Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 10/30/2014, uploaded on 10/30/2014

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Pièce en forme de Habanera (4’)           

Pièce en forme de Habanera was originally composed for bass voice and piano in 1907 and was titled Vocalise étude en forme de Habanera. Ravel took the slow, sultry Spanish habanera dance as his source of inspiration, and like most French composers of his time, Ravel was fascinated by the music of Spain. He used it as the basis of a blindingly difficult, wordless virtuoso exercise for the bass voice. Ravel later transcribed the work for cello and piano which retains all the virtuosity of the original and has allowed for several other arrangements for a multitude of instruments.      Notes by James Leonard

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Pièce en forme de Habanera    Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel’s Pièce en forme de Habanera was actually originally written as a Vocalise-étude in 1907. In its original form, it is a particularly demanding and virtuosic piece with staccato passages, portamenti, trills and sweeping scales. Yet, it brilliantly displays Ravel’s ability to compose for and demonstrate the possibilities of the human voice. It appeared in a collection of vocalises assembled by A. L. Hettich and it may have been for this specific purpose that Ravel composed the piece. Perhaps as a means of making it more accessible, Ravel transcribed the Vocalise for cello and piano. Since then, it has appeared in transcriptions for several other instruments.

The fascination of French composers for Spanish music dates back to Bizet’s Carmen and Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, and was explored even more by Chabrier, Debussy and Ravel. Ravel’s connection to Spanish music, however, was less a fancy and more a matter of heritage. His mother was of Basque descent and grew up in Madrid. She often sang to him folk songs as a child. Interestingly, the habanera which Ravel here chose as the Spanish influence of this piece actually has its origins in France itself. The French contradanza was the basis of the development of the habanera in Cuba during the 19^th century, from whence it traveled back to France via Spain. The distinctive habanera rhythm is present throughout much of the piece in the piano accompaniment, principally in the left hand, and accompanied by variants in the right hand as well as at times in the voice. Against this accompaniment from the piano, the voice weaves its seductive melody, whose character demands that the performer mask its difficulties in ease of execution.      Joseph DuBose

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.