribute to Couperin and French Baroque music in his tombeau modeled after Baroque dance suites, and dedicates each of the six movements to his friend(s) who died in World War I.
In 1919, Ravel prepared the orchestral version omitting two highly pianistic movements (Fugue and Toccata) and changing the order of the rest. I Prélude in 12/16 time is opened by an oboe, the key instrument of the entire suite, pouring sixteenth notes out. Here we hear graceful ornaments recalling harpsichord pieces by Couperin and his French contemporaries. Marked by danceable dotted rhythms, II Forlane is especially well-endowed with modern harmonic elements including major seventh chords. Not surprisingly, Ravel had once studied Forlane from Couperin’s Concerts royaux (Royal Concerts) No. 4 for chamber orchestra making its piano transcription. The central section of III Menuet in ABA form is a musette, a pastoral dance with low sustained notes evoking musettes (French bagpipes). IV Rigaudon is also in ABA form. The outer section in C major, a lively duple-time dance originally from southern France, makes a sharp contrast with the slower central section in C minor where an oboe unfolds a melancholic folky tune.

[Kumiko Nishi]

Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev (1872–1929) and his ballet company, Ballets Russes, created a lively sensation in Paris in the early 20th century. Their big smashes were Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring in collaboration with Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971). Maurice Ravel was also among the artists involved in Diaghilev’s cutting-edge projects to leave us an important orchestral repertoire, i.e. the ballet score Daphnis et Chloé (Daphnis and Chloe).
The ballet was premiered in 1912. The scenario, divided in three parts, is an adaptation of an idyllic love story by the ancient Greek author Longus. It is based on the Greek legend of young Daphnis and Chloe, both brought up on the island of Lesbos. Although the set designed by Léon Bakst for the premiere was influenced by Hellenism, Ravel’s music turned away from any archaic idiom, thus representing “the Greece of my dreams close to that imagined by the French painters of the 18th century” (his own words). And the “Magician of Orchestration” meticulously and inventively brings out every instrument’s infinite potential to make the score sound gorgeous and evocative, utilizing even a wordless mixed chorus.
Part I is set in a meadow in a sacred wood on a fine spring afternoon. Introduction et danse religieuse (Introduction and Religious Dance) lets a group of young people bow before an altar of Nymphs. Daphnis and Chloé enter, and Chloé gets jealous of girls dancing around Daphnis. Now the cowherd Dorcon tries to kiss Chloé, making Daphnis vexed.
Toward the end of Danse générale (General Dance), a dance duel between Daphnis and Dorcon is proposed with a kiss from Chloé as the winner’s prize. Danse grotesque de Dorcon (Dorcon’s Grotesque Dance) and Danse légère et gracieuse de Daphnis (Daphnis’s Light and Graceful Dance) result in Daphnis’s victory. Then the shepherdess Lycéion seduces Daphnis at Danse de Lycéion (Lyceion’s Dance) during which Pirates burst into to abduct Chloé. Daphnis falls unconscious in despair. Mysterious, Nocturne lets Nymphs dance so Daphnis is revived and invoke the god Pan.
Placid Interlude with the chorus leads to Part II set in the Pirates’ camp on a seacoast. Barbaric Danse guerrière (Battle Dance) is followed by Danse suppliante de Chloé (Chloe's Dance of Supplication) where she tries to escape in vain. Suddenly, a strange atmosphere covers the place and an aeoliphone (wind machine) is heard. Pan appears, puts Pirates in horror to rout, and frees Chloé.
Part III begins with Lever du jour (Daybreak) depicting the grotto of Nymphs in the meadow at dawn. Daphnis and Chloé are reunited. At Pantomime, Daphnis as Pan and Chloé as the nymph Syrinx mime. The flowing and elegant flute solo suggests the panpipes (or syrinx), Pan’s attribute. Then the two embrace each other. Celebrating the young couple, Danse générale is the euphoric denouement of the ballet.

[Kumiko Nishi]