Editing Maurice Ravel (section)

===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>