Bolero
Bolero
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bol%C3%A9roBoléroFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThis article is about Ravel's piece for orchestra.  A scene from Maurice Béjart'sproduction of Boléro. The leading ballet dancer Sylvie Guillem makes leap movement on the table, which is similar to the original 1928 choreography of Bronislava Nijinska[1]. Boléro is a one-movement orchestral piece by Maurice Ravel. Originally composed as a ballet commissioned by Russian ballerina Ida Rubenstein, the piece, which premiered in 1928, is Ravel's most famous musical composition.[2] Before Boléro, Ravel had composed large scale ballets (such asDaphnis et Chloé, composed for the Ballets Russes 1909–1912),suites for the ballet (such as the second orchestral version of Ma Mère l'Oye, 1912), and one-movement dance pieces (such as La Valse, 1906-1920). Apart from such compositions intended for a staged dance performance, Ravel had demonstrated an interest in composing re-styled dances, from his earliest successes (the 1895 Menuetand the 1899 Pavane) to his more mature works like Le tombeau de Couperin (which takes the format of a dance suite). Boléro epitomises Ravel's preoccupation with restyling and reinventing dance movements. It was also one of the last pieces he composed before illness forced him into retirement: the two piano concertos and the Don Quichotte à Dulcinée song cycle were the only compositions that followed Boléro. Composition The work had its genesis in a commission from the dancer Ida Rubinstein, who asked Ravel to make an orchestral transcription of six pieces from Isaac Albéniz' set of piano pieces, Iberia.[3] While working on the transcription, Ravel was informed that the movements had already been orchestrated by Spanish conductor Enrique Arbós, and that copyright law prevented any other arrangement from being made.[3] When Arbós heard of this, he said he would happily waive his rights and allow Ravel to orchestrate the pieces.[3] However Ravel changed his mind and decided initially to orchestrate one of his own previously-written works.[3] He then changed his mind again and decided to write a completely new piece based on the musical form and Spanish dance called bolero.[3] While on vacation at St Jean-de-Luz, Ravel went to the piano and played a melody with one finger to his friend Gustave Samazeuilh, saying "Don't you think this theme has an insistent quality? I'm going to try and repeat it a number of times without any development, gradually increasing the orchestra as best I can."[3]This piece was initially called Fandango, but its title was soon changed to "Boléro".[3] [edit] Premiere and early performancesThe composition was a sensational success when it was premiered at the Paris Opéra on November 22, 1928, with choreography byBronislava Nijinska and designs by Alexandre Benois. The orchestra of the Opéra was conducted by Walther Straram. Ernest Ansermet had originally been engaged to conduct the orchestra during its entire ballet season; however the orchestra refused to play under him.[4] A scenario by Rubinstein and Nijinska was printed in the program for the premiere:[4]
Ravel himself, however, had a different conception of the work: his preferred stage design was of an open-air setting with a factory in the background, reflecting the mechanical nature of the music.[5] Boléro became Ravel's most famous composition, much to the surprise of the composer, who had predicted that most orchestras would refuse to play it.[3] It is usually played as a purely orchestral work, only rarely being staged as a ballet. According to a possibly apocryphal story, at the premiere a woman shouted that Ravel was mad. When told about this, Ravel smiled and remarked that she had understood the piece.[6] The piece was first published by the Parisian firm Durand in 1929. Arrangements of the piece were made for piano solo and piano duet (two people playing at one piano), and Ravel himself composed a version for two pianos, published in 1930. The first recording was made by Piero Coppola in Paris for The Gramophone Company on January 8, 1930. The recording session was attended by Ravel.[7] The very next day Ravel made his own recording for Polydor, conducting the Lamoureux Orchestra.[7] That same year further recordings were made by Serge Koussevitzky with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Willem Mengelberg with the Concertgebouw Orchestra.[7] [edit] The Toscanini affairConductor Arturo Toscanini gave the U.S. premiere of Boléro with theNew York Philharmonic on November 14, 1929.[8] The performance was a great success, bringing "shouts and cheers from the audience" according to a New York Times review[8] leading one critic to declare that "it was Toscanini who launched the career of the Boléro",[8] and another to claim that Toscanini had made Ravel into "almost an American national hero".[8] On May 4, 1930, Toscanini performed the work with the New York Philharmonic at the Paris Opéra as part of that orchestra's European tour. Toscanini's tempo was significantly faster than Ravel preferred, and Ravel signaled his disapproval by refusing to respond to Toscanini's gesture during the audience ovation.[3] An exchange took place between the two men backstage after the concert. According to one account Ravel said "It's too fast", to which Toscanini responded "It's the only way to save the work".[9] According to another report Ravel said "That's not my tempo". Toscanini replied "When I play it at your tempo, it is not effective", to which Ravel retorted "Then do not play it".[10] Four months later Ravel attempted to smooth over relations with Toscanini by sending him a note explaining that "I have always felt that if a composer does not take part in the performance of a work, he must avoid the ovations" and, ten days later, inviting Toscanini to conduct the premiere of his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.[11] [edit] Early popularityThe Toscanini affair became a cause célèbre and further increasedBoléro's fame.[2] Other factors in the work's renown were the large number of early performances, gramophone records (including Ravel's own),transcriptions and radio broadcasts, together with the 1934 motion picture Bolero starring Carole Lombard, in which the music plays an important role.