Editing Maurice Ravel (section)

==Life and career==

===Early years===
[[File:Ravel-and-parents.jpg|thumb|upright=.5|alt=head-and=shoulder shots of bearded man, youngish woman and small child|Joseph Ravel (1875), Marie Delouart (1870) and Maurice Ravel aged four (1879)]]
Ravel was born in the [[Northern Basque Country|Basque]] town of [[Ciboure]], France, near [[Biarritz]], {{convert|18|km|mi}} from the Spanish border. His father, [[Pierre-Joseph Ravel]], was an educated and successful engineer, inventor and manufacturer, born in [[Versoix]] near the Franco-Swiss border.<ref>Nichols (2011), p. 1</ref>{{refn|Joseph's family is described in some sources as French and in others as Swiss; Versoix is in present-day (2015) Switzerland, but as the historian Philippe Morant observes, the nationality of families from the area changed several times over the generations as borders were moved; Joseph held a French passport,<ref name=n390>Nichols (2011), p. 390</ref> but Ravel preferred to say simply that his paternal ancestors came from the [[Jura Mountains|Jura]].<ref>''Quoted'' in Nichols (2011), p. 3</ref>|group= n}} His mother, Marie, ''née'' Delouart, was [[Basque people|Basque]] but had grown up in Madrid. In 19th-century terms, Joseph had married beneath his status – Marie was illegitimate and barely literate – but the marriage was a happy one.<ref>Nichols (2011), p. 6</ref> Some of Joseph's inventions were successful, including an early [[internal combustion engine]] and a notorious circus machine, the "Whirlwind of Death", an automotive [[loop-the-loop]] that was a major attraction until a fatal accident at [[Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus|Barnum and Bailey's Circus]] in 1903.<ref>James, p. 13</ref>

Both Ravel's parents were [[Roman Catholics]]; Marie was also something of a [[free-thinker]], a trait inherited by her elder son.<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 9</ref> He was baptised in the Ciboure parish church six days after he was born. The family moved to Paris three months later, and there a younger son, Édouard, was born. (He was close to his father, whom he eventually followed into the engineering profession.)<ref name="Orenstein, 1991, p. 8"/> Maurice was particularly devoted to their mother; her Basque-Spanish heritage was a strong influence on his life and music.<ref>Howat, p. 71</ref> Among his earliest memories were folk songs she sang to him.<ref name="Orenstein, 1991, p. 8">Orenstein (1991), p. 8</ref> The household was not rich, but the family was comfortable, and the two boys had happy childhoods.<ref>Orenstein (1995), pp. 91–92</ref>

Ravel senior delighted in taking his sons to factories to see the latest mechanical devices, but he also had a keen interest in music and culture in general.<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 10</ref> In later life, Ravel recalled, "Throughout my childhood I was sensitive to music. My father, much better educated in this art than most amateurs are, knew how to develop my taste and to stimulate my enthusiasm at an early age."<ref>''Quoted'' in Goss, p. 23</ref> There is no record that Ravel received any formal general schooling in his early years; his biographer [[Roger Nichols (musical scholar)|Roger Nichols]] suggests that the boy may have been chiefly educated by his father.<ref name=n9/>

When he was seven, Ravel started piano lessons with [[Henri Ghys]], a friend of [[Emmanuel Chabrier]]; five years later, in 1887, he began studying [[harmony]], [[counterpoint]] and composition with Charles-René, a pupil of [[Léo Delibes]].<ref name=n9>Nichols (2011), p. 9</ref> Without being anything of a child prodigy, he was a highly musical boy.<ref>Goss, p. 23</ref> Charles-René found that Ravel's conception of music was natural to him "and not, as in the case of so many others, the result of effort".<ref>Goss, p. 24</ref> Ravel's earliest known compositions date from this period: variations on a chorale by [[Schumann]], variations on a theme by [[Grieg]] and a single movement of a piano sonata.<ref name=grove>[[Barbara L. Kelly|Kelly, Barbara L]] [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000052145 "Ravel, (Joseph) Maurice"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001 {{Grove Music subscription}}</ref> They survive only in fragmentary form.<ref>Orenstein (1967), p. 475</ref>

In 1888 Ravel met the young pianist [[Ricardo Viñes]], who became not only a lifelong friend, but also one of the foremost interpreters of his works, and an important link between Ravel and Spanish music.<ref>James, p. 15</ref> The two shared an appreciation of [[Wagner]], Russian music, and the writings of [[Edgar Allan Poe|Poe]], [[Baudelaire]] and [[Stéphane Mallarmé|Mallarmé]].<ref name="Orenstein, 1991, p. 16">Orenstein (1991), p. 16</ref> At the [[Exposition Universelle (1889)|Exposition Universelle]] in Paris in 1889, Ravel was much struck by the [[Russian Symphony Concerts|new Russian works]] conducted by [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]].<ref>Orenstein (1991), pp. 11–12; and Nichols (2011), pp. 10–11</ref> This music had a lasting effect on both Ravel and his older contemporary [[Claude Debussy]], as did the exotic sound of the Javanese [[gamelan]], also heard during the Exposition.<ref name=grove/>

[[Émile Decombes]] took over as Ravel's piano teacher in 1889; in the same year Ravel gave his earliest public performance.<ref name=ln9>[[François Lesure|Lesure]] and Nectoux, p. 9</ref> Aged fourteen, he took part in a concert at the [[Salle Érard]] along with other pupils of Decombes, including [[Reynaldo Hahn]] and [[Alfred Cortot]].<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 11</ref>

===Paris Conservatoire===
With the encouragement of his parents, Ravel applied for entry to France's most important musical college, the [[Conservatoire de Paris]]. In November 1889, playing music by [[Chopin]], he passed the examination for admission to the preparatory piano class run by Eugène Anthiome.<ref>Nichols (2011), pp. 11 and 390</ref> Ravel won the first prize in the Conservatoire's piano competition in 1891, but otherwise he did not stand out as a student.<ref name=o92>Orenstein (1995), p. 92</ref> Nevertheless, these years were a time of considerable advance in his development as a composer. The musicologist [[Arbie Orenstein]] writes that for Ravel the 1890s were a period "of immense growth{{nbsp}}... from adolescence to maturity".<ref name="Orenstein, 1991, p. 14">Orenstein (1991), p. 14</ref>

