La Valse
Twentieth-century
In February 1906, Maurice Ravel wrote to his friend Jean Marnold: "What I am embarking on now is not refined: a grand waltz, a sort of tribute to the memory of the great Strauss, not Richard, the other one, Johann. You are well aware of my deep affection for these delightful rhythms and how much I value the joy of life expressed through dance." In this letter, he announced his next project: a ballet inspired by the quintessentially Viennese dance, the waltz. However, the result only partially convinced his impresario, who found the score unsuitable for dancing. Emotions flared between the two men, who even challenged each other to a duel!
In La Valse, Ravel transforms each motif with unexpected modulations and orchestrations, leading to the internal dissolution of the waltz genre itself. And as the main theme begins to resonate irrepressibly, Ravel seems to plunge the entire orchestra into an unexpected macabre dance...This is what musicologist Vladimir Jankélévitch had to say about it: "The author of La Valse is no longer an amateur in search of 'useless occupations'... and the score is no longer a succession of dances, but a single great tragic waltz, both noble and filled with emotions!"
Browse recordings of La Valse
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