Like Robert Schumann and Claude Debussy before him, Maurice Ravel composed a suite of pieces evoking the wonders of childhood. Uniquely though, Ravel’s suite was not a musical portraiture reminiscent of the scenes of childhood beheld through the lens of experience of adulthood, but instead a representation of the fairy tales every child comes to know and love. Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose) was composed between 1908 and 1910, originally for piano duet, for Mimie and Jean, the children of Cyprian and Ida Godebski. Ravel based each of its five movements on fairy tales by Perrault, d’Aulony, and de Beaumont, which he told to the children. The suite was given its premiere, along with works by Fauré and Debussy, on April 20, 1910 at the inaugural concert of the Société Musicale Indépéndante by two young piano students, Jeanne Leleu and Genevieve Durony, both of whom were less than ten years of age. It was well-received, and realizing its potential, Ravel’s publisher Durand approached the composer about orchestrating the work. The orchestral arrangement was completed the following year, one of Ravel’s most lighthearted and playful creations for orchestra. He returned to the suite yet again when Jacques Rouché approached Ravel about turning the suite into ballet. Ravel agreed, adding two new movements and interludes.
The first movement, Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant (Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty) opens the suite with a solemnity and archaic tone that is suggestive the composer’s earlier Pavane pour une infante défunte. Next follows Petite Poucet (Tom Thumb). With its wandering melody and harmonies the listener follows Tom Thumb’s journey and can hear the birds as the come behind and eat the bread crumbs he has left to mark his path. Third is Laideronnette, Imperatrice des Pagodes ('Little Ugly', Empress of the Pagodas) in which Ravel used the pentatonic scale to create the oriental setting of the fairy tale. It is a rhythmic and energetic piece with a slow, lyrical central episode. Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête (The conversations of Beauty and the Beast) is fourth in the suite, a movement where the listener beholds the two characters presented in the manner of a waltz. Lastly, Le jardin féerique (The fairy garden) concludes the suite with a sense of weight and beauty that echoes the tone of the first movement. The delicate movement builds to a stunningly majestic conclusion with sweeping glissandi over trumpet-like fanfares. Joseph DuBose
Ma Mère l'Oye, Cinq piecès enfantines (Mother Goose) (1910) Maurice Ravel
Ravel's five-movement Mother Goose Suite was premiered in 1910 by two young students at the Paris Conservatory - six-year old Jeanne Leleu and ten-year old Genevieve Durony. The atmosphere of fairy tales and nursery rhymes is strongly felt with the help of the text Ravel included at the beginning of some of the movements:
I. Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty
II. Tom Thumb ... He thought that he would easily find his way back with the help of the bread he had scattered all along as he passed; but, to his surprise, he could not find a single crumb: birds had come to eat them all up.
III. The Plain Little Girl, the Empress of the Pagodas...She undressed and got into the bath. All of a sudden, the miniature porcelain nodding dolls began to sing and play instruments: some had lutes made of walnuts, some viols made from almond shells, because the instruments had to be accommodated to their size.
IV. The Conversation of the Beauty and the Beast ..."When I think of how good-hearted you are, you do not appear so ugly to me."..."Oh, Lady, yes, I do have a good heart, but I am a monster."..."There are quite a lot of people who are more of a monster than you."..."If I were witty enough, I would pay compliments to you, but I am only a beast."..."Beauty, will you marry me?"..."No, my Beast."..."I happily die because I had the pleasure to meet you once more."..."No, my dear Beast, you shall not die: you shall live to become my husband!"...The Beast disappeared, and all she saw in front of her was a prince more beautiful than Love, who thanked her for having put an end to his enchantment.
