QUOTE:
"The pause is as important as the note."
AUTHOR: Truman Fisher
MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
"There is no music without both sound and silence; it is the silence

that makes the rhythm by separating sounds into patterns."

COMPOSER
RAVEL

BOLERO

Discovering Masterpieces
of Classical Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKo879kUvPA

BOLERO

Riccardo Muti, Conductor

Philadelphia Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=15&v=A2BYkJS8GE0

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/bolero-costume-granger.html

BOLERO

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=408&v=_JVR9Mmwk9E

THIS ARTICLE FROM:

http://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-

Program-Notes/Program-Notes/RAVEL-Bolero.aspx

by Michael Steinberg

RAVEL: BOLÉRO

http://blog.seniorennet.be/kareldhuyvetters/archief.php?ID=670650

Joseph Maurice Ravel
was born in Ciboure

http://www.ciboure-paysbasque.com/il_etait_une_fois/maurice_ravel.php

near Saint-Jean-de-Luz,

Basses-Pyrénées, on March 7, 1875,

and died in Paris on December 28, 1937.

He composed Boléro between July and

October 1928 on commission from

Mme. Ida Rubinstein

Valentin Serov: Ida Rubinstein, 1912
(The inspiration behind Boléro)

for her ballet troupe, which mounted
the premiere at the Paris Opera

Louis Béroud: The grand stairway of the Paris Opera,
designed by Charles Garnier, was begun in 1864
but not finished until 1875.

on November 22, 1928, with

Walther Straram conducting.

Walther Straram

Ravel conducted the first concert

Ravel Conducting Bolero

performance in Paris with the

Lamoureux Orchestra on January 11,

1930, but the North American premiere

had already taken place two months

earlier, on November 14, 1929, when

Arturo Toscanini

Arturo Toscanini

conducted the New York

Philharmonic Symphony.

BOLERO
Arturo Toscanini, Conductor
NBC Orchestra, 1939

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiYIiPWZ6cQ

Toulouse-Lautrec: Bolero

Boléro is scored for two flutes and piccolo,

two oboes (second doubling oboe d'amore)

and English horn, two clarinets, high clarinet

in E-flat, bass clarinet, two bassoons and

contrabassoon, three saxophones

(sopranino, soprano, alto),

four horns, four trumpets, three trombones,

bass tuba, timpani, two snare drums,
cymbals, tam-tam, celesta,

harp, and strings.

Duration: about fifteen minutes.

Ravel in 1928

Just before composing Bolero Ravel had been to the
United States on a major concert tour and
was the guest conductor

at the San Francisco Symphony
concerts of February 3 and 5, 1928. He

was a tiny man, fine-featured, with a long nose

and a mouth like a horizontal line. His tightly

contained white hair made him look older than

his not quite fifty-three years; a certain diffidence

betrayed the fact that he rarely found himself on

a podium before an orchestra. Maurice Ravel

had in fact led the Boston and Chicago

symphonies and the Cleveland Orchestra within

the past few weeks, and when he acknowledged

the ovations in the Curran Theatre

Curran Theatre, 1922

Here is a page out
of the program book

in San Francisco he was about one-
quarter of the way through a triumphal tour

that took him, between January 4 and April 21,

to twenty-five cities in the United States and

Canada. He was celebrated and prosperous;

with few exceptions, he had already written the

music that made him so. Those exceptions

included Boléro, which would quickly become

the most famous of all his works.

Ravel Bolero: Interpretations of the

Spanish Ballet of Pilar López

Before leaving for America, Ravel had promised

Ida Rubinstein a new work for her ballet troupe.

Antonio de la Gandara: Ida Rubinstein, 1913

He was on vacation at
St. Jean de Luz, France

Georges LaCombe: Baie de St. Jean de Luz (Côte de Sainte-Barbe)
(The Bay of St. Jean de Luz [Sainte-Barbe Coast]), ca. 1902-04

just across the bay from his birthplace,
and Gustave Samazeuilh,

Gustave Samazeuilh in 1930

music critic of La Républicaine, was
his guest. As the two were about to go out
for their pre-breakfast swim, Ravel made a

detour via his piano and played a melody.

Maurice Ravel and Gustave Samazeuilh
(Rene de Castera "page turner")

"Don't you think this theme has

a certain insistent quality?"

he asked.

"I'm going to try and repeat it a number of

times without any development, gradually

increasing the orchestra as best I can."

