Maurice Ravel Research Paper

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Maurice Ravel The Romantic Period of Classical music denotes an era where composers instilled a high amount of emotion and intense feeling into their works. This style of composition had never before been heard and marked a shift in the culture of fine arts. This is the world in which Maurice Ravel was born into. The famous French impressionist came to grace the world with his musical mind through a collection of works that conveyed acute passion and love for music as well as the world around him. Thanks to his fervent musical spirit, Ravel is remembered through history as an influential composer during the Romantic Era. Joseph-Maurice Ravel was born in the small town of Cibourne, France on March 7th, 1875. Both of his parents were Catholics, …show more content…

Just a few years earlier Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone, and Thomas Edison shows the world his incandescent bulb. Many inventions are patented during this industrialization period while there is a relatively small amount of fighting and war around the world. Railroads built in the United States divide the country into time zones, and a few years before Orville and Wilbur Wright fly the world's first aircraft, Heinrich Hertz discovers radio waves and declares them “of no use whatsoever” (Fincher). Through the next several decades of musical history, it would become apparent that this observation could not be farther from the …show more content…

Entering with different musical compositions a total of five times, Ravel was continually unable to win the scholarship. This was always a disappointment for Ravel in his life because he, and many others, believed that he could have won. The last time he attempted to win and did not caused so much controversy that there was a complete reorganization of the administrators who voted on the prize at the Paris Conservatory. In the year 1900 Maurice joined a group who called themselves The Apaches. The organization was a gathering of talented young artists and musicians who met to discuss and share their latest works. Ravel remained a member of this group up until World War I when they disbanded. While a member he composed some of his most famous masterpieces and shared his work with contemporaries such as Igor Stravinsky. It was also during this time where he became friends (and later rivals) with the most famous of his peers, Claude

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