[[File:Classe Bériot 1895.jpg|thumb|left|alt=outdoor group photograph of a small class of students with their professor|Piano class of [[Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot|Charles de Bériot]] in 1895, with Ravel on the left]]
In 1891 Ravel progressed to the classes of [[Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot]], for piano, and [[Émile Pessard]], for harmony.<ref name=ln9/> He made solid, unspectacular progress, with particular encouragement from Bériot but, in the words of the musicologist [[Barbara L. Kelly]], he "was only teachable on his own terms".<ref name=k2/> His later teacher [[Gabriel Fauré]] understood this, but it was not generally acceptable to the conservative faculty of the Conservatoire of the 1890s.<ref name=k2>Kelly (2000), p. 7</ref> Ravel was expelled in 1895, having won no more prizes.{{refn|Students who failed in three consecutive years to win a competitive medal were automatically expelled ("faute de récompense") from their course.<ref name=ln9/><ref>Nichols (2011), p. 14</ref>|group= n}} His earliest works to survive in full are from these student days: ''Sérénade grotesque'', for piano, and "Ballade de la Reine morte d'aimer",{{refn|"Ballad of the queen who died of love"|group= n}} a ''[[mélodie]]'' setting a poem by Roland de Marès (both 1893).<ref name=grove/>

Ravel was never so assiduous a student of the piano as his colleagues such as Viñes and Cortot were.{{refn|When he was a boy his mother had occasionally had to bribe him to do his piano exercises,<ref name=o92/> and throughout his life colleagues commented on his aversion to practice.<ref>Nichols (1987), pp. 73 and 91</ref>|group= n}} It was plain that as a pianist he would never match them, and his overriding ambition was to be a composer.<ref name="o92"/> From this point he concentrated on composition. His works from the period include the songs "Un grand sommeil noir" and "D'Anne jouant de l'espinette" to words by [[Paul Verlaine]] and [[Clément Marot]],<ref name=grove/>{{refn|Respectively, "A great black sleep" and "Anne playing the [[spinet]]".|group= n}} and the piano pieces ''[[Menuet antique]]'' and ''Habanera'' (for four hands), the latter eventually incorporated into the ''[[Rapsodie espagnole]]''.<ref>Jankélévitch, pp. 8 and 20</ref> At around this time, Joseph Ravel introduced his son to [[Erik Satie]], who was earning a living as a café pianist. Ravel was one of the first musicians – Debussy was another – who recognised Satie's originality and talent.<ref>Nichols (1987), p. 183</ref> Satie's constant experiments in musical form were an inspiration to Ravel, who counted them "of inestimable value".<ref>''Quoted'' in Orenstein (1991), p. 17</ref>

[[File:Fauré-by-Eugéne-Pirou.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=portrait of middle-aged man with white hair and moustache|[[Gabriel Fauré]], Ravel's teacher and supporter]]
In 1897 Ravel was readmitted to the Conservatoire, studying composition with Fauré, and taking private lessons in counterpoint with [[André Gedalge]].<ref name=ln9/> Both these teachers, particularly Fauré, regarded him highly and were key influences on his development as a composer.<ref name=grove/> As Ravel's course progressed, Fauré reported "a distinct gain in maturity{{nbsp}}... engaging wealth of imagination".<ref>Nichols (1977), pp. 14–15</ref> Ravel's standing at the Conservatoire was nevertheless undermined by the hostility of the Director, [[Théodore Dubois]], who deplored the young man's musically and politically progressive outlook.<ref>Nichols (2011), p. 35; and Orenstein (1991), p. 26</ref> Consequently, according to a fellow student, [[Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi]], he was "a marked man, against whom all weapons were good".<ref>Nichols (1987), p. 178</ref> He wrote some substantial works while studying with Fauré, including the overture ''[[Shéhérazade (Ravel)|Shéhérazade]]'' and [[Violin Sonata No. 1 (Ravel)|a single movement violin sonata]], but he won no prizes, and therefore was expelled again in 1900. As a former student he was allowed to attend Fauré's classes as a non-participating "auditeur" until finally abandoning the Conservatoire in 1903.<ref>Nichols (1977), p. 15</ref>

In May 1897 Ravel conducted the first performance of the ''Shéhérazade'' overture, which had a mixed reception, with boos mingling with applause from the audience, and unflattering reviews from the critics. One described the piece as "a jolting debut: a clumsy plagiarism of the Russian School" and called Ravel a "mediocrely gifted debutant{{nbsp}}... who will perhaps become something if not someone in about ten years, if he works hard".<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 24</ref>{{refn|This critic was "Willy", [[Henri Gauthier-Villars]], who came to be an admirer of Ravel. Ravel came to share his poor view of the overture, calling it "a clumsy botch-up".<ref>Nichols (1977), p. 12</ref>|group= n}} Another critic, [[Pierre Lalo]], thought that Ravel showed talent, but was too indebted to Debussy and should instead emulate [[Beethoven]].<ref name=n30/> Over the succeeding decades Lalo became Ravel's most implacable critic.<ref name=n30>Nichols (2011), p. 30</ref> In 1899 Ravel composed his first piece to become widely known, though it made little impact initially: ''[[Pavane pour une infante défunte]]'' ("[[Pavane]] for a dead princess").<ref name=bbc>[[Richard Langham Smith|Langham Smith, Richard]]. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/6fdd3b3e-1ea6-4da9-8d6f-8f8de01c133a "Maurice Ravel – Biography"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180211212413/https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/6fdd3b3e-1ea6-4da9-8d6f-8f8de01c133a |date=11 February 2018 }}, BBC, retrieved 4 March 2014</ref> It was originally a solo piano work, commissioned by the [[Princesse de Polignac]].<ref>Larner, pp. 59–60</ref>{{refn|Ravel produced an orchestral version eleven years later.<ref name=ln9/>|group= n}}

From the start of his career, Ravel appeared calmly indifferent to blame or praise. Those who knew him well believed that this was no pose but wholly genuine.<ref>Nichols (1987), pp. 118 and 184</ref> The only opinion of his music that he truly valued was his own, perfectionist and severely self-critical.<ref>Orenstein (1991), pp. 19 and 104</ref> At twenty years of age he was, in the words of the biographer Burnett James, "self-possessed, a little aloof, intellectually biased, given to mild banter".<ref name="James, 1987, p. 22">James, p. 22</ref> He dressed like a [[dandy]] and was meticulous about his appearance and demeanour.<ref>Nichols (1987), pp. 10–14</ref> Orenstein comments that, short in stature,{{refn|Ravel was 160 centimetres (5ft 3in) tall.<ref name=o111>Orenstein (1991), p. 111</ref>|group= n}} light in frame and bony in features, Ravel had the "appearance of a well-dressed jockey", whose large head seemed suitably matched to his formidable intellect.<ref name=o111/> During the late 1890s and into the early years of the next century, Ravel was bearded in the fashion of the day; from his mid-thirties he was clean-shaven.<ref>Nichols, pp. 57 and 106; and Lesure and Nectoux, pp. 15, 16 and 28</ref>

