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Maurice Ravel  (1875-1937)

According to The New Penguin Dictionary of Music, [Joseph] Maurice Ravel was a French composer - incidentally, not Jewish, certain commentators notwithstanding. His family moved from the Pyrenees to Paris before he was 1. Pupil of Gabriel Fauré and others at the Paris Conservatory. Failed in three attempts for the French Rome Prize, and was unfairly barred (although he had already had works published and performed) from a fourth try. Notable for impressionist technique (more clear-cut, however than Claude-Achille Debussy's, mastery of orchestration, and innovations in exploiting the sonorities of the piano. Piano works include two concertos (one for the left hand), sonatina, suites. Other works include "Bolero", "Spanish Rhapsody" and "La Valse" for orchestra; "Mother Goose" (for piano duet, later orchestrated); operas; ballet "Daphnis and Chloe"; septet including harp (also called "Introduction and Allegro") and other chamber music; songs, some with orchestra. Orchestrated Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition". Visited England (Hon. D. Mus.; Oxford, 1928) and USA; dies in Paris. Refused the Legion of Honour.

Sheet Music:
Recorder sheet music at SheetMusicPlus.com
Websites:
Ravel, Maurice (1875-1937) , biography and works by naxos.com.
Books:
[§] Maurice Ravel (20th-Century Composers) by Gerald Larner
[§] Maurice Ravel: A Life by Benjamin Ivry
[§] Piano Masterpieces of Maurice Ravel by Maurice Ravel
[§] Songs, 1896-1914 by Maurice Ravel

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