Do you know who Maurice Ravel is? A brief biography of this talented person will be presented in the article, but for now let’s say that our hero is a French conductor, composer and one of the prominent reformers of musical art of the last century.
Childhood
The biography of Maurice Ravel, a summary of which will be described below, begins with his birth in March 1875 in the provincial town of Sibur. There are not so many news sheets about his childhood. It is known that in 1882 he began teaching music in the piano class with Henri Guise. After that, he is engaged in harmony with Charles Rene. A reverent attitude to music was instilled in the boy by his father, who was a railway engineer and was in the service while his son was growing up. In 1889, a young guy enters the Paris Conservatory and brilliantly ends in piano.
Carier start
At first, the young man was greatly helped and promoted by his mentor Charles de Berio, who was a famous pianist of his time. Maurice wakes up a real taste for music after meeting Eric Satie: Ravel begins to try improvisation, to experiment. Such a change could be served not only by the skill of E. Sati, but also by his personality: he was bright and extravagant. A great influence on the formation of our hero was made by his acquaintance with Ricardo Vignes - composer and pianist. After close communication with the latter, Ravel clearly showed a desire for writing. Erica Sati, by the way, the pianist called his teacher and forerunner.
After completing his studies at the conservatory, the guy gets to the composer Gabriel Fore. Thanks to his influence, Ravel creates several cycles of works in Spanish. After graduating from the conservatory, Maurice actively writes. During this time, he composes the lion's share of his musical heritage.
“Ravel’s scandalous affair”
Joseph Maurice Ravel (short biography in the article) could not escape the fate of every innovator. At first, they treated him rather coldly and did not even hide it. Professional academic circles did not recognize the work of Maurice Ravel at all. Surprisingly, he participated in the competition three times to receive the Roman Prize. In 1901 (the first test) he was defeated by Andre Caple; in 1902 - Aime Kuntsu, a student of Charles Leneve; in 1903 - Raul Laparra (also was a pupil of Charles Leneve).
Due to so many unsuccessful attempts, Ravel does not take part in the competition next year, but not at all because he got scared. He takes a break in order to accumulate strength for the last spurt. This was really Maurice Ravel’s last chance, because he was approaching the age limit of the contest - 30 years. In 1905, at the insistence of Gabriel Faure, Ravel decided to participate. At this point, he had already become famous and recognizable in wide circles. Moreover, even the academic community gradually recognized him.
What does Maurice Ravel do? A brief biography tells us that after the fourth attempt, the composer's fame has increased many times. So what happened? Ravel received an actual denial. He was banned from participating in the competition in a very evasive official language. The reason was the age limit, which then had not yet arrived. As a result, Maurice Ravel was not able to participate in the competition, which made him very upset. The real reason was not at all age, but the fact that the young musician annoyed the jury with his "destructive" music, the brightness and richness of his works. They were even more indignant that Maurice became more and more popular every year. This decision of the judges caused a huge storm of protests, and later it turned out that the vast majority of the contestants were students of Charles Leneve, which made us think about the integrity of the competition.
Life after the scandal
What did Maurice Ravel live on? A brief biography does not end at this sad event: yes, it unsettled him, but did not destroy his spirit. Ravel finally burns bridges with the academic community. The public and intellectual society fully support the side of Maurice, he becomes the center of attention. Thus, he secretly becomes the second leader of the Impressionist movement and compares heights with such a composer as Claude Debussy (he was always a model for Maurice).
The time of war is coming, Maurice is being mobilized. Unfortunately, he is not being accepted anywhere because of his small stature. He stubbornly seeks participation in the war, using all kinds of connections. In the end, he is taken as a volunteer. After the war, his outbursts were ridiculed by competitors. Soon, the composer gets acquainted with S. Diaghilev and proceeds to create emotional plays and suites (“Tomb of Couperin”).