===Les Apaches and Debussy===
Around 1900 Ravel and a number of innovative young artists, poets, critics and musicians joined together in an informal group; they came to be known as [[Les Apaches]] ("The Hooligans"), a name coined by Viñes to represent their status as "artistic outcasts".<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 28</ref> They met regularly until the beginning of the First World War, and members stimulated one another with intellectual argument and performances of their works. The membership of the group was fluid, and at various times included [[Igor Stravinsky]] and [[Manuel de Falla]] as well as their French friends.{{refn|Other members were the composers [[Florent Schmitt]], [[Maurice Delage]] and [[Paul Ladmirault]], the poets [[Léon-Paul Fargue]] and [[Tristan Klingsor]], the painter [[Paul Sordes]] and the critic [[Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi|Michel Calvocoressi]].<ref>Pasler, p. 403; Nichols (1977), p. 20; and Orenstein (1991), p. 28</ref>|group= n}}

Among the enthusiasms of the Apaches was the music of Debussy. Ravel, twelve years his junior, had known Debussy slightly since the 1890s, and their friendship, though never close, continued for more than ten years.<ref name=n101>Nichols (1987), p. 101</ref> In 1902 [[André Messager]] conducted the premiere of Debussy's opera'' [[Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)|Pelléas et Mélisande]]'' at the [[Opéra-Comique]]. It divided musical opinion. Dubois unavailingly forbade Conservatoire students to attend, and the conductor's friend and former teacher [[Camille Saint-Saëns]] was prominent among those who detested the piece.<ref>Orledge, p. 65 (Dubois); and Donnellon, pp. 8–9 (Saint-Saëns)</ref> The Apaches were loud in their support.<ref>McAuliffe, pp. 57–58</ref> The first run of the opera consisted of fourteen performances: Ravel attended all of them.<ref>McAuliffe, p. 58</ref>

[[File:Debussy-Nadar-1905.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=head and shoulder image of bearded man of middle age, seen in right profile|[[Claude Debussy]] in 1905]]
Debussy was widely held to be an [[Impressionism in music|Impressionist]] composer – a label he intensely disliked. Many music lovers began to apply the same term to Ravel, and the works of the two composers were frequently taken as part of a single genre.<ref>James, pp. 30–31</ref> Ravel thought that Debussy was indeed an Impressionist but that he himself was not.<ref name=k16>Kelly (2000), p. 16</ref>{{refn|Ravel later came to the view that "Impressionism" was not a suitable term for any music, and was essentially relevant only to painting.<ref>Orenstein (2003), p. 421</ref>|group= n}} Orenstein comments that Debussy was more spontaneous and casual in his composing while Ravel was more attentive to form and craftsmanship.<ref name="Orenstein, 1991, p. 127">Orenstein (1991), p. 127</ref> Ravel wrote that Debussy's "genius was obviously one of great individuality, creating its own laws, constantly in evolution, expressing itself freely, yet always faithful to French tradition. For Debussy, the musician and the man, I have had profound admiration, but by nature I am different from Debussy{{nbsp}}... I think I have always personally followed a direction opposed to that of [his] [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolism]]."<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 33; and James, p. 20</ref> During the first years of the new century Ravel's new works included the piano piece ''[[Jeux d'eau (Ravel)|Jeux d'eau]]''{{refn|Literally "Games of water", sometimes translated as "Fountains"|group= n}} (1901), the [[String Quartet (Ravel)|String Quartet]] and the orchestral song cycle ''Shéhérazade'' (both 1903).<ref name=landormy431/> Commentators have noted some Debussian touches in some parts of these works. Nichols calls the quartet "at once homage to and exorcism of Debussy's influence".<ref>Nichols (2011), p. 52</ref>

The two composers ceased to be on friendly terms in the middle of the first decade of the 1900s, for musical and possibly personal reasons. Their admirers began to form factions, with adherents of one composer denigrating the other. Disputes arose about the chronology of the composers' works and who influenced whom.<ref name=n101/> Prominent in the anti-Ravel camp was Lalo, who wrote, "Where M. Debussy is all sensitivity, M. Ravel is all insensitivity, borrowing without hesitation not only technique but the sensitivity of other people."<ref name=James46/> The public tension led to personal estrangement.<ref name=James46>James, p. 46</ref> Ravel said, "It's probably better for us, after all, to be on frigid terms for illogical reasons."<ref>Nichols (1987), p. 102</ref> Nichols suggests an additional reason for the rift. In 1904 Debussy left his wife and went to live with the singer [[Emma Bardac]]. Ravel, together with his close friend and confidante [[Misia Edwards]] and the opera star [[Lucienne Bréval]], contributed to a modest regular income for the deserted Lilly Debussy, a fact that Nichols suggests may have rankled with her husband.<ref>Nichols (2011), pp. 58–59</ref>

===Scandal and success===
{{Anchor|Affaire Ravel}}
[[File:Lenepveu-Dubois.jpg|thumb|alt=head shots of two 19th century professors, bearded and balding|[[Charles Lenepveu]] (left) and [[Théodore Dubois]] of the [[Paris Conservatoire]]]]
During the first years of the new century Ravel made five attempts to win France's most prestigious prize for young composers, the [[Prix de Rome]], past winners of which included [[Berlioz]], [[Gounod]], [[Bizet]], [[Massenet]] and Debussy.<ref>[https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40632 "Winners of the Prix de Rome"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, retrieved 27 February 2015 {{subscription}}</ref> In 1900 Ravel was eliminated in the first round; in 1901 he won the second prize for the competition.<ref>Macdonald, p. 332</ref> In 1902 and 1903 he won nothing: according to the musicologist [[Paul Landormy]], the judges suspected Ravel of making fun of them by submitting cantatas so academic as to seem like parodies.<ref name=landormy431>Landormy, p. 431</ref>{{refn|Ravel admitted in 1926 that he had submitted at least one piece deliberately parodying the required conventional form: the cantata ''Myrrha'', which he wrote for the 1901 competition.<ref>Macdonald, p. 332; and Kelly, p. 8</ref>|group = n}} In 1905 Ravel, by now thirty, competed for the last time, inadvertently causing a ''furore''. He was eliminated in the first round, which even critics unsympathetic to his music, including Lalo, denounced as unjustifiable.<ref>Hill, p. 134; and Duchen, pp. 149–150</ref> The press's indignation grew when it emerged that the senior professor at the Conservatoire, [[Charles Lenepveu]], was on the jury, and only his students were selected for the final round;<ref>Nichols (1977), p. 32</ref> his insistence that this was pure coincidence was not well received.<ref>Woldu, pp. 247 and 249</ref> ''L'affaire Ravel'' became a national scandal, leading to the early retirement of Dubois and his replacement by Fauré, appointed by the government to carry out a radical reorganisation of the Conservatoire.<ref>Nectoux, p. 267</ref>

