I've read a bit about this house. It originally consisted of four big rooms, which Ravel subdivided into 12 tiny ones and that narrow corridor. After touring the place with its idiosyncratic decor and bric a brac, one of Ravel's biographers wrote that it was "the home of a man who had no intention of sharing his life with anyone".
Thanks for this. Visiting was a memorable day back in the early 2000's. The wonderful lady who gave tours of the house was kind to myself and my mother, giving us a lift to the station later.
The name of the pianist who commissioned the Left Hand Concerto was Paul Wittgenstein, not Wittingstein, as the narrator says. The recording by Wittgenstein unfortunately demonstrates that the piece was technically beyond him- it is an astounding embarrassment of missed notes, fudged runs and even bits of improvisation to cover up passages that are particularly hard. It's amazing that anyone considered the recording worthy of release. It's on youtube.
The 1937 with Walter is a mess, but he recorded on film the opening cadenza and, in 1959, he recorded again the concerto. And it was much better that in the 1937 performance....
Your so kind! I think that most interested people know the correct spelling of the man’s name. His performance speaks for itself. I wonder how you’d play it if you lost an arm in the war!
When you listen to the mother goose suite, or the Pavane pour une infante défunte, it is not the impression one gets. Rather i feel his soul was open to a very wide range maybe from solitude and keep in mind the horrors of WW1 which was a butchery with the first machine guns when soldiers were still fighting a footsolider saber war and getting teared to pieces by bullets. Ravel lost many friends of his generation and more mutilated. This certainly would have given a different perspective on life than say the opulent and luxurious days of the later 19th century. Yes humans are capable of good but of greater evil yet.
It is indeed sad that he could not share his life and home with another gay man, with the physical erotic times that would have been so sweet and comforting.
Maurice Ravel n'était pas homosexuel, il a même fait une proposition de mariage à Hélène Jourdan-Morhange. Ceci dit, de temps à autre il fréquentait les femmes de petite vertu...
Suppose Ravel had been a woman, one who had designed her house in such a way as to announce "here is a person who has no intention of sharing her life with another person, ever" [paraphrase from one of the other comments on this video, based in turn on a biography of Ravel]. Now here comes a fully bearded beer-drinking pot-bellied sloth in dirty jeans. In short, a "real man" (who of course never brushes his teeth), one who wishes to "share his life with her" since she would have found their heterosexual union "so sweet and comforting ." Do you begin to have the first faint shadow of an inkling of how profoundly cringe and nauseating that scenario would be? The point being: How is your proposal any different? Given the hours that would have been stolen away by the proposed companion from his time composing, which of his masterpieces would you sacrifice on the altar of your pansy-privilege pomposity? Miroirs? La Valse? Jeux d'eau? The String Quartet? The Pavane? Tzigane?
I've read a bit about this house. It originally consisted of four big rooms, which Ravel subdivided into 12 tiny ones and that narrow corridor. After touring the place with its idiosyncratic decor and bric a brac, one of Ravel's biographers wrote that it was "the home of a man who had no intention of sharing his life with anyone".
Ce biographe était-il Marcel Marnat ?
@@zecisalpin Benjamin Ivry, "Maurice Ravel: A Life" (2000).
One of the most beautiful homes and gardens I’ve ever seen. Thank you.
I visited it and agree with you
Nice documentary, and what a beatiful house: it's comforting to think that he could spend the last, sad years of his life in such a wonderful place.
Thanks for this. Visiting was a memorable day back in the early 2000's. The wonderful lady who gave tours of the house was kind to myself and my mother, giving us a lift to the station later.
Beautiful, inspiring documentary.
I love this place
Such an exquisite documentary. I wish that I could have met him,. (Perhaps sometime.)
Me to :)
This small house is decorated inside with great taste of a musician and composer. ❤
The name of the pianist who commissioned the Left Hand Concerto was Paul Wittgenstein, not Wittingstein, as the narrator says. The recording by Wittgenstein unfortunately demonstrates that the piece was technically beyond him- it is an astounding embarrassment of missed notes, fudged runs and even bits of improvisation to cover up passages that are particularly hard. It's amazing that anyone considered the recording worthy of release. It's on youtube.
The 1937 with Walter is a mess, but he recorded on film the opening cadenza and, in 1959, he recorded again the concerto. And it was much better that in the 1937 performance....
(Noyt+j=+pond waets
Your so kind! I think that most interested people know the correct spelling of the man’s name. His performance speaks for itself. I wonder how you’d play it if you lost an arm in the war!
SPLENDID
So much respect this Genus
7:10 non pas les "Enfants" mais les "Chansons madécasses"
Which version of Bolero, though? I liked it a lot. ☺️
How to go?
I have always felt this composers work to reveal an understated and controlled evil.
When you listen to the mother goose suite, or the Pavane pour une infante défunte, it is not the impression one gets. Rather i feel his soul was open to a very wide range maybe from solitude and keep in mind the horrors of WW1 which was a butchery with the first machine guns when soldiers were still fighting a footsolider saber war and getting teared to pieces by bullets. Ravel lost many friends of his generation and more mutilated. This certainly would have given a different perspective on life than say the opulent and luxurious days of the later 19th century. Yes humans are capable of good but of greater evil yet.
It is indeed sad that he could not share his life and home with another gay man, with the physical erotic times that would have been so sweet and comforting.
Maurice Ravel n'était pas homosexuel, il a même fait une proposition de mariage à Hélène Jourdan-Morhange.
Ceci dit, de temps à autre il fréquentait les femmes de petite vertu...
He often hired prostitutes, he wasnt gay.
Suppose Ravel had been a woman, one who had designed her house in such a way as to announce "here is a person who has no intention of sharing her life with another person, ever" [paraphrase from one of the other comments on this video, based in turn on a biography of Ravel]. Now here comes a fully bearded beer-drinking pot-bellied sloth in dirty jeans. In short, a "real man" (who of course never brushes his teeth), one who wishes to "share his life with her" since she would have found their heterosexual union "so sweet and comforting ."
Do you begin to have the first faint shadow of an inkling of how profoundly cringe and nauseating that scenario would be? The point being: How is your proposal any different? Given the hours that would have been stolen away by the proposed companion from his time composing, which of his masterpieces would you sacrifice on the altar of your pansy-privilege pomposity? Miroirs? La Valse? Jeux d'eau? The String Quartet? The Pavane? Tzigane?