La valse
La valse, poème chorégraphique pour orchestre (a choreographic poem for orchestra), is a work written by Maurice Ravel between February 1919 and 1920; it was first performed on 12 December 1920 in Paris.
The work has been described as a tribute to the waltz; the composer George Benjamin, in his analysis of La valse, summarized the ethos of the work: "Whether or not it was intended as a metaphor for the predicament of European civilization in the aftermath of the Great War, its one-movement design plots the birth, decay and destruction of a musical genre: the waltz.
"[4] The idea of La valse began first with the title "Vienne", then Wien (French and German for "Vienna", respectively) as early as 1906, where Ravel intended to orchestrate a piece in tribute to the waltz form and to Johann Strauss II.
[5]Ravel completely reworked his idea of Wien into what became La valse, which was to have been written under commission from Serge Diaghilev as a ballet.
[7][8] Subsequently, it became a popular concert work and when the two men met again during 1925, Ravel refused to shake Diaghilev's hand.
Ravel described La valse with the following preface to the score: Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished.
Set in an imperial court, about 1855.The beginning starts quietly (the mist), with the rumbling of the double basses with the celli and harps subsequently joining.
Ravel has altered each waltz theme piece with unexpected modulations and instrumentation (for example, where flutes would normally play, they are replaced by trumpets).
The work is scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling English horn), 2 clarinets in A, bass clarinet in A, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, tam-tam, crotales, glockenspiel, castanets, 2 harps and strings.
[7] In 2008 Andrey Kasparov produced an improved treatment of La valse for piano four hands, with Ravel's original scoring distributed more effectively between the performers.
[citation needed] Celebrating the 100th birthday of La Valse in 2020 (its première in Paris took place in 1920), Belgian composer Tim Mulleman wrote a transcription for Philippe Graffin and Friends for string nonet (4 vn, 2 va, 2 vc, 1 cb).
