On March 7, 2025 we are marking the 150^th birth anniversary of French composer and conductor Joseph Maurice Ravel, a major reformer of classical music and one of the most notable representatives of French Impressionism.

Creative legacy of Maurice Ravel is not large. The first of his surviving works dates from 1888, the last from 1933, the year his illness began. His inspiration was probably as selective as he was demanding of himself. Each piece was carefully considered and detailed to perfection – this perfectionism explains the moderate list of works. Maurice Ravel is characterised by a refinement of expression and the absence of ‘superfluous words’. The novelty of Ravel's works lies in the fact that he never chased after it: while inventing new things, he did not deny the old ones. Ravel was a truly versatile personality; he drew inspiration from various, sometimes opposite phenomena and things. His interest in new art – the music of Erik Satie, Claude Debussy and Rimsky-Korsakov, the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine, the paintings of Édouard Monet and Van Gogh – was intricately mixed with his attraction to the strict rationalism of the 18^th century and the poetry of the Renaissance.

“Bolero” by Maurice Ravel – a work for an orchestra that was originally conceived as music for a ballet production inspired by the Spanish bolero dance. On November 22, 1928, the first performance of the famous Bolero by Maurice Ravel took place at the Paris Grand Opera House.
The reason for its creation was the desire of the famous dancer Ida Rubinstein to have a Spanish-style ballet dance for her Parisian private theatrical enterprise. The premiere was a phenomenal success. Bronislava Nijinska, the famous dancer's sister, acted as choreographer, and Alexander Benois was the author of the scenography. Ravel wrote the music for Ida Rubinstein's enterprise exactly according to the measure of her personality: outwardly arrogant and cold, but inwardly passionate, extremely glamorous and mysterious. She was taciturn, wore extravagant hats, used theatrical make-up as maquillage, and kept a black panther at home instead of a cat. According to Ravel's conception, the ballet was to take place in the open air, in front of a factory building, with labourers gradually emerging from the doors. Nearby, a space was delineated where a bullfight was depicted. This was followed by a scene of a torero's rendezvous with the lady of his heart, and ended with a jealous man stabbing his girlfriend's lover with a dagger. The plot was to echo Georges Bizet's famous opera “Carmen”. Ida Rubinstein was not inspired by this concept, and the action was transferred to a tavern. In the middle of the room, on a large table, a dancer begins her dance. Gradually she attracts the attention of all the local revellers, gathers them around the table, and triumphantly concludes her performance.

It is believed that the composer used two themes in the work, which alternate in pairs. The dynamics is created by changing orchestral timbres and the gradual addition of instruments – each of them complicating the melody. The result is a hypnotic effect that ends at the highest point of development. With this technique, the composer leaves the listener with a feeling of incompleteness, even though the work has reached its logical end. Researchers note that after the premiere, the whole of Paris was humming the melody of ‘Bolero’. From a professional point of view, this effect was achieved precisely because of the constant repetition of the melodic line.

Throughout the 20^th century, the ballet was staged many times – both in the version of Bronislava Nijinska, as well as in the versions of the Russian-American choreographer Mikhail Fokine and the Russian-French choreographer Serge Lifar. At various times the work was staged by Maurice Béjart, Alexei Ratmansky, Nina Youshkevitch, Valentin Elizariev and many others. “Bolero” is unique in being one of the few ballets with both male and female versions.

“Bolero” by Ravel is deservedly in a place of honour among the true masterpieces of classical music. It is performed in the world's best theatres, used in films and advertisements. It is safe to say that the rhythm of Bolero is the rhythm of the eternal engine of time.

‘Bolero’ quickly entered the repertoire of the world's greatest conductors as an extended orchestral piece. The composer insisted on performing this work at a constant tempo without acceleration or deceleration. According to the recollections of Roland-Manuel, his student and researcher of his work, Ravel conducted “Bolero” with dry gestures, in a moderate, almost slow and strictly controlled tempo.

In 1930, the “Bolero” was played by A. Toscanini, who had a disagreement with Ravel over the strictness of the composer's tempo instructions. The work was first performed in the USSR in 1930 under the baton of Vladimir Shawitz, a Russian-American conductor and pianist.