Maurice Ravel, the French composer, best known for Ravel’s Bolero and Daphnis and Chloe, who wrote opera, ballet and orchestral works, was born 150 years ago.
He was born 7 March 1875 10pm Ciboure, France, with an engineer and inventor father and an illiterate/illegitimate, free-thinker of a mother to whom he was close. His interest in music started when he was young and after music college, his experimental approach incorporating modern elements did not meet with approval by the conservative establishment. But he appeared unbothered by criticism and by the 1920s was regarded as France’s leading composer.
The First World War and his mother’s death in 1917 appeared to diminish his energy and motivation and a minor car accident in the early 1930s led to an early Alzheimer-like condition and he died in 1937 after a brain operation.
He had a 5th house New Moon in Pisces which was delightfully apt for a musical creator and performer with a trailblazing, rebellious Uranus conjunct his midheaven. Around 1900 he joined with other innovative young artists, poets, critics and musicians in an informal group, known as Les Apaches (“The Hooligans”), to represent their status as “artistic outcasts”. Which seems singularly descriptive for Uranus Midheaven.
His Jupiter in Scorpio was conjunct his Ascendant from the 12th giving him an enthusiastic image.
He never married and appeared not to have had any close relationships in his adult life. A New Moon would make him self-sufficient; and Saturn in his 4th square Pluto in his 7th may also have injected a sense of bleakness where home comforts and close relationships were concerned. Plus he had an independent-minded Aries North Node.
When his mother died in 1917 which hit him badly tr Uranus was moving through his 4th conjunct his Saturn. The taxi accident which caused his decline latterly in 1932, though he appeared to have been suffering from aphasia even before that, occurred when tr Uranus was moving through his 6th house approaching his 6th house Neptune; and his Solar Arc Saturn was conjunct his 6th house North Node then as well.
I recall watching Torvil and Dean’s famous gold-winning skate to Bolero at the 1984 Olympics. So perfectly in sync with the music, their performance was mesmerizing and exhilarating. The date was February 14, 1984, featuring a special accent on Ravel’s individuality and cultural influence, with transiting Uranus conjunct his natal Mars in Sagittarius.
So, Virgoflake, or anyone else, what planetary positions do you associate with Impressionism in music?
Ravel is one of my favorite composers. He is born on March 7th and I am born on March 4th. I love his work, his piano pieces are so brilliant. The beautiful Ma mere l’Oye suite, simply stunning!
Bolero might be soothing for the listener but it’s anything but for the player, since every line looks the same and it’s a question of “Help, which line are we on now?”!
Strongly object to the French composers being regarded as not in the same league as the Germans. Have you listened to Bizet’s symphony, written when he was 17, or Ravel’s Pavane for a dead infanta, or … or … They are much more inventive (Mozart not included in this since he was Austrian) and above all, lighter. So were the Russians, who were magnificent.
(Sorry this isn’t remotely astrological.)
No, it’s not. But as a musician, I completely agree with you. 😉
When I was a teenager, Bolero was made into this cartoon music film about the Russian revolution. Peasants were marching eventually toward the sickle and hammer on a statue of Lenin, if I recall correctly, all along the scene was changing and rolling behind them and factory workers and others started joining in. While I like Bolero, it always hurts my head, and I associate it with the Pied piper of Hameln as I hear each instrument like a new voice joining in same idea and marching to their doom.
It strikes me Bolero matches his parents the Aquarius Saturn, the theme, with the freewheeling Pisces Moon joining in turning it into a game. At the end, a frenzy and collapse.
See, I forgot that it was the alto saxophone, because I had this (obviously faulty) memory that it was a kind of tuba or a similar brass, but whenever I remember Ravel, I recall that a famous example of the use of alto saxophone in classical orchestral music is Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and in it the movement The Old Castle. Just thought that might be an interesting piece of trivia.
My first introduction to Mussorgsky’s magnificent ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ was from my older brother who owned an album of Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s 1970s recording of it! Ravel’s orchestration is wonderful and I love the sax.
Thank you, Marjorie for this article. I love this composer. Ravel wrote ‘Bolero’ while in the early stages of the form of dementia which was to eventually lead to his early death at 62. The repetition in the score is interesting in that respect. I notice too that he has a 4th house retrograde Mercury in Pisces. As someone with a retrograde Mercury in Scorpio conjunct Neptune who has some neurodivergence in my family on both sides, I wondered if this was likewise in Ravel’s line. It’s also worth looking at his 6th house North Node’s close conjunction with Chiron. I tend to think of Chiron as having a connection with the 6th house of health anyway, because from my own experience with this placement in Pisces where the physical body can be experienced as a cage, an imprisonment. The head injury which he received in the 1930s taxi accident accelerated an already underlying brain condition which badly affected his ability to work.
In general, listening to classical music is for me a powerful remedy for bouts of anxiety and ocd. I believe that a lot of research has gone into this. But I must be one of the few people who find ‘Bolero’ in particular a very soothing experience – it’s the repeating rounds, gathering momentum with each circuit and the gradual build up to an intense crescendo which is very emotionally satisfying to the soul.
Just wanted to add – Roy Orbison, another musical ‘outsider’ based his song, ‘Running Scared’ on Bolero, also to a lesser extent both ‘Crying’ and ‘In Dreams’ contain elements of the score by Ravel. Orbison was obviously infuenced by Ravel and the structure of operatic arias. His songs don’t always have a chorus, rather they build up to a crescendo. I’m also an Orbison fan.
Thank you, Marjorie, for the article and VG for your observations. I was diagnosed with ADHD at 70 (!), which finally explained my lifelong struggles. I’ve always loved Ravel. I too find Bolero so satisfying and classical music soothing and inspiring. Your comments helped me understand that attraction as well.
Thank you for this. I love French classical composers although they are not in the same league as the big German-speaking three: Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. They rank up there after them, according to only me, and after the Russians.
It is said that in Paris the night of the premiere of the Bolero, Ravel’s most famous work, a female member of the glittering audience ran out shouting: « Au fou! Au fou! » He’s mad, he’s mad.
Ravel was said to have remarked: « She’s the only one who understood. »