Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), Rapsodie espagnole (1907)

The piano four-hand version of Maurice Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole (Spanish Rhapsody) was completed in October 1907, followed by its orchestration in February of the following year.  Along with the opera L’heure espagnole (1907-09) and the piano piece Alborada del gracioso (1904-05), Rapsodie espagnole was inspired by the composer’s lifelong attraction to Spanish music and culture.  Ravel was born in the Basque territory at the southwestern tip of France but spent no time in Spain either as a child or an adult.   Spanish composer Manuel de Falla thought the fascination may have stemmed from Ravel’s mother:

The rhapsody surprised me by its Spanish character... But how could I explain the subtly authentic Hispanic quality of our musician, knowing, by his own admission, that he had but neighboring relations with our country, being born near its frontier?  I rapidly solved the problem:  Ravel’s Spain was a Spain ideally presented by his mother, whose refined conversation, always in excellent Spanish, delighted me, particularly when she would recall her youthful years spent in Madrid.  (quoted in Arbie Ornstein, Ravel: Man and Musician)

Prélude à la Nuit opens with an evocative motive of four descending pitches (F E D C#) which serves as a unifying element for the entire composition.  A movement of delicate tonal shading and sensuality, the dynamics of the Prélude extend only from ppp to mf. 

Malagueña begins almost imperceptibly from the last chords of the first movement.  Originating in the southern provinces of Spain, a malagueña is a folk dance in triple time which alternates between danced sections, accompanied by guitar and castanets, and sung couplets.  Retaining this customary division, Ravel’s quick-paced dance is interrupted twice by slower, improvisatory sections of a more vocal character.  The second interlude reprises the hypnotic opening motive from the Prélude.

The habanera, a slow Cuban song and dance in duple meter with dotted rhythms, became a favorite among French composers of the late nineteenth century.  Ravel emphasizes the gently syncopated nature of the dance by constantly suspending chords across bar lines.  Two themes—one sultry, one resolute—are heard above a gentle ostinato sustaining an almost constant pedal point on C#.  Having first appeared as a portion of Ravel’s Sites auriculaires for two pianos in 1895, Habanera predates the other movements of Rapsodie espagnole by twelve years and, as such, is the only movement of Rapsodie espagnole that does not quote the descending four-note motive. 

The subtle hues of the first three movements grow bright in Feria (Festivals).  From the scintillating opening to the final explosion of glissandi, Ravel builds the piano sonorities to ever higher levels of intensity. 

—- Notes by Dana Muller & Gary Steigerwalt