Among those taking a close interest in the controversy was [[Alfred Edwards (journalist)|Alfred Edwards]], owner and editor of ''[[Le Matin (France)|Le Matin]]'', for which Lalo wrote. Edwards was married to Ravel's friend Misia;{{refn|The musicologist David Lamaze has suggested that Ravel felt a long-lasting romantic attraction to Misia, and posits that her name is incorporated in Ravel's music in the recurring pattern of the notes E, B, A – "Mi, Si, La" in French [[solfège]].<ref name=lamaze>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7968024.stm "Hidden clue to composer's passion"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330060907/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7968024.stm |date=30 March 2009 }}, BBC, 27 March 2009</ref>|group= n}} the couple took Ravel on a seven-week Rhine cruise on their yacht in June and July 1905, the first time he had travelled abroad.<ref>Nichols (2011), pp. 66–67</ref>

By the latter part of the 1900s Ravel had established a pattern of writing works for piano and subsequently arranging them for full orchestra.<ref>Goddard, p. 292</ref> He was in general a slow and painstaking worker, and reworking his earlier piano compositions enabled him to increase the number of pieces published and performed.<ref name=rg>Sackville-West and Shawe-Taylor, p. 607</ref> There appears to have been no mercenary motive for this; Ravel was known for his indifference to financial matters.<ref name="Nichols 1987, p. 32">Nichols (1987), p. 32</ref> The pieces that began as piano compositions and were then given orchestral dress were ''Pavane pour une infante défunte'' (orchestrated 1910), ''[[Miroirs#Structure|Une barque sur l'océan]]'' (1906, from the 1905 piano suite ''[[Miroirs]]''), the Habanera section of ''Rapsodie espagnole'' (1907–08), ''[[Ma mère l'Oye]]'' (1908–10, orchestrated 1911), ''[[Valses nobles et sentimentales]]'' (1911, orchestrated 1912), ''[[Miroirs#Structure|Alborada del gracioso]]'' (from ''Miroirs'', orchestrated 1918) and ''[[Le tombeau de Couperin]]'' (1914–17, orchestrated 1919).<ref name=grove/>

[[File:Ralph-Vaughan-Williams-1913.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=drawing of youngish man with full head of hair, clean shaven, looking towards the artist|[[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], one of Ravel's few pupils]]
Ravel was not by inclination a teacher, but he gave lessons to a few young musicians he felt could benefit from them. [[Manuel Rosenthal]] was one, and records that Ravel was a very demanding teacher when he thought his pupil had talent. Like his own teacher, Fauré, he was concerned that his pupils should find their own individual voices and not be excessively influenced by established masters.<ref>Nichols (2011), pp. 26–30; and Pollack, pp. 119–120</ref> He warned Rosenthal that it was impossible to learn from studying Debussy's music: "Only Debussy could have written it and made it sound like only Debussy can sound."<ref>''Quoted'' in Nichols (1987), p. 67</ref> When [[George Gershwin]] asked him for lessons in the 1920s, Ravel, after serious consideration, refused, on the grounds that they "would probably cause him to write bad Ravel and lose his great gift of melody and spontaneity".<ref>Pollack, p. 119</ref>{{refn|This remark was modified by Hollywood writers for the film ''[[Rhapsody in Blue (film)|Rhapsody in Blue]]'' in 1945, in which Ravel (played by Oscar Loraine) tells Gershwin ([[Robert Alda]]) "If you study with me you'll only write second-rate Ravel instead of first-rate Gershwin."<ref>Pollack, p. 728</ref>|group= n}} The best-known composer who studied with Ravel was probably [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], who was his pupil for three months in 1907–08.{{refn|Ravel's other students were principally [[Maurice Delage]] and [[Alexis Roland-Manuel]], whom together with Vaughan Williams and Rosenthal he dubbed his "School of Montfort",<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 112</ref> Others who took some lessons with him included the trombonist [[Leo Arnaud]],<ref>Laplace, Michel. [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-2000465100 "Vauchant(-Arnaud), Léo"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2003 {{subscription}}</ref> the pianist [[Vlado Perlemuter]],<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 93</ref> and the composer [[Germaine Tailleferre]].<ref>Griffiths, Paul, and Anthony Burton. [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-200046510 "Tailleferre, Germaine (Marcelle)"], ''The Oxford Companion to Music'', Oxford University Press, 2011{{subscription}}</ref>|group=n}} Vaughan Williams recalled that Ravel helped him escape from "the heavy contrapuntal Teutonic manner{{nbsp}}... ''Complexe mais pas compliqué'' was his motto."<ref>Vaughan Williams, p. 79</ref>

Vaughan Williams's recollections throw some light on Ravel's private life, about which the latter's reserved and secretive personality has led to much speculation. Vaughan Williams, Rosenthal and [[Marguerite Long]] have all recorded that Ravel frequented brothels;<ref>Nichols (1987), pp. 70 (Vaughan Williams), 36 (Rosenthal) and 32 (Long)</ref> Long attributed this to his self-consciousness about his diminutive stature, and consequent lack of confidence with women.<ref name="Nichols 1987, p. 32"/> By other accounts, none of them first-hand, Ravel was in love with Misia Edwards,<ref name=lamaze/> or wanted to marry the violinist [[Hélène Jourdan-Morhange]].<ref>Nichols (1987), p. 35</ref> Rosenthal records and discounts contemporary speculation that Ravel, a lifelong bachelor, may have been homosexual.<ref>Nichols (1987), pp. 35–36</ref> Such speculation recurred in a 2000 life of Ravel by [[Benjamin Ivry]];<ref>Ivry, p. 4</ref> subsequent studies have concluded that Ravel's sexuality and personal life remain a mystery.<ref>Whitesell, p. 78; and Nichols (2011), p. 350</ref>

Ravel's first concert outside France was in 1909. As the guest of the Vaughan Williamses, he visited London, where he played for the Société des Concerts Français, gaining favourable reviews and enhancing his growing international reputation.<ref>"Société des Concerts Français", ''The Times'', 27 April 1909, p. 8; and Nichols (2011), pp. 108–109</ref>{{refn|Ravel, known for his gourmet tastes, developed an unexpected enthusiasm for English cooking, particularly [[steak and kidney pudding]] with [[stout]].<ref>Nichols (2011), p. 109</ref>|group= n}}

