Thesis (M. Mus.)--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Technische Universität Berlin, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (v. 1, p. 355-364)

Zugl. Diss. Techn. Univ. Berlin, 2005.

Cette synthèse du pianisme ravélien vise à éclairer les œuvres de façon inédite. Sans apporter une nouvelle compréhension des œuvres par leur dimension corporelle, elle se révèlerait inutile. Mais au-delà de son intérêt purement musical, elle appelait une question fondamentale : qu’est-ce qui a rendu possibles tel geste et telle posture à l’époque de Ravel ? / This synthesis of Ravelian pianism aims at considering musical works in a new way. Without bringing a new comprehension of works in their body dimension, it would appear useless. But beyond its musical interest, it required a fundamental question: what made possible such gesture and posture during Ravel’s time ?

Orchestrateur de référence du XXe siècle, Maurice Ravel, avec la Rapsodie espagnole, Daphnis et Chloé, Ma Mère l’Oye, La Valse ou encore avec l’orchestration des Tableaux d’une exposition, ne cesse de nous égarer dans des domaines sonores inattendus. Des réductions pour piano aux enseignements reçus au Conservatoire de Paris, en passant par la lecture des traités d’instrumentation et d’orchestration, Maurice Ravel apprend, dompte et confère à son orchestre une couleur unique qui le place au rang des plus grands orchestrateurs de son temps. Réalisée à partir de quinze œuvres symphoniques du compositeur, une analyse approfondie des aspects de l’instrumentation et de l’orchestration ravélienne a mis en lumière les principaux traits stylistiques de cet orchestrateur. Mais définir la poétique orchestrale de Maurice Ravel ne se limite pas à dresser un inventaire des seuls éléments techniques : c’est également comprendre le rôle et l’impact de ses transcriptions pour orchestre sur son langage et son œuvre. Les orchestrations ravéliennes sont-elles en définitive une simple parure de la version pianistique ou un moyen de créer une œuvre nouvelle ? / Maurice Ravel, a reference among the 20th century composers, has always led his audience into unexpected musical fields with works such as the Rapsodie espagnole, Daphnis et Chloé, Ma Mère l’Oye, La Valse or the orchestration of the Tableaux d’une exposition. While writing piano reductions, while studying at the Conservatoire de Paris and reading treatises on instrumentation and orchestration, Maurice Ravel learned, tamed and gave his orchestra a unique tint, the tint that has made him one of the greatest composer of his time. Based on the study of fifteen of his symphonic works, a thorough analysis of the aspects of Ravelian orchestration has highlighted his main stylistic features. However defining Ravel’s poetical orchestration cannot be restricted to a mere listing of technical elements; it is also trying to understand the role and impact of his orchestra transcriptions on his language and on his work. Are Ravelian orchestrations simply an ornament of the piano version or the creation of a new work?

Anachronistic appropriation of earlier music or musical styles creates an inherent conflict of temporalities. Ravel's compositions based on historical dance forms present a particularly rich medium for investigating these kinds of historical tensions. Whether the minuet in Minuet antique (1895), the waltz in La valse (1919-20) and Valses nobles et sentimentales (1911), or the forlane or rigaudon in their respective movements of Le tombeau de Couperin (1914-17), these forms bring with them associations regarding historical place, and ties between musical norms and expression of temporality. The temporalities expressed in these works are not straightforward linear dramas but rather tension-laden and multifaceted. This paper selects three of these works -- Valses nobles et sentimentales, the forlane from Le tombeau de Couperin, and La valse -- to show how a complex sense of time is expressed by Ravel in different ways. While these three pieces differ greatly in execution, they are similar in impulse: each of the three takes different approaches to intertextual and intratextual problematicization of temporality. In analyzing these three works, the first framework is one of intertextuality -- to what extent does the work connect itself to a specific work, composer, and style, and what structural and aesthetic expectations are brought into play via these connections. Each of the three works treats this question in differing ways -- the "Forlane" of Le tombeau de Couperin explicitly appropriates the music of Couperin, La valse interacts not as much with a specific work or even composer but with the genre of the waltz as a whole, and Valses nobles et sentimentales creates an intentional rift between the waltzes of Ravel and those of Schubert. But while differing in the degree of influence or quotation, each of these draws in expressive and structural prototypes and creates tensions of temporality that are worked through in the context of each piece -- dialects between past and present, conflicts in both structure and meaning. Through entering into dialogical relationships with the works, forms, and genres of the past, these three works gain potentials for expression. / text

Except for a group of three songs, the two piano concertos were the last things Ravel wrote. They have been said to be the culmination of Ravel's style; and, since they were written simultaneously, much attention has been drawn to a comparison of the two, particularly with emphasis on their divergent features. It is the purpose of this paper to show the interesting circumstances under which these concertos came to exist, to acknowledge the differences recognized by authors and critics, and to point out some important ways in which these concertos are similar to each other.

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) skrev pianosviten Gaspard de la nuit 1908 som är baserat på tre dikter av Aloysius Bertrands diktsamling Gaspard de la nuit (1842). I denna uppsats undersöks hur Ondines genomgående melodi är uppdelad och hur ackompanjemanget varierar sig samt satsens struktur i sin helhet. Efter att ha spelat verket i några år, analyserat urtext-noterna med musikteoretiska metoder, läst litteratur samt diskuterat vidare om ämnet har melodin visat sig vara uppdelad i fem delar ackompanjerad med mestadels ett ackompanjemangmönster (vilket har främst fyra variationer som turas om genom satsen) samt inslag av primärt fyra andra i mindre utsträckning och satsen vara en ABA form eller snarare lik en sonatform. Denna analys ger en djupare förståelse kring Ondines musikaliska struktur både i ett macro och mikroskopiskt perspektiv. Däremot får man inte glömma att ta detta med en nypa salt då de teoretiska samt analytiska aspekterna har en tendens att stå i vägen för ett organiskt musikaliskt musicerande. Därför bör man behålla sin tidigare förståelse och kombinera den med en mognare för att uppnå en övertygande interpretation som leder åhörare till den värld som kompositören blåst till liv.

This study examines the history of the French solo, Ravel's influences,and the characteristics and relationships of his own music.

The lecture recital was given April 23, 1973. A discussion of trends and parallels in Impressionist music and painting included information about specific technical devices and innovations related to and common to the arts of music and painting, as seen in the Miroirs of Ravel. Slides of Impressionist paintings were used as illustrations. The five pieces of the Miroirs were then performed by memory.