Rapsodie espagnole
Encyclopedia
Rapsodie espagnole is an orchestral rhapsody
written by Maurice Ravel
. Composed between 1907 and 1908, the Rapsodie represents one of Ravel's first major works for orchestra
.
In its atmosphere, the Rapsodie reflects the profound influence of the Spanish
musical heritage imparted to Ravel by his Basque
mother. As a child, Ravel would listen to his mother sing him folk songs from her country. Later works by Ravel, such as Boléro and the opera
L'heure espagnole, also claim similar sources of inspiration. Ravel composed his Rapsodie only a year before Claude Debussy
appeared with his own evocations of Spain in Iberia.
The first version of the Rapsodie was written for piano duet, in a matter of weeks during 1907 (though one movement, the 'Habanera', had been composed earlier in 1895). Orchestrating the whole piece took rather longer, and Ravel only completed this task in March 1908. Ravel was punctilious about putting the '1895' date on the score of the 'Habanera' movement, since he had been notoriously and falsely accused of plagiarising a passage from Debussy. (While he greatly admired Debussy's output, he lived in some awe of Debussy personally, and was extremely sensitive to allegations that Debussy had influenced him; he was inclined to think that if anything, the influence worked in the other direction). He dedicated the work to Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot
, his professor of piano and composition at the Paris Conservatoire (and son of the renowned Belgian
violinist Charles Auguste de Bériot and the French soprano Maria Malibran
, who was of Spanish ancestry).
The première of the Rapsodie was given by the Orchestre des Concerts Colonne
, conducted by Édouard Colonne
, at the Chatelet Theatre on March 15, 1908. Although the work attracted only limited popular acclaim, it was highly appreciated by the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla
.
s, 2 flute
s, 2 oboe
s, cor anglais
, 2 clarinet
s, bass clarinet
, 3 bassoon
s, sarrusophone
, 4 horn
s, 3 trumpet
s, 3 trombone
s, tuba
, timpani
, percussion, celesta
, 2 harp
s and strings
.
The second part is a dance, resembling the fandango
immortalized in the folklore
of Málaga
. The third part is an orchestration of a habanera
written for two pianos in 1895 which was originally designed as the first of two "sites auriculaires."
Rhapsody (music)
A rhapsody in music is a one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colour and tonality. An air of spontaneous inspiration and a sense of improvisation make it freer in form than a set of variations...
written by Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
. Composed between 1907 and 1908, the Rapsodie represents one of Ravel's first major works for orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
.
In its atmosphere, the Rapsodie reflects the profound influence of the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
musical heritage imparted to Ravel by his Basque
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
mother. As a child, Ravel would listen to his mother sing him folk songs from her country. Later works by Ravel, such as Boléro and the opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
L'heure espagnole, also claim similar sources of inspiration. Ravel composed his Rapsodie only a year before Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
appeared with his own evocations of Spain in Iberia.
The first version of the Rapsodie was written for piano duet, in a matter of weeks during 1907 (though one movement, the 'Habanera', had been composed earlier in 1895). Orchestrating the whole piece took rather longer, and Ravel only completed this task in March 1908. Ravel was punctilious about putting the '1895' date on the score of the 'Habanera' movement, since he had been notoriously and falsely accused of plagiarising a passage from Debussy. (While he greatly admired Debussy's output, he lived in some awe of Debussy personally, and was extremely sensitive to allegations that Debussy had influenced him; he was inclined to think that if anything, the influence worked in the other direction). He dedicated the work to Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot
Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot
Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot was a French pianist, teacher and composer.He was born in Paris in 1833, the son of the violinist Charles Auguste de Bériot and his then common-law wife, the famed soprano Maria Malibran Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot (12 February 183322 October 1914) was a French pianist,...
, his professor of piano and composition at the Paris Conservatoire (and son of the renowned Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
violinist Charles Auguste de Bériot and the French soprano Maria Malibran
Maria Malibran
The mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran , was one of the most famous opera singers of the 19th century. Malibran was known for her stormy personality and dramatic intensity, becoming a legendary figure after her death at age 28...
, who was of Spanish ancestry).
The première of the Rapsodie was given by the Orchestre des Concerts Colonne
Concerts Colonne
The Colonne Orchestra is a French symphony orchestra, founded in 1873 by the violinist and conductor Édouard Colonne.-History:While leader of the Opéra de Paris orchestra, Édouard Colonne was engaged by the publisher Georges Hartmann to lead a series of popular concerts which he founded under the...
, conducted by Édouard Colonne
Édouard Colonne
Édouard Juda Colonne was a French conductor and violinist, who was a champion of the music of Berlioz and other eminent 19th-century composers.-Life and career:...
, at the Chatelet Theatre on March 15, 1908. Although the work attracted only limited popular acclaim, it was highly appreciated by the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
.
Instrumentation
The work is scored for an orchestra of 2 piccoloPiccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
s, 2 flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, 2 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s, cor anglais
Cor anglais
The cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....
, 2 clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s, bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
, 3 bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, sarrusophone
Sarrusophone
The sarrusophone is a family of transposing musical instruments patented and placed into production by Pierre-Louis Gautrot in 1856. It was named after the French bandmaster Pierre-Auguste Sarrus who is credited with the concept of the instrument...
, 4 horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
s, 3 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, 3 trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
, timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, percussion, celesta
Celesta
The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
, 2 harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
s and strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
.
Movements
The Rapsodie comprises four parts and a performance usually lasts around 15 minutes:- PréludePrelude (music)A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude can be thought of as a preface. It may stand on its own or introduce another work...
à la nuit: très modéré - MalagueñaMalagueñaOriginally the sixth movement of the Suite Andalucia by Ernesto Lecuona, who also provided it with Spanish lyrics, the song "Malagueña" has since become a popular, jazz, marching band, and drum corps standard and has been provided with lyrics in several languages.-Notable vocal performances:A...
: assez vif - HabaneraHabaneraHabanera may refer to:*"Habanera" , an aria from Bizet's Carmen*Habanera , a 1984 Cuban film*La Habanera , a 1937 German movie...
: assez lent et d'un rythme las - FeriaFeriaA feria was a day on which the people, especially the slaves, were not obliged to work, and on which there were no court sessions...
: assez animé.
The second part is a dance, resembling the fandango
Fandango
Fandango is a lively couple's dance, usually in triple metre, traditionally accompanied by guitars and castanets or hand-clapping . Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has an instrumental introduction followed by "variaciones"...
immortalized in the folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
of Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
. The third part is an orchestration of a habanera
Habanera (music)
The habanera is a genre of Cuban popular dance music of the 19th century. It is a creolized form which developed from the contradanza. It has a characteristic "Habanera rhythm", and is performed with sung lyrics...
written for two pianos in 1895 which was originally designed as the first of two "sites auriculaires."