===1910 to First World War===
[[File:Maurice-Ravel-1913.png|thumb|upright|Ravel in 1913]]
The [[Société Nationale de Musique]], founded in 1871 to promote the music of rising French composers, had been dominated since the mid-1880s by a conservative faction led by [[Vincent d'Indy]].<ref>Strasser, p. 251</ref> Ravel, together with several other former pupils of Fauré, set up a new, modernist organisation, the Société Musicale Indépendente, with Fauré as its president.{{refn|Fauré also retained the presidency of the rival Société Nationale, retaining the affection and respect of members of both bodies, including d'Indy.<ref>Jones, p. 133</ref>|group= n}} The new society's inaugural concert took place on 20 April 1910; the seven items on the programme included premieres of Fauré's song cycle ''[[La chanson d'Ève]]'', Debussy's piano suite ''D'un cahier d'esquisses'', [[Zoltán Kodály]]'s ''Six pièces pour piano'' and the original piano duet version of Ravel's ''Ma mère l'Oye''. The performers included Fauré, [[Florent Schmitt]], [[Ernest Bloch]], [[Pierre Monteux]] and, in the Debussy work, Ravel.<ref>"Courrier Musicale", ''[[Le Figaro]]'', 20 April 1910, p. 6</ref> Kelly considers it a sign of Ravel's new influence that the society featured Satie's music in a concert in January 1911.<ref name=grove/>

The first of Ravel's two operas, the one-act comedy ''[[L'heure espagnole]]''{{refn|"The Spanish Hour"|group= n}} was premiered in 1911. The work had been completed in 1907, but the manager of the Opéra-Comique, [[Albert Carré]], repeatedly deferred its presentation. He was concerned that its plot – a [[bedroom farce]] – would be badly received by the ultra-respectable mothers and daughters who were an important part of the Opéra-Comique's audience.<ref>Kilpatrick, pp. 103–104, and 106</ref> The piece was only modestly successful at its first production, and it was not until the 1920s that it became popular.<ref>Kilpatrick, p. 132</ref>

[[File:Fokine-as-daphnis.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=male ballet dancer in ancient Greek costume striking a pose|[[Michel Fokine]] as Daphnis in ''[[Daphnis et Chloé]]'']]
In 1912 Ravel had three ballets premiered. The first, to the orchestrated and expanded version of ''Ma mère l'Oye'', opened at the Théâtre des Arts in January.<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 65</ref> The reviews were excellent: the ''[[Mercure de France]]'' called the score "absolutely ravishing, a masterwork in miniature".<ref>''Quoted'' in Zank, p. 259</ref> The music rapidly entered the concert repertoire; it was played at the [[Queen's Hall]], London, within weeks of the Paris premiere, and was repeated at the [[Proms]] later in the same year. ''[[The Times]]'' praised "the enchantment of the work{{nbsp}}... the effect of mirage, by which something quite real seems to float on nothing".<ref>"Promenade Concerts", ''The Times'', 28 August 1912, p. 7</ref> New York audiences heard the work in the same year.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F01E7D9133CE633A2575AC0A9679D946396D6CF "New York Symphony in New Aeolian Hall"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 9 November 1912 {{subscription}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305194128/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F01E7D9133CE633A2575AC0A9679D946396D6CF |date=5 March 2016 }}</ref> Ravel's second ballet of 1912 was ''Adélaïde ou le langage des fleurs'', danced to the score of ''Valses nobles et sentimentales'', which opened at the [[Théâtre du Châtelet|Châtelet]] in April. ''[[Daphnis et Chloé]]'' opened at the same theatre in June. This was his largest-scale orchestral work, and took him immense trouble and several years to complete.<ref>Morrison, pp. 63–64; and Nichols (2011), p. 141</ref>

''Daphnis et Chloé'' was commissioned in or about 1909 by the impresario [[Sergei Diaghilev]] for his company, the [[Ballets Russes]].{{refn|The year in which the work was commissioned is generally thought to be 1909, although Ravel recalled it as being as early as 1907.<ref>Morrison, pp. 57–58</ref>|group= n}} Ravel began work with Diaghilev's choreographer, [[Michel Fokine]], and designer, [[Léon Bakst]].<ref>Morrison, p. 54</ref> Fokine had a reputation for his modern approach to dance, with individual numbers replaced by continuous music. This appealed to Ravel, and after discussing the action in great detail with Fokine, Ravel began composing the music.<ref>Nichols (1987), pp. 41–43</ref> There were frequent disagreements between the collaborators, and the premiere was under-rehearsed because of the late completion of the work.<ref>Morrison, p. 50</ref> It had an unenthusiastic reception and was quickly withdrawn, although it was revived successfully a year later in Monte Carlo and London.<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 60; and "Return of the Russian Ballet", ''The Times'', 10 June 1914, p. 11</ref> The effort to complete the ballet took its toll on Ravel's health;{{refn|Ravel wrote to a friend, "I have to tell you that the last week has been insane: preparing a ballet libretto for the next Russian season. [I've been] working up to 3 a.m. almost every night. To confuse matters, Fokine does not know a word of French, and I can only curse in Russian. Irrespective of the translators, you can imagine the timbre of these conversations."<ref>''Quoted'' in Morrison, p. 54</ref>|group= n}} [[neurasthenia]] obliged him to rest for several months after the premiere.<ref>James, p. 72</ref>

Ravel composed little during 1913. He collaborated with Stravinsky on a performing version of [[Mussorgsky]]'s unfinished opera ''[[Khovanshchina]]'', and his own works were the ''[[Trois poèmes de Mallarmé]]'' for soprano and chamber ensemble, and two short piano pieces, ''À la manière de Borodine'' and ''À la manière de Chabrier''.<ref name=ln9/> In 1913, together with Debussy, Ravel was among the musicians present at the dress rehearsal of ''[[The Rite of Spring]]''.<ref>Canarina, p. 43</ref> Stravinsky later said that Ravel was the only person who immediately understood the music.<ref>Nichols (1987), p. 113</ref> Ravel predicted that the premiere of the ''Rite'' would be seen as an event of historic importance equal to that of ''Pelléas et Mélisande''.<ref>Nichols (2011), p. 157</ref>{{Refn|The public premiere was the scene of a near-riot, with factions of the audience for and against the work, but the music rapidly entered the repertory in the theatre and the concert hall.<ref>Canarina, pp. 42 and 47</ref>|group= n}}<!---citevar violation At the end of the year Ravel was in England, visiting the novelist [[Arnold Bennett]] in his Essex home; the two had known each other since meeting in 1908, when Bennett was living in France.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Drabble |first=Margaret |title=Arnold Bennett |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=1974 |isbn=0 8600 7724 1 |location=London |pages=200}}</ref>-->