Classical Music | Music for Duo
Maurice Ravel
Ma Mère l'Oye, cinq pièces enfantines (Mother Goose) Play
Recorded on 03/13/2007, uploaded on 01/26/2009
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Like Robert Schumann and Claude Debussy before him, Maurice Ravel composed a suite of pieces evoking the wonders of childhood. Uniquely though, Ravel’s suite was not a musical portraiture reminiscent of the scenes of childhood beheld through the lens of experience of adulthood, but instead a representation of the fairy tales every child comes to know and love. Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose) was composed between 1908 and 1910, originally for piano duet, for Mimie and Jean, the children of Cyprian and Ida Godebski. Ravel based each of its five movements on fairy tales by Perrault, d’Aulony, and de Beaumont, which he told to the children. The suite was given its premiere, along with works by Fauré and Debussy, on April 20, 1910 at the inaugural concert of the Société Musicale Indépéndante by two young piano students, Jeanne Leleu and Genevieve Durony, both of whom were less than ten years of age. It was well-received, and realizing its potential, Ravel’s publisher Durand approached the composer about orchestrating the work. The orchestral arrangement was completed the following year, one of Ravel’s most lighthearted and playful creations for orchestra. He returned to the suite yet again when Jacques Rouché approached Ravel about turning the suite into ballet. Ravel agreed, adding two new movements and interludes.
The first movement, Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant (Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty) opens the suite with a solemnity and archaic tone that is suggestive the composer’s earlier Pavane pour une infante défunte. Next follows Petite Poucet (Tom Thumb). With its wandering melody and harmonies the listener follows Tom Thumb’s journey and can hear the birds as the come behind and eat the bread crumbs he has left to mark his path. Third is Laideronnette, Imperatrice des Pagodes ('Little Ugly', Empress of the Pagodas) in which Ravel used the pentatonic scale to create the oriental setting of the fairy tale. It is a rhythmic and energetic piece with a slow, lyrical central episode. Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête (The conversations of Beauty and the Beast) is fourth in the suite, a movement where the listener beholds the two characters presented in the manner of a waltz. Lastly, Le jardin féerique (The fairy garden) concludes the suite with a sense of weight and beauty that echoes the tone of the first movement. The delicate movement builds to a stunningly majestic conclusion with sweeping glissandi over trumpet-like fanfares. Joseph DuBose
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Ma Mère l'Oye, Cinq piecès enfantines (Mother Goose) (1910) Maurice Ravel
Ravel's five-movement Mother Goose Suite was premiered in 1910 by two young students at the Paris Conservatory - six-year old Jeanne Leleu and ten-year old Genevieve Durony. The atmosphere of fairy tales and nursery rhymes is strongly felt with the help of the text Ravel included at the beginning of some of the movements:
I. Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty
II. Tom Thumb ... He thought that he would easily find his way back with the help of the bread he had scattered all along as he passed; but, to his surprise, he could not find a single crumb: birds had come to eat them all up.
III. The Plain Little Girl, the Empress of the Pagodas...She undressed and got into the bath. All of a sudden, the miniature porcelain nodding dolls began to sing and play instruments: some had lutes made of walnuts, some viols made from almond shells, because the instruments had to be accommodated to their size.
IV. The Conversation of the Beauty and the Beast ..."When I think of how good-hearted you are, you do not appear so ugly to me."..."Oh, Lady, yes, I do have a good heart, but I am a monster."..."There are quite a lot of people who are more of a monster than you."..."If I were witty enough, I would pay compliments to you, but I am only a beast."..."Beauty, will you marry me?"..."No, my Beast."..."I happily die because I had the pleasure to meet you once more."..."No, my dear Beast, you shall not die: you shall live to become my husband!"...The Beast disappeared, and all she saw in front of her was a prince more beautiful than Love, who thanked her for having put an end to his enchantment.
V. The Enchanted Garden
Michael Cansfield
More music by Maurice Ravel
La Valse
Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Faure
Noctuelles from Miroirs
Daphnis and Chloé, Suite No. 2
Une barque sur l'océan, from Miroirs
Pièce en Forme de Habanera
Alborada del Gracioso, from Miroirs
Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques
Rhapsodie espagnole
Concerto No. 2 in D Major for Piano and Orchestra
Performances by same musician(s)
Variation on an Original Theme in A-Flat Major, Op. 35, D813
Valse, from Six Morceaux, Op. 11
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