Maurice Ravel: a short biography of the composer

Do you know who Maurice Ravel is? A brief biography of this talented person will be set forth in the article, but for now let us say that our hero is a French conductor, composer and one of the prominent reformers of the musical art of the last century.

Childhood

Maurice Ravel's biography, which will be summarized below, begins with his birth in March 1875 in the provincial town of Sibur. Vedomosti about his childhood years is not so much. It is known that in 1882 he began learning music in piano class from Henri Giza. After that he deals with harmony with Charles René. Trembling with the music, the boy was instilled by his father, who was a railway engineer and was in the service while his son grew up. In 1889, a young boy entered the Paris Conservatory and brilliantly graduated in piano.

Carier start

Initially, the young man was greatly helped and helped by his mentor Charles de Berio, who was a famous pianist of his time. The real taste for music from Maurice awakens after getting to know Eric Sati: 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 the acquaintance with Ricardo Vines - composer and pianist. After close contact with the latter, Ravel clearly showed a desire for writing. Erika Satie, by the way, the pianist called his teacher and forerunner.

Finishing his studies at the conservatory, the guy gets to the composer Gabriel Faure. Thanks to his influence, Ravel creates several cycles of works in Spanish. After graduating from the conservatory, Maurice is actively writing. 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 avoid the fate of each innovator. At first he was treated rather coldly and did not even hide it. Professional academic circles and did not recognize the work of Maurice Ravel. Surprisingly, he took part three times in the competition to receive the Rome Prize. In 1901 (the first test), he was defeated by Andre Caplet; In 1902 - Eme Kuntsu, a disciple of Charles Leneve; In 1903 - Raul Laparra (also a pupil of Charles Leneve).

Because of so many unsuccessful attempts, Ravel does not take part in the contest next year, but not because he was afraid. He takes a break in order to accumulate strength for the last jerk. It really was Maurice Ravel's last chance, because he approached the age limit of the competition - 30 years. In 1905, at the insistence of Gabriel Faure, Ravel decides to participate. At this point, he has already become famous and recognizable in wide circles. Moreover, even the academic community gradually recognized it.

What does Maurice Ravel do? A brief biography informs us that after the fourth attempt the glory of the composer has multiplied. So what happened? Ravel received an actual refusal. He was banned from participating in the contest in a very evasive official formulation. The reason was the age limits, which were not yet there. As a result, Maurice Ravel could not participate in the contest, which made him very upset. The real reason was not at the age, but that the young musician irritated the jury members with his "destructive" music, the brightness and richness of his works. Even more disturbed was the fact that every year Maurice became more and more popular. This decision of the judges caused a huge storm of protests, and later it turned out that the absolute majority of the contestants were disciples of Charles Leneve, which made us think about the incorruptibility of the contest.

Life after the scandal

What did Maurice Ravel live next? A brief biography on this sad event does not end: yes, it knocked him out of the rut, but did not destroy his spirit. Ravel finally burns bridges with the academic community. The public and the 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 the height with a composer like Claude Debussy (he was always a model for Maurice).

The time of war is coming, Maurice is being mobilized. Unfortunately, he is not accepted anywhere because of too little growth. He persistently seeks participation in the war, using all sorts of connections. In the end, it is taken by a volunteer. After the war his impulses were mocked by competitors. Soon the composer gets acquainted with S. Diaghilev and proceeds to create emotional plays and suites ("The Tomb of Couperin").

Works

His most famous works are "The Spanish Hour", "Daphnis and Chloe", "The Child and the Magic" and "The Game of Water". Who was our today's hero Maurice Ravel? A short biography for children will be very useful, because his biography motivates and inspires never to give up.

In recent years, Maurice travels a lot. His final creation was "Three Songs", written for the film "Don Quixote". The maestro dies in 1937 in Paris, after an unsuccessful operation on the brain.