[2] [edit] MusicBoléro is written for a large orchestra consisting of two flutes, piccolo(actually a second piccolo doubles the second flautist because it is in the part with the horns and celesta.), two oboes (oboe 2 doubles oboe d'amore), cor anglais, two B-flat clarinets (Bb Clarinet 1 or 2 doubles onE-flat clarinet), bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns,piccolo trumpet in D, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, twosaxophones (one sopranino and one tenor doubling on soprano — one of the first large ensemble pieces to employ the family), timpani, twosnare drums, a bass drum, one piece/pair of orchestral cymbals,tamtam, celesta, two harps and strings (violins, violas, cellos anddouble basses). (The sopranino saxophone called for in the instrumentation is a sopranino saxophone in F; the ones of today are in E-flat. Today, both the soprano saxophone and the sopranino saxophone parts are commonly played on the B-flat soprano saxophone.) (The celesta, E-flat clarinet, and the soprano saxophone only comes once in part, meaning they cannot be used in later parts of the music (including the final). Actually the oboe d'amore comes twice, one after the E-flat clarinet, and the other with the oboes and clarinets.) [edit] StructureBoléro is "Ravel's most straightforward composition in any medium".[5] The music is built over an unchanging ostinato rhythm played on one or more snare drums that remains constant throughout the piece: On top of this rhythm is repeated a single theme, consisting of two eighteen-bar sections, each itself repeated twice. Tension is provided by the contrast between the steady percussive rhythm, and the "expressive vocal melody trying to break free".[12] Interest is maintained by constant reorchestration of the theme, leading to a variety oftimbres, and by a steady crescendo. The melody is passed among different instruments: flute, clarinet, bassoon, E-flat clarinet, oboe d'amore, trumpet (with flute not heard clearly and in higher octave than the first part), tenor saxophone, sopranino saxophone, horn, piccolos and celesta, oboe, English horn and clarinet, trombone, some of the wind instruments, first violins and some wind instruments, first and second violins together with some instruments, violins and some of the wind instruments, some instruments in the orchestra, and finally all but not all the instruments in the orchestra (with bass drum, cymbals and tam-tam). While the melody continues to be played in C throughout, from the middle onwards other instruments double it in different keys. The first such doubling involves a horn playing the melody in C, while a celeste doubles it 2 and 3 octaves above and two piccolos play the melody in the keys of G and E, respectively. This functions as a reinforcement of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th overtones of each note of the melody. The other significant "key doubling" involves sounding the melody a 5th above or a 4th below, in G major. Other than these "key doublings", Ravel simply harmonizes the melody using diatonic chords. This table here shows how the composition is actually played by what instruments (in order):
The accompaniment becomes gradually thicker and louder until the whole orchestra is playing at the very end. Just before the end (rehearsal number 18 in the score), there is a sudden change of key to E major, though C major is reestablished after just eight bars. Six bars from the end, the bass drum, cymbals and tam-tam make their first entry, the English horn returns, and the trombones and both saxophones play raucous glissandi while the whole orchestra beats out the rhythm that has been played on the snare drum from the very first bar. Finally, the work descends from a dissonant D-flat chord to a C major chord.[13] The highly repetitive nature of Boléro, out of keeping with the contemporary musical tradition, and Ravel’s own hitherto creativity, has led to a hypothesis that he was in early stages of dementia (not necessarily Alzheimer’s) at the time of composing it.[14] On April 8, 2008, the New York Times published an article saying Ravel may have been in the early stages of frontotemporal dementia in 1928, and this might account for the repetitive nature of Boléro.[15] Of course, a dementing illness may have also underlain his initial obstinacy with Toscanini. [edit] Tempo and durationThe tempo indication in the score is Tempo di Bolero, moderato assai("tempo of a bolero, very moderate"). In Ravel's own copy of the score, the printed metronome mark of 76 per quarter is crossed out and 66 is substituted.[16] Later editions of the score suggest a tempo of 72.[16]Ravel's own recording from January 1930 starts at around 66 per quarter, slightly slowing down later on to 60-63.[7] Its total duration is 15 minutes 50 seconds.[16] Coppola's first recording, at which Ravel was present, has a similar duration of 15 minutes 40 seconds.[16] Ravel said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph that the piece lasts 17 minutes[17]. An average performance will last in the area of fifteen minutes, with the slowest recordings, such as that by Ravel's associate Pedro de Freitas Branco, extending well over 18 minutes[16] and the fastest, such as Leopold Stokowski's 1940 recording with the All American Youth Orchestra, approaching 12 minutes.[18] At Coppola's first recording Ravel indicated strongly that he preferred a steady tempo, criticizing the conductor for getting faster at the end of the work. According to Coppola's own report:[19]
Ravel's preference for a slower tempo is confirmed by his unhappiness with Toscanini's performance, as reported above. Toscanini's 1939 recording with the NBC Symphony Orchestra has a duration of 13 minutes 25 seconds.[8] [edit] CriticismRavel was a stringent critic of his own work. During Boléro's composition, he said to Joaquín Nin that the work had "no form, properly speaking, no development, no or almost no modulation".[20] In a newspaper interview with The Daily Telegraph in July 1931 he spoke about the work as follows:[17]
In 1934, in his book Music Ho!, Constant Lambert wrote: There is a definite limit to the length of time a composer can go on writing in one dance rhythm (this limit is obviously reached by Ravel towards the end of La Valse and towards the beginning of Boléro).[21] |
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