===War===
[[File:Maurice-Ravel-soldier-1916.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=middle aged man in French military uniform wrapped up in fur overcoat|Ravel in the [[French Army]] in 1916]]
When Germany invaded France in 1914 Ravel tried to join the [[French Air Force]]. He considered his small stature and light weight ideal for an aviator, but was rejected because of his age and a minor heart complaint.<ref>Jankélévitch, p. 179</ref> While waiting to be enlisted, Ravel composed ''[[Trois Chansons (Ravel)|Trois Chansons]]'', his only work for [[a cappella]] choir, setting his own texts in the tradition of French 16th-century chansons. He dedicated the three songs to people who might help him to enlist.<ref>Nichols (2011), p. 179</ref> After several unsuccessful attempts to enlist, Ravel finally joined the Thirteenth Artillery Regiment as a lorry driver in March 1915, when he was forty.<ref name=o93>Orenstein (1995), p. 93</ref> Stravinsky expressed admiration for his friend's courage: "at his age and with his name he could have had an easier place, or done nothing".<ref>''Quoted'' in Nichols (1987), p. 113</ref> Some of Ravel's duties put him in mortal danger, driving munitions at night under heavy German bombardment. At the same time his peace of mind was undermined by his mother's failing health. His own health also deteriorated; he suffered from insomnia and digestive problems, underwent a bowel operation following [[amoebic dysentery]] in September 1916, and had frostbite in his feet the following winter.<ref>Larner, p. 158</ref>

During the war the Ligue Nationale pour la Defense de la Musique Française was formed by Saint-Saëns, Dubois, d'Indy and others, campaigning for a ban on the performance of contemporary German music.<ref>Fulcher (2001), pp. 207–208</ref> Ravel declined to join, telling the committee of the league in 1916, "It would be dangerous for French composers to ignore systematically the productions of their foreign colleagues, and thus form themselves into a sort of national coterie: our musical art, which is so rich at the present time, would soon degenerate, becoming isolated in banal formulas."<ref>Orenstein (2003), p. 169</ref> The league responded by banning Ravel's music from its concerts.<ref>Fulcher (2001), p. 208</ref>

Ravel's mother died in January 1917, and he fell into a "horrible despair", compounding the distress he felt at the suffering endured by the people of his country during the war.<ref>Orenstein (2003), p. 180; and Nichols (2011), p. 187</ref> He composed few works in the war years. The [[Piano Trio (Ravel)|Piano Trio]] was almost complete when the conflict began, and the most substantial of his wartime works is ''Le tombeau de Couperin'', composed between 1914 and 1917. The suite celebrates the tradition of [[François Couperin]], the 18th-century French composer; each movement is dedicated to a friend of Ravel's who died in the war.<ref>James, p. 81</ref>

===1920s===
After the war, those close to Ravel recognised that he had lost much of his physical and mental stamina. As the musicologist Stephen Zank puts it, "Ravel's emotional equilibrium, so hard won in the previous decade, had been seriously compromised."<ref name=z11>Zank, p. 11</ref> His output, never large, became smaller.<ref name=z11/> Nonetheless, after the death of Debussy in 1918, he was generally seen, in France and abroad, as the leading French composer of the era.<ref name=o230/> Fauré wrote to him, "I am happier than you can imagine about the solid position which you occupy and which you have acquired so brilliantly and so rapidly. It is a source of joy and pride for your old professor."<ref name=o230>Orenstein (2003), pp. 230–231</ref> Ravel was offered the [[Legion of Honour]] in 1920,{{refn|He never made clear his reason for refusing it. Several theories have been put forward. Rosenthal believed that it was because so many had died in a war in which Ravel had not actually fought.<ref name=f139>Fulcher (2005), p. 139</ref> Another suggestion is that Ravel felt betrayed because despite his wishes his ailing mother had been told that he had joined the [[French Army|army]].<ref name=f139/> Edouard Ravel said that his brother refused the award because it had been announced without the recipient's prior acceptance.<ref name=f139/> Many biographers believe that Ravel's experience during the Prix de Rome scandal convinced him that state institutions were inimical to progressive artists.<ref>Kelly (2000), p. 9; Macdonald, p. 333; and Zank, p. 10</ref>|group= n}} and although he declined the decoration, he was viewed by the new generation of composers typified by Satie's protégés [[Les Six]] as an establishment figure. Satie had turned against him, and commented, "Ravel refuses the Légion d'honneur, but all his music accepts it."<ref>Kelly (2013), p. 56</ref>{{refn|Satie was known for turning against friends. In 1917, using obscene language, he inveighed against Ravel to the teenaged [[Francis Poulenc]].<ref>Poulenc and Audel, p. 175</ref> By 1924 Satie had repudiated Poulenc and another former friend [[Georges Auric]].<ref>Schmidt. p. 136</ref> Poulenc told a friend that he was delighted not to see Satie any more: "I admire him as ever, but breathe a sigh of relief at finally not having to listen to his eternal ramblings on the subject of Ravel{{nbsp}}..."<ref>Kelly (2013), p. 57</ref>|group= n}} Despite this attack, Ravel continued to admire Satie's early music, and always acknowledged the older man's influence on his own development.<ref name=k16/> Ravel took a benign view of Les Six, promoting their music, and defending it against journalistic attacks. He regarded their reaction against his works as natural, and preferable to their copying his style.<ref name="Kelly 2000, p. 25">Kelly (2000), p. 25</ref> Through the Société Musicale Indépendente, he was able to encourage them and composers from other countries. The Société presented concerts of recent works by American composers including [[Aaron Copland]], [[Virgil Thomson]] and [[George Antheil]] and by Vaughan Williams and his English colleagues [[Arnold Bax]] and [[Cyril Scott]].<ref>Orenstein (1991), pp. 82–83</ref>

