![]() ![]() Though doctors failed to diagnose his illness, the composer eventually underwent surgery to help with his symptoms. These unpublished songs were the last bits of music Ravel composed before his death. A year later, Ravel had to give up scoring the film Don Quixote because he was unable to keep up with its production schedule. Though this injury was deemed inconsequential at the time, some neurologists speculated it might have quickened the development of underlying medical issues such as aphasia (inability to understand speech), apraxia (inability to perform routine motor functions), agraphia (inability to write), and alexia (inability to read).īefore these issues became apparent on their own, they manifested in the form of a decrease in Ravel’s creative output. In 1932, Ravel suffered a blow to the head during a traffic accident. Ravel’s medical historyĪt the same time, Ravel had a history of physical and mental injuries, many of which interfered with his ability to compose music. According to Orenstein, the composer had privately suspected no self-respecting orchestra would perform it. Ravel knew he was being incessantly iconoclastic, and he was greatly surprised when Boléro became a success. On holiday in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, he told his friend Gustave Samazeuilh that he wanted to craft a piece in which the theme would be repeated rather than developed, keeping audiences interested simply by adding instruments. Unsurprisingly, Ravel proved no less stubborn when composing Boléro. ( Credit: Bibliothèque nationale de France / Wikipedia) In life, Ravel was as iconoclastic as he was self-serving. In his biography, Ravel: Man and Musician, musicologist Arbie Orenstein describes the composer as a uniquely single-minded, perfectionistic individual who listened to no one but his own gut. Though Ravel’s music often fell on deaf ears, he was markedly immune to external criticism. After leaving the Conservatoire, the composer joined Les Apaches, a group of Paris-based musicians and writers whose talent and vision had gone unrecognized by academic institutions. ![]() Ravel’s rebellious nature did not diminish with age. ![]() Oxford musicologist Barbara Kelly claimed of Ravel that he was “only teachable on his own terms.” Ravel’s achievements at the Paris Conservatoire were mediocre at best, much to the disappointment of his instructors. Instead, the composition was created from Ravel’s characteristic desire to question and break with the dominant musical traditions of his time. Its creation was not the result of a developing brain disease. Maurice Ravel’s iconoclasmĪt first glance, the birth of Boléro appears to be intentional rather than accidental. In recent years, the composition acquired additional significance as neuroscientists came to view its unusual structure as the expression of a deadly but still developing brain disease. The provocative music also caught on with audience members and would go down in history as Ravel’s most famous and original piece of music. Shortly after it was performed, Boléro was met with positive reviews from most critics. Ravel’s experiment struck the right chord. ![]()
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