Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

by Maurice Ravel, Music Scores

This 20th-century orchestral masterpiece offers a rich musical setting of a pastoral Greek fable by Longus. Commissioned by Diaghilev for the Ballet Russes, the work premiered in Paris in 1912. The lush scoring dramatically displays the composer's genius for transmuting a traditional musical idiom into a fresh and stirring language of his own, ranging from audacious and driving to softly and hauntingly beautiful.
Reproduced here from the original French edition, the score appears with rehearsal-numbered movements. Ideal for study in the classroom, at home, or in the concert hall, this affordable, high-quality, conveniently sized volume will be the edition of choice for music students and music lovers alike.

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 1999

About the author

French composer known especially for his melodies, masterful orchestration, richly evocative harmonies and inventive instrumental textures and effects. Along with Claude Debussy, he was one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music. Much of his piano music, chamber music, vocal music and orchestral music is part of the standard concert repertoire.

Ravel's piano compositions, such as Jeux d'eau, Miroirs, Le tombeau de Couperin and Gaspard de la nuit, demand considerable virtuosity from the performer, and his mastery of orchestration is particularly evident in such works as Rapsodie espagnole, Daphnis et Chloé and his arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Ravel is best known for his orchestral work Boléro (1928), which he once described as "a piece for orchestra without music".