As soon as Ravel returned to Le Belvédère,

Ravel's Home: Le Belvedere

his villa west of Paris, he began his new

score. His first working title was Fandango,

but realizing that the increase in speed and

the sudden stops characteristic of that dance

were contrary to his idea for the new piece,

he retitled the piece Boléro.

BOLERO

(For Dance)

Maurice Bejart, Choreographer

Nicolas Le Riche, Dancer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=148&v=zc_8P4FlDcI

http://www.bolerodanse.djarabi.com/

Ida Rubinstein's dance,
in its smoky Spanish café setting,

Set Design

enjoyed considerable success,

Ravel surrounded members by troupe of Ida Rubinstein

after choreographed presentation of Bolero, 1928

but it was only when her exclusive

performance right elapsed and the first

concert presentations took place that the

staggering popularity of Boléro began.

BOLERO

(With Animation of the

Different Instruments)

Lubjlana Radio Symphony Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOcu7GD8pcE

"Boléro consists of 18 cycles

of the same melody. In each

cycle, instruments are added,

the orchestration is varied, and

the orchestra plays with increased

energy, growing more insistent

and louder. While the melody

repeats itself, 'the colors and

contest are always changing.'

In the final cycle, the orchestra

roars with overpowering rhythm

and power."

Quoted language is taken from Phil plays it safe but plays it well,

by Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times Music Critic, Reviewing the

October 4, 2008 performance of Boléro by the Los Angeles

Philharmonic Orchestra, L.A. Times October 6, 2008, page E3.

HERE IS RAVEL ON BOLERO:

"I am particularly anxious that there should

be no misunderstanding as to my Boléro.

It is an experiment in a very special and

limited direction, and it should not be

suspected of aiming at achieving anything

different from, or anything more than, it

actually does achieve. Before the first

performance, I issued a warning to the

effect that what I had written was a piece…

consisting wholly of orchestral texture

without music—of one long, very gradual

crescendo. There are no contrasts, and

there is practically no invention except in

the plan and the manner of the execution.

The themes are impersonal—folk tunes

of the usual Spanish-Arabian kind. What-

ever may have been said to the contrary,

the orchestral treatment is simple and

straightforward throughout, without the

slightest attempt at virtuosity.... I have

done exactly what I have set out to do,

and it is for listeners to take it or leave it."

RAVEL USES TWO MELODIES.

The first could stand by itself, but the
second starts so obliquely that it has to
be a continuation rather than a beginning.

In presenting them, Ravel brings
each around twice before going
on (or returning) to the other.

He traverses this pattern of AABB
four times before wrapping the piece
up with what promises to be
a single compressed AB.

HOW DOES RAVEL ARRANGE

HIS LONG CRESCENDO?

https://ebottoms.wordpress.com/2013/09/

He begins with solo instruments playing

the melody and progresses to groups,

often assembled in novel and effective

ways. Much of the effect of the crescendo

is vested in the accompaniment. A snare

drummer taps out the bolero rhythm from

beginning to end, a second drummer

joining in for the final statement of AB.

But violas and cellos mark the beat too,

and as soon as we have heard the first

melody through once, Ravel begins to

build the accompaniment. Often, the

instrument that last played the melody

joins the accompaniment team. When

the two melodies come around for the

last time, the obsessive rhythm is beaten

out with an increasing dissonance.

Figurine for Ravel's Bolero Antonia Merce,

Antonia Merce:
Figurine for Ravel's Bolero, 1930

HOW DO YOU END SUCH A PIECE?

When a dynamic crescendo is no longer

feasible, Ravel makes a huge harmonic

leap. We have been at a C major stand-

still for fifteen minutes. Virtually without

warning, we are suddenly plunged into E

major. The shock destroys the piece,

which collapses in upon itself as a mined

tower collapses. Fair enough as a symbol,

for Boléro was a radical challenge

to the most basic assumptions

of Western concert music.

BOLERO

(Scrolling Score)

Dennis Burkh, Conductor

Radio Bratislava Symphony Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJRE1y5uxOM

Anne Adams: Unraveling Bolero

LESSON PLAN

BOLERO: RHYTHMS,

OBSESSION, AND ART
Louisianna Philharmonic Orchestra

Marc Claerbout: Bolero
(collage of paper)

BOLERO
Gustavo Dudamel, Conductor
Wiener Philharmoniker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KgpEru9lhw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bol%C3%A9ro#Structure
http://www.radiolab.org/story/217340-unraveling-bolero/

https://lpomusic.com/ArticleMedia/Files/Lesson%20Plans/Bolero1.pdf

A Bolero Dancer (1842). Antonio Cabral Bejarano (Spanish, 1788-1861)

