Magical Joy of Piano Fourhands Preview | Ravel's Orchestration (Ma Mere l'Oye and Rhapsodie Espagnol)
Hello and welcome back to our email preview series! As a way to prepare for the upcoming concert, Magical Joy of Piano Fourhands, we are diving into the world of piano music across the composers that will be represented in the concerts in November! While you’re here, don’t forget to RSVP– we sold out our last concerts 😜
We have previously covered Ravel and his work in these posts:
In his piece Jeux d’eau, Games of Water, you can hear the meticulous craft in which Ravel creates a delicate and expressive character to represent water. To me, the use of the upper register illustrates the way the light shimmers when it catches the light– in addition, the use of 32nd notes in the last beat give it an additional playful gesture...
Listen to the first movement of Ravel's String Quartet in F major performed by Quatuor Ebène. This is one of my favorite pieces of all time. Listen for the way the two violins pass different melodic lines between each other and the textures that the lowers strings create beneath them. Despite being in a strict sonata form, the movement surveys many different moods and colors. One thing the composer Ravel was known for was his ability to draw out extremely different sounds from the instruments compared to the music that had been written before his time...
Our coverage of Ravel in Magical Joy of Piano Fourhands today is very interesting due to the fact that Ma Mere l’Oye was originally composed for Piano Fourhands and eventually arranged for orchestra and Rhapsody Espagnole was originally written for orchestra and was eventually arranged for Piano Fourhands. For today’s guided listening, I thought it would be fun to explore the other symphonic arrangements of the pieces before you hear the fourhands versions next week :-)
Guided Listening | Ravel Ma Mère l’Oye
Ma Mère l’Oye, or the Mother Goose suite is a fantastical journey through different children’s fables reflected in music. The orchestral version that we will hear today is expanded from the original work for piano fourhand including additional interludes and reordering some of the movements.
The way Ravel orchestrated this piece is very fantastical– from the beginning, we encounter a mysterious motif played by woodwinds juxtaposed with a horn fanfare, evoking imagery of a fairytale. There is even a musical quote of Debussy’s "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” that adds to the sense of enchantment and magic.
In between the introduction and the first tableau, there is a quick and energetic dance, titled Danse du rouet et scène. This is meant to illustrate a certain dance form illustrated in the 16th and 17th centuries. According to this journal, the dance could’ve been meant to symbolize the the roundness of the sun and was performed to amplify the emotional connections and experiences of the singers and dancers.
The next movement, Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant (Pavane of Sleeping Beauty) returns to a calm demeanor. Listen to the main melody presented by the flute meant to illustrate the sleeping princess. The same melody is later echoed by other instruments like the strings in a higher register.
After a short interlude we are carried to the next fable, Les entretiens de la Belle et de la bête (Conversations of Beauty and the Beast). This movement begins with a gentle waltz meant to personify Belle (the beauty); however the bassoon interrupts the fantasy by letting out a deep, ominous line accompanied by bass pizzicati, imposing trouble for the heroine. The tempo is pressed with urgency– eventually breaking in the “transformation” where the beast’s melody is given to the handsome cello.
"Quant je pense à votre bon cœur, vous ne me paraissez pas si laid.”
“Oh! dame oui ! j’ai le cœur bon, mais je suis un monstre.”
“Il y a bien des hommes qui sont plus monstres que vous.”
“Si j’avais de l’esprit je vous ferais un grand compliment pour vous remercier, mais je ne suis qu’une bête.....La Belle, voulez-vous être ma femme ?”
...
“Non, la Bête !...”
“Je meurs content puisque j’ai le plaisir de vous revoir encore une fois.”
“Non, ma chère Bête, vous ne
mourrez pas : vous vivrez pour devenir mon époux!” ...
La Bête avait disparu et elle ne vit plus à ses pieds qu’un prince plus beau que l’Amour qui la remerciait d’avoir
fini son enchantement.
(Mme Leprince de Beaumont).
“When I think of your good heart, you do not appear so ugly."
"Oh! milady yes! my heart is good, but I am a monster."
"There are many men who are more monstrous than you."
"If I had sufficient wit I would make you a grand compliment to thank you, but I am only a beast..... Beauty, will you be my wife? "
...
"No, the Beast! ... “
“I die happy for I have the pleasure of seeing you once more."
"No, my dear Beast, you will not die: you will live to become my husband!" ...
The Beast had disappeared and at her feet she saw a prince more beautiful than Love who thanked her for having terminated his enchantment.”
After another short interlude, we encounter Petit Pourcet. Listen for specific cues in the music like the serpentine line in the strings showing the winding forest road, the col legno (tapping the wood of the bow on the strings) in the strings illustrating the footsteps of Pourcet and the bird calls in the concertmaster.
Il croyait trouver aisément son chemin par le moyen de son pain qu’il avait semé partout où il avait passé ; mais il fut bien surpris
lorsqu’il n’en put retrouver une seule miette : les oiseaux étaient venus qui avaient tout mangé.
(Ch. Perrault)
Tom Thumb was not concerned, for he thought he could easily find the way again by means of his bread, scattered along the
way; but he was very much surprised when he could not find so much as one crumb. The birds had come and eaten every bit of it up.
Our next destination is to Laideronette, Impératrice des Pagodes (The Ugly Little Girl, Empress of the Pagodas).
Elle se déshabilla et se mit dans le bain. Aussitôt pagodes et pagodines se mirent à chanter et à jouer des instruments : tels avaient des théorbes faits d’une
coquille de noix ; tels avaient des violes faites d’une coquille d’amande ; car il fallait bien proportionner les instruments à leur taille.
(Mme d’Aulnoy — Serpentin
Vert)
She undressed and entered the bath. Immediately mandarins and mandarinettes began to sing and to play musical instruments. Some had lutes made of a walnut- shell, others viols made of an almond-shell, for it was necessary to suit the instruments to their size.
This tableau shows the deep curiosity Debussy and his cohorts had with the far east at this time thanks to the popularity of the 1889 world fair where they were first exposed to Javanese gamelan music. Listen for the way Ravel mimics the instruments and scales he associated with his impressions of the far east in the flute, oboe, and percussion juxtaposed with his more French accents like the muted strings in the background.
The last tableau is Le jardin féerique (The Fairy Garden). Like returning home after a long journey, this movement uses much of the musical material we have already heard, but in a slower and warmer way.
Listen for the way the violin’s high melody shimmers, once again creating an air of enchantment and beauty in the texture.
The last moments of the piece are spent in a splendid awe with waves of trills, fast scales, and triumphant horn calls punctuating the end of the magical journey.
After listening to the full orchestra version, it will be very interesting to hear the original version for piano fourhands next week!
Further Listening | Ravel Rhapsodie Espagnole
In addition to the compositional orchestration tools mentioned above, listen for the similar ways in which Ravel invites you into this fantasy tableau.
There are other cultural references Ravel makes such as specific rhythms of the Habeñera and Malagueña dances, as well as Spanish instruments like castanets.
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