Editing Maurice Ravel (section)

===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}}