Antonio Cabral Bejarano: A Bolero Dancer, 1842

LESSON PLAN

BOLERO AND THE WRITING PROCESS

KEEPING SCORE

http://www.keepingscore.org/education/lesson-plans/instruments?page=3

Arnold Shore: Ravel's Bolero

BOLERO

INTERESTING RENDITIONS

BOLERO

Performed by "Blast"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipU1OutJzBU

BOLERO

(Reworked in a Minor Key)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=34&v=SDtrjYUX9gU

AMERICAN BOLERO

(A Swing Era Take-Off of the Bolero)

Gene Krupa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=25&v=L44rdcSiRsU

BOLERO

(Vocal)

Bel Canto Choir Vilnius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whFqatXofKY

BOLERO

Ray Coniff Arrangement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBAtr-JqMSA

BUILDING BOLERO

The Queensland Symphony Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn7CYzPMf2o

BOLERO

Copenhagen Philharmonic

Copenhagen Central Station

Flash Mob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrEk06XXaAw

BOLERO

Ice Scating Free Dance

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean

World Figure Skating Competition, 1984

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=19&v=TVWHdu6yfvc

BOLERO

Rehearsal and Part 1/2

Zubin Mehta, Conductor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NaECceEB-M

BOLERO

Part 2/2

Zubin Mehta, Conductor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I0lkYISDoY

BOLERO

Winer Cello Ensemble 5+1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUeysGoPFTk

Thème		Instrumentation	Temps
pp	r	Altos & violoncelles pizzicato, 1 ° caisse claire (répété une fois)
pp	A	1 ° flûte	0' 12''
pp	r	2 ° flûte
p	A	1 ° clarinette	1' 02''
p	r	Harpe (sons harmoniques), 1 ° flûte
p	B	1 ° basson	1' 53''
mp	r	Harpe (sons naturels), 2 ° flûte
p	B	Petite clarinette mi bémol	2' 44''
p	r	2 ° violons pizzicato & contrebasse, alternance des bassons mp
mp	A	Hautbois d'amour	3' 36''
p	r	1 ° violons pizzicato, 1 ° cor
mp	A	1 ° trompette avec sourdine, 1 ° flûte à l'octave (jeu d'octave) pp	4' 28''
mp	r	Flûtes, 2 ° trompette, 2 ° violons pizzicato
mp	B	Saxophone ténor expressivo, vibrato	5' 20''
mp	r	1 ° trompette, hautbois, cor anglais, 1 ° violons pizzicato
mp	B	Saxophone sopranino, fin au saxophone soprano expressivo, vibrato	6' 13''
mf	r	1 ° flûte, clarinette basse, bassons, 2 ° cor, harpe
mf	A	1 ° piccolo (mi majeur), 2 ° piccolo (sol majeur), 1 ° cor et célesta (do majeur)	7' 06''
mf	r	3 trompettes, 4 ° cor et arpèges des cordes
mf	A	2 hautbois, cor anglais et 2 clarinettes (do majeur), hautbois d'amour (sol majeur)	7' 57''
mf	r	1 ° flûte, contrebasson, clarinettes, 2 ° cor
mf	B	1 ° trombone (dans le suraigu) sostenuto	8' 49''
f	r	1 ° trompette, 4 ° cor, tutti de cordes
f	B	Bois (jeux de tierces et quintes)	9' 41''
f	r	Bassons, contrebasson, cors et timbales
f	A	Piccolo, flûtes, hautbois, clarinettes, 1 ° violons (jeux d'octaves)	10' 32''
f	r
f	A	Bois, 1 ° & 2 ° violons (jeux de tierces et quintes)	11' 22''
f	r
f	B	Bois, 1 ° & 2 ° violons, 1 ° trompette (jeux d'octaves)	12' 13''
f	r
f	B	Bois, 1 ° & 2 ° violons, 1 ° trombone (jeux de tierces et quintes)	13' 05''
ff	r	Bois aigus, cors, cordes, + 2 ° caisse claire, tout l'orchestre
ff	A	Piccolo, flûtes, saxophones, petite trompette, 3 trompettes, 1 ° violons	13' 56''
ff	r
ff	B	Piccolo, flûtes, saxophones, les 4 trompettes, 1 ° trombone, 1 ° violons	14' 47''
ff	Modulation en mi majeur sur 8 mesures puis retour dans le ton principal
ff	r	Grosse caisse, cymbales, tam-tam, glissandos de trombones (répété une fois)
ff	Grand accord dissonant et écroulement final		16' 06''