Ravel

by Roger Nichols

This new biography of Maurice Ravel (1875–1937), by one of the leading scholars of nineteenth- and twentieth-century French music, is based on a wealth of written and oral evidence, some newly translated and some derived from interviews with the composer’s friends and associates. As well as describing the circumstances in which Ravel composed, the book explores new evidence to present radical views of the composer’s background and upbringing, his notorious failure in the Prix de Rome, his incisive and often combative character, his sexual preferences, and his long final illness. It also contains the most detailed account so far published of his hugely successful American tour of 1928. The world of Maurice Ravel—including friendships (and some fallings-out) with Debussy, Fauré, Diaghilev, Gershwin, and Toscanini—is deftly uncovered in this sensitive portrait.

Genres: Music, Biography

420 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1977

Reviews

[Matthew Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ravel is often ignored in the academy, due to the intuitive and often tonal nature of his work. He is often regarded as "old fashioned" and as Claude Debussy's "poorer musical brother." Nothing could be farther from the truth. In my opinion, he was far greater and more skilled, as both a composer and orchestrator than Debussy, even though his work continues to be less popular and more misunderstood.

Nichols could not have chosen a more difficult subject, as Ravel was notorious for keeping his thoughts and feelings to himself. Regardless, this book is a minor masterpiece of detection, investigation, and revelation, as he presents what is truly known about this most remarkable composer of the 20th century.

By far, the best book on Ravel, and I believe I have read all of them.

[Flo]

I've written only one masterpiece – Boléro. Unfortunately there's no music in it.
Boléro is exhausting. A very gradual crescendo that refuses to end. It's tiring yet somehow, despite the lack of contrasts, impossible to ignore due to its rhythmic nothingness. The very nature of life with its almost imperceptibly different days.

Nov 28, 18

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extremely dense and esoteric biography. It took me months to get through it, in part because of the density. (I also tried to listen to most of the pieces as they were mentioned.) the author’s expansive knowledge of the era is impressive and he continually puts Ravel in the context of the times, which helps to better understand Ravel’s character. The author occasionally offers extremely nuanced and deeply thoughtful insights on how certain events might have affected Ravel or what he might have been thinking in certain situations. It is obvious that the author has done a great deal of thinking about Ravel as opposed to just compiling a lot of facts.

Due to my own limitations in understanding the musical analysis, (as well as the many un interpreted French phrases that appear throughout) I did not enjoy this biography as much as I might have, but I’m not going to punish the author for my own limitations, so I gave it 4 stars.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an extremely amateur jazz pianist, I've always had a strong affinity for Ravel's music given he is known as "Debussy with the anticipation of Jazz" that came during his lifetime. I know his music was a huge influence on my jazz piano hero, the great Bill Evans. I do feel Ravel gets short thrift compared to Debussy in Musicology. He is often looped in as the lesser Debussy. "The other impressionist French composer guy" as it were. Case in point: in college, I studied multiple Debussy pieces but Ravel was never mentioned. I think this is unfair and believe this viewpoint has been gradually changing from the time I was in college.

I find a lot of his music (especially the piano stuff) to have a haunting beauty beneath the pleasurable exterior which has always attracted me to it. This is apparently the best bio currently out there of him and I found it interesting learning about his complex personality. Never married, maybe bisexual, maybe not, easygoing, humble (rejecting the Legion of Honor twice; not comfortable when he was treated like a rockstar during his American tour; insulting his own best known work, Bolero), playful, precise. These are not typical qualities of famous composers but the author does suggest a complexity that perhaps explains the haunting beauty i mentioned earlier.

Otherwise, this was a nice journey through Ravel's life, which began just after the Franco/Prussian War and survived until just before World War II (Ravel himself volunteered to serve in World War I-something else unique to composers). His friendship/rivalries with Debussy, Satie, Stravinsky, Le Six and Gershwin are discussed, among others. With Gershwin, it was just a friendship which I was excited to discover as I was to learn that Ravel loved Jazz as an emerging art form and encouraged Americans to take it seriously. As a friend mentioned to me when i discussed this book with him recently, Ravel would likely have respected all genres of music if he were around today (probably also unique among composers). Sadly, he and Gershwin died the same year, both far too soon.

I do think this book was a bit on the dry side so not always the easiest to get through and I found myself going to wikipedia to help me along a little, but I enjoyed learning about Ravel's life and works and have a greater respect and admiration for him.

[Evan Hurley O'Dwyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb biography of Ravel. It is a little difficult to judge a writer of a biography compared to a novelist, given the biographer has no choice about the plot. Ravel's life is hardly fascinating in terms of drama, however his significance in the musical scene of 20th century France makes this read interesting to anyone who holds him in high regard. To this extent, I found the musical discussion a lot more interesting than the various minor disputes Ravel had with ballet directors. Despite being a slow read at points, I'm still giving the author five stars for fulfilling the task of a biography excellently - combining an appreciation for all of the historical events of Ravel's life with an understanding of the music he wrote, this book could surely be the definitive go-to account of Ravel. Bonus points to Nichols for introducing me to L'enfant et les sortileges, which is an underrated gem.

[townrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Whereas Fauré was a late and unwelcome addition to his family and Debussy an early but no less unwelcome one to his, Ravel, his parents and his brother Édouard (born on 13 June 1878) were bound by ties of strong mutual affection that were for each of them lifelong."

You can tell Ravel was conceived out of love and not a quick nut.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a while to get through this book, given its incredible loving detail. I doubt it missed out a single significant concert that Ravel attended, let alone the coverage of his compositional life.

[Reilly Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant.