Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), the famous French composer, the most outstanding Impressionist composer

Ravel portrait

One of the representatives. He started learning piano at the age of seven and entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of fourteen. Early Impressionist music was keen on chiaroscuro, mysterious games of light and shadow, and was intoxicated with lengthy impressions; as an Impressionist musician, Ravel greatly developed the expressive power of Impressionist music, and he loved to spray out colorful, radiant Dazzling artificial fireworks, fond of poetic and loud sounds. He is not only a master of

music

form, but also gives music rich colors. In addition, he strictly adheres to the

precepts of the Viennese classical music school

, and uses these traditional precepts in original ways to form its own unique musical language and work form. Regarding the descriptive nature of music, he advocated not paying attention to the outside of things, but paying attention to the essence and rich colors of things, and believed that real poetry cannot be a long essay

but It's about true feelings. His representative works include the opera "Daphne and Chloe",

ballet

"Mother Goose", violin piece "

Gypsy

" and the orchestral piece "Bolero". In addition, he adapted Mussorgsky's solo piano piece "Pictures at an Exhibition" into an orchestral suite of the same name, making the piece widely circulated.

"Boleiro" is one of the most well-known works of the French composer Ravel. It was created in 1928. The author dedicated it to the dancer Mrs. Ida Rubinstein.

1. The rhythm is exactly the same from beginning to end, and the beat speed remains unchanged;

2. The theme and answers are repeated nine times without expansion or rhythm;

< p> 3. The whole song is always in the key of C major, and only the last two bars change the key;

4. The first half of the dance music is accompanied by harmony, except for the solo, which is played in unison, and the second half is accompanied by light chords ;

5. The dance music only has crescendo changes from beginning to end.

"Bolero" is a three-beat Spanish dance with a moderate speed. This dance is often full of excitement and bright rhythm. This work by Ravel describes the following dance scene: In a small Spanish hotel, people are drinking and chatting in twos and threes. At this time, a charming girl began to dance lightly. Gradually, she danced more and more passionately and attracted many guests, who gradually joined her dance. The music became more and more intense, approaching madness, and the dancers also entered a state of hysteria. They danced wildly to the end and began to kill crazily. The dancing did not stop until most of the people were dead.

The dance music begins, with the rhythm of "Bolero" expressed by the snare drum, viola and cello strings (the tambourine plays the same rhythm from beginning to end). After this rhythm lasts for four measures, the first theme appears starting from the fifth measure. This theme is unfolded on flute, clarinet and other instruments in turn. The music is full of vitality and gives people a bright and quiet feeling. The second theme of the music is a gloomy answer to the first theme, which enters after the first theme is repeated twice. This part is also composed of two sections, with several inflections used in the middle. The first theme and the second theme are interspersed and repeated without expansion or variation, but the instruments are constantly changed, and the intensity of the music gradually increases. This repetition is carried out nine times in the whole song. The music ends with a full tune of modulated harmony reaching a climax.

What is surprising is that although this work has a single theme, a unified rhythm, and no dramatic conflicts or strong contrasts, it firmly captures the audience's attention from the first note played by the band. attract. Music seems to have a magic power, an irresistible charm that makes people gather around it, breathe and dance with it, and grow and develop together from simplicity to complexity. At the beginning of the work, the snare drum plays the dominant rhythm pattern, and then the parts gradually become thicker and thicker: first the flute and clarinet form a group; the bassoon and small clarinet form a group; the oboe and trumpet flute form a group ; Alto and treble saxophones are played in sequence. Then, the French horn, celesta, piccolo, flute and clarinet, oboe, and English horn are in a group; the trombone is in a group with piccolo, flute, clarinet, oboe, English horn, and saxophone; the piccolo, flute, oboe, The English horn, trumpet, French horn and violin, clarinet, trumpet, saxophone, viola, cello are played in sequence; finally, the piccolo, flute, 4 trumpets, saxophone, violin, trombone, etc. are played as a group. A set that allows the theme to bounce around among these instrumental configurations. The length of each presentation and repetition of changes also gradually expands and extends, so the whole song is a capital < (crescendo). This piece of music is similar to the structure of a stanza song. The two theme melodies are repeated five times as they are, with only changes in the last time. Finally, the whole song ends with a 6-bar coda.

The information in this article comes from Baidu Encyclopedia, 360 Encyclopedia, Xuefeng Concert, Youku, and NetEase Cloud Music.

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