[[File:Montfort-l'Amaury Maison Ravel.jpg|thumb|left|alt=exterior shot of small 19th-century French country house|Le Belvédère in [[Montfort-l'Amaury]], where Ravel lived from 1921 until his death]]
Orenstein and Zank both comment that, although Ravel's post-war output was small, averaging only one composition a year, it included some of his finest works.<ref>Orenstein (1967), p. 479; and Zank, p. 11</ref> In 1920 he completed ''[[La valse]]'', in response to a commission from Diaghilev. He had worked on it intermittently for some years, planning a concert piece, "a sort of apotheosis of the Viennese waltz, mingled with, in my mind, the impression of a fantastic, fatal whirling".<ref>''Quoted'' in Orenstein (2003), p. 32</ref> It was rejected by Diaghilev, who said, "It's a masterpiece, but it's not a ballet. It's the portrait of a ballet."<ref>Nichols (1987), p. 118</ref> Ravel heard Diaghilev's verdict without protest or argument, left, and had no further dealings with him.<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 78</ref>{{refn|According to some sources, when Diaghilev encountered him in 1925, Ravel refused to shake his hand, and one of the two men challenged the other to a [[duel]]. [[Harold Schonberg]] names Diaghilev as the challenger, and Gerald Larner names Ravel.<ref>Schonberg, p. 468; and Larner, p. 188</ref> No duel took place, and no such incident is mentioned in the biographies by Orenstein or Nichols, though both record that the breach was total and permanent.<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 78; and Nichols (2011), p. 210</ref>|group= n}} Nichols comments that Ravel had the satisfaction of seeing the ballet staged twice by other managements before Diaghilev died.<ref>Nichols (2011), p. 210</ref> A ballet danced to the orchestral version of ''Le tombeau de Couperin'' was given at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in November 1920, and the premiere of ''La valse'' followed in December.<ref name=ln10>Lesure and Nectoux, p. 10</ref> The following year ''Daphnis et Chloé'' and ''L'heure espagnole'' were successfully revived at the Paris Opéra.<ref name=ln10/>

In the post-war era there was a reaction against the large-scale music of composers such as [[Gustav Mahler]] and [[Richard Strauss]].<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 84</ref> Stravinsky, whose ''Rite of Spring'' was written for a huge orchestra, began to work on a much smaller scale. His 1923 ballet score ''[[Les noces]]'' is composed for voices and twenty-one instruments.<ref>[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e4740 "Noces, Les"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316071724/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199579037.001.0001/acref-9780199579037-e-4740 |date=16 March 2021 }}, ''The Oxford Companion to Music'', Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, retrieved 11 March 2015 {{subscription}}.</ref> Ravel did not like the work (his opinion caused a cooling in Stravinsky's friendship with him)<ref>Francis Poulenc, ''quoted'' in Nichols (1987), p. 117</ref> but he was in sympathy with the fashion for "dépouillement" – the "stripping away" of pre-war extravagance to reveal the essentials.<ref name="Kelly 2000, p. 25"/> Many of his works from the 1920s are noticeably sparer in texture than earlier pieces.<ref>Orenstein (1991), pp. 84, 186 and 197</ref> Other influences on him in this period were [[jazz]] and [[atonality]]. Jazz was popular in Parisian cafés, and French composers such as [[Darius Milhaud]] incorporated elements of it in their work.<ref>James, p. 101</ref> Ravel commented that he preferred jazz to [[grand opera]],<ref>Nichols (2011), p. 289</ref> and its influence is heard in his later music.<ref>Perret, p. 347</ref> [[Arnold Schönberg]]'s abandonment of conventional tonality also had echoes in some of Ravel's music such as the ''[[Chansons madécasses]]''{{refn|"Madagascan Songs"|group= n}} (1926), which Ravel doubted he could have written without the example of ''[[Pierrot Lunaire]]''.<ref>Kelly (2000), p. 24</ref> His other major works from the 1920s include the orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky's piano suite ''[[Pictures at an Exhibition]]'' (1922), the opera ''[[L'enfant et les sortilèges]]''{{refn|"The Child and the Spells"|group= n}} to a libretto by [[Colette]] (1926), ''[[Tzigane]]'' (1924) and the [[Violin Sonata No. 2 (Ravel)|Violin Sonata No.2]] (1927).<ref name=ln10/>

Finding city life fatiguing, Ravel moved to the countryside.<ref>Lesure and Nectoux, p. 45</ref> In May 1921 he took up residence at Le Belvédère, a small house on the fringe of [[Montfort-l'Amaury]], {{convert|50|km|mi|abbr=}} west of Paris, in the [[Seine-et-Oise]] [[département]]. Looked after by a devoted housekeeper, Mme Revelot, he lived there for the rest of his life.<ref>Nichols (1987), p. 134; and [https://web.archive.org/web/20101018233221/http://www.ville-montfort-l-amaury.fr/La-maison-musee-de-Maurice-Ravel "La maison-musée de Maurice Ravel"], Ville Montfort-l'Amaury, retrieved 11 March 2015</ref> At Le Belvédère Ravel composed and gardened, when not performing in Paris or abroad. His touring schedule increased considerably in the 1920s, with concerts in Britain, Sweden, Denmark, the US, Canada, Spain, Austria and Italy.<ref name=ln10/>

{{Quote box
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}} After two months of planning, Ravel made a four-month tour of North America in 1928, playing and conducting. His fee was a guaranteed minimum of $10,000 and a constant supply of [[Gauloises]] cigarettes.<ref>Zank, p. 33</ref> He appeared with most of the leading orchestras in Canada and the US and visited twenty-five cities.<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 95</ref> Audiences were enthusiastic and the critics were complimentary.{{refn|In ''[[The New York Times]]'' [[Olin Downes]] wrote, "Mr. Ravel has pursued his way as an artist quietly and very well. He has disdained superficial or meretricious effects. He has been his own most unsparing critic."<ref>Downes, Olin. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A06E3D7133DE73ABC4E52DFB7668383639ED "Music: Ravel in American Debut"], ''The New York Times'', 16 January 1928, p. 25 {{subscription}}</ref>|group= n}} At an all-Ravel programme conducted by [[Serge Koussevitzky]] in New York, the entire audience stood up and applauded as the composer took his seat. Ravel was touched by this spontaneous gesture and observed, "You know, this doesn't happen to me in Paris."<ref name=o10>Orenstein (2003), p. 10</ref> Orenstein, commenting that this tour marked the zenith of Ravel's international reputation, lists its non-musical highlights as a visit to Poe's house in New York, and excursions to [[Niagara Falls]] and the [[Grand Canyon]].<ref name=o10/> Ravel was unmoved by his new international celebrity. He commented that the critics' recent enthusiasm was of no more importance than their earlier judgment, when they called him "the most perfect example of insensitivity and lack of emotion".<ref name="Orenstein 1991, p. 104">Orenstein (1991), p. 104</ref>

