A RAVEL ANNIVERSARY fascination with Iberia . After the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla heard it , he wrote : “ How was I to account for the subtly genuine Spanishness of Ravel , knowing , because he had told me so , that the only link he had with my country was to have been born near the border ! The mystery was soon explained : Ravel ’ s was a Spain he had felt in an idealized way through his mother .” The work ’ s four movements convey different flavors of Spain : the mystery of “ Prelude to Night ”; the growing and then dissipating energy of the dance in “ Malagueña ”; a slow , seductive “ Habanera ”; and the concluding “ Festival ,” where pulsating rhythms combine with full-bodied instrumentation to suggest a scene lifted from a luminous canvas by Joaquín Sorolla .
Ravel apparently unveiled his Pavane pour une Infante défunte at the socially stratospheric Paris salon of the Princesse de Polignac in 1899 , although its public premiere would not take place until a few years later . It gained immense popularity , and it is ironic that Ravel became so widely known by a piece that is atypical of his style . Its title is usually rendered in English as “ Pavane for a Dead Princess ,” but it ’ s a poor translation . Ravel pointedly uses the word “ Infante ” rather than “ Princesse ,” and there is no reason not to employ the closer translation of “ Infanta ,” redolent of a rather exotic form of Iberian aristocracy . In fact , the title was selected for the sound of the words rather than their meaning . Roland-Manuel quoted Ravel as insisting , “ When I put together the words which make up this title , my only thought was the pleasure of alliteration .”
As early as 1906 , Ravel was thinking about composing a tribute to Johann Strauss II , but he didn ’ t get much farther than selecting its title : Wien ( Vienna ). Years passed and Europe crumbled under the calamity of World War I . When the War ended , the sociological implications of the waltz had changed . What had formerly signified joie de vivre was tainted by national hubris and international catastrophe . La Valse , finally composed in
1919 – 20 , therefore reveals itself , ever so gradually , to be a danse macabre . Something seems out-of-kilter , and then in the final minutes we are forced to accept that the waltz has run seriously amok — irretrievably so at the conclusion , which is nothing short of violent , terrifying , and bitterly final .
Instrumentation : For Alborada del gracioso , three flutes ( third doubling piccolo ), two oboes and English horn , two clarinets , two bassoons and contrabassoon , four horns , two trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , triangle , crotales , tambourine , xylophone , castanets , snare drum , cymbals , bass drum , two harps , and strings ; for Rapsodie espagnole , two flutes and two piccolos , two oboes and English horn , two clarinets and bass clarinet , three bassoons , sarrusophone ( an obsolete double-reed instrument built of
Violin & Piano / Composer SUN , JAN 12 , 2025 | 4:00PM Smith Theatre HCC brass , replaced here by a contrabassoon ), four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , bass drum , cymbals , triangle , tambourine , castanets , snare drum , tam-tam , xylophone , celesta , two harps , and strings ; for Pavane pour une infante défunte , two flutes , oboe , two clarinets , two bassoons , two horns , harp , and muted strings ; for La Valse , three flutes ( third doubling piccolo ), three oboes ( third doubling English horn ), two clarinets and bass clarinet , two bassoons and contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , triangle , tambourine , snare drum , cymbals , bass drum , castanets , tam-tam , glockenspiel , crotales , two harps , and strings .
JAMES M . KELLER , the longtime Program Annotator of the San Francisco Symphony and for 25 years Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic , is the author of Chamber Music : A Listener ’ s Guide ( Oxford University Press ).
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