The last composition Ravel completed in the 1920s, ''Boléro'', became his most famous. He was commissioned to provide a score for [[Ida Rubinstein]]'s ballet company, and having been unable to secure the rights to orchestrate [[Albéniz]]'s ''[[Iberia (Albéniz)|Iberia]]'', he decided on "an experiment in a very special and limited direction{{nbsp}}... a piece lasting seventeen minutes and consisting wholly of orchestral tissue without music".<ref name=o477/> Ravel continued that the work was "one long, very gradual crescendo. There are no contrasts, and there is practically no invention except the plan and the manner of the execution. The themes are altogether impersonal."<ref name=o477>''Quoted'' in Orenstein (2003), p. 477</ref> He was astonished, and not wholly pleased, that it became a mass success. When one elderly member of the audience at the Opéra shouted "Rubbish!" at the premiere, he remarked, "That old lady got the message!"<ref>Nichols (1987), pp. 47–48</ref> The work was popularised by the conductor [[Arturo Toscanini]],<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 99; and Nichols (2011), pp. 300–301</ref> and has been recorded several hundred times.{{refn|In 2015 [[WorldCat]] listed more than 3,500 new or reissued recordings of the piece.<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_all&q=Ravel+Bolero#x0%253Amusic-%2C%2528x0%253Amusic%2Bx4%253Acd%2529%2C%2528x0%253Amusic%2Bx4%253Alp%2529format "Ravel Bolero"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926031252/http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_all&q=Ravel+Bolero#x0%253Amusic-%2C%2528x0%253Amusic%2Bx4%253Acd%2529%2C%2528x0%253Amusic%2Bx4%253Alp%2529format |date=26 September 2017 }}, WorldCat, retrieved 21 April 2015</ref>|group= n}} Ravel commented to [[Arthur Honegger]], one of Les Six, "I've written only one masterpiece – ''Boléro''. Unfortunately there's no music in it."<ref>Nichols (2011), p. 301</ref>

===Last years===
At the beginning of the 1930s Ravel was working on two piano concertos. He completed the [[Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (Ravel)|Piano Concerto in D major for the Left Hand]] first. It was commissioned by the Austrian pianist [[Paul Wittgenstein]], who had lost his right arm during the First World War. Ravel was stimulated by the technical challenges of the project: "In a work of this kind, it is essential to give the impression of a texture no thinner than that of a part written for both hands."<ref>James, p. 126</ref> Ravel, not proficient enough to perform the work with only his left hand, demonstrated it with both hands.{{refn|It was a matter for affectionate debate among Ravel's friends and colleagues whether he was worse at conducting or playing.<ref>Nichols (1987), p. 92</ref>|group= n}} Wittgenstein was initially disappointed by the piece, but after long study he became fascinated by it and ranked it as a great work.<ref>Orenstein (1991), p 101</ref> In January 1932 he premiered it in Vienna to instant acclaim, and performed it in Paris with Ravel conducting the following year.<ref>Nichols and Mawer, p. 256</ref> The critic Henry Prunières wrote, "From the opening measures, we are plunged into a world in which Ravel has but rarely introduced us."<ref name="Orenstein 1991, p. 104"/>

The [[Piano Concerto in G (Ravel)|Piano Concerto in G major]] was completed a year later. After the premiere in January 1932 there was high praise for the soloist, Marguerite Long, and for Ravel's score, though not for his conducting.<ref>Nichols and Mawer, p. 266</ref> Long, the dedicatee, played the concerto in more than twenty European cities, with the composer conducting;<ref>Zank, p. 20</ref> they planned to record it together, but at the sessions Ravel confined himself to supervising proceedings and [[Pedro de Freitas Branco]] conducted.<ref>Orenstein (2003), pp. 535–536</ref>

{{Quote box|width=33%|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=left|quoted=y | quote= His final years were cruel, for he was gradually losing his memory and some of his coordinating powers, and he was, of course, quite aware of it.|salign = right|source=Igor Stravinsky<ref>''Quoted'' in Nichols (1987), p. 173</ref>}}
In October 1932 Ravel suffered a blow to the head in a taxi accident. The injury was not thought serious at the time, but in a study for the ''[[British Medical Journal]]'' in 1988 the neurologist R. A. Henson concludes that it may have exacerbated an existing cerebral condition.<ref name=h1586/> As early as 1927 close friends had been concerned at Ravel's growing absent-mindedness, and within a year of the accident he started to experience symptoms suggesting [[aphasia]].<ref>Orenstein (1991), p. 105</ref> Before the accident he had begun work on music for a film, ''[[Don Quixote (1933 film)|Don Quixote]]'' (1933), but he was unable to meet the production schedule, and [[Jacques Ibert]] wrote most of the score.<ref>Nichols (2011), p. 330</ref> Ravel completed three songs for [[baritone]] and orchestra intended for the film; they were published as ''Don Quichotte à Dulcinée''. The manuscript orchestral score is in Ravel's hand, but [[Lucien Garban]] and Manuel Rosenthal helped in transcription. Ravel composed no more after this.<ref name=h1586>Henson, p. 1586</ref> The exact nature of his illness is unknown. Experts have ruled out the possibility of a [[tumour]], and have variously suggested [[frontotemporal dementia]], [[Alzheimer's disease]] and [[Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease]].<ref>Henson, pp. 1586–1588</ref>{{refn|In 2008 ''The New York Times'' published an article suggesting that the early effects of frontotemporal dementia in 1928 might account for the repetitive nature of ''Boléro''.<ref>Blakeslee, Sandra. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/health/08brai.html "A Disease That Allowed Torrents of Creativity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122215259/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/health/08brai.html |date=22 January 2017 }}, ''The New York Times'', 8 April 2008</ref> This followed a 2002 article in ''[[European Journal of Neurology|The European Journal of Neurology]]'', examining Ravel's clinical history and arguing that ''Boléro'' and the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand both suggest the impacts of neurological disease.<ref>Amaducci et al, p. 75</ref>|group= n}} Though no longer able to write music or perform, Ravel remained physically and socially active until his last months. Henson notes that Ravel preserved most or all his auditory imagery and could still hear music in his head.<ref name=h1586/>

In 1937 Ravel began to suffer pain from his condition, and was examined by [[Clovis Vincent]], a well-known Paris neurosurgeon. Vincent advised surgical treatment. He thought a tumour unlikely, and expected to find [[ventriculomegaly]] from [[hydrocephalus]] that surgery might prevent from progressing. Ravel's brother Edouard accepted this advice; as Henson comments, the patient was in no state to express a considered view. After the operation there seemed to be an improvement in his condition, but it was short-lived, and he soon lapsed into a coma. He died on 28 December, at the age of 62.<ref>Henson, p. 1588</ref>
[[Image:Ravel's grave.jpg|thumb|right|Ravel's grave]]
On 30 December 1937 Ravel was interred next to his parents in a granite tomb at [[Levallois-Perret Cemetery|Levallois-Perret cemetery]], in north-west Paris. He was an atheist and there was no religious ceremony.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.maurice-ravel.net/religion.htm |title=Ravel and religion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105034959/http://www.maurice-ravel.net/religion.htm |archive-date=5 January 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>