Bolero by Churchill

brief introduction

Bolero was written by French composer maurice ravel in 1928. Bolero is Ravel's last dance work, his best dance work and the masterpiece of French symphony music in the 20th century. This song was written by Ravel on the commission of the famous dancer Ida Rubinstein. The melody of folk dance style is the basis of this work. "Bolero" was originally the name of Spanish dance music, usually with four or three beats, with a slightly faster speed and castanet rhythm. Formally, it consists of a main part, a middle part and a copy part. But this dance music written by Ravel only borrows the title of "Bolero", and it is actually a free dance music.

trait

1, the rhythm is exactly the same from beginning to end, and the rhythm is unchanged;

2. The topic sentence and the answer sentence are repeated nine times in the same way, neither expanding nor changing;

3, the whole song is always in C major, only the last two bars;

4. The first half of the dance music is accompanied by harmony, and the second half is accompanied by weak chords, except for solo.

Dance music only changes gradually from beginning to end.

At the beginning of the dance, the tambourine, viola and cello are strummed to express the rhythm of Bolero (tambourine is the same rhythm from beginning to end). This rhythm lasted for four small festivals, and the first theme appeared from the fifth section, which developed on flute, clarinet and other musical instruments in turn. Music is full of vitality, giving people a clear and quiet feeling. The second theme of music is a bleak answer to the first theme, which was entered after the first theme was repeated twice. This part is also composed of two sections, with several inflections in the middle. The first theme and the second theme are interspersed and repeated, without expansion and variation, but the musical instruments are constantly changing and the intensity of music is gradually strengthened. In the whole song, this repetition was carried out nine times. At the end of the music, the change of tone and the overall performance of the band reached a climax.

plot

A girl is dancing in a small hotel in Spain. At first, she just danced slowly and gracefully. With the gradual enthusiasm of the music, the dance became more and more cheerful and unrestrained, which fascinated everyone present. They began to add fun to the music, couldn't help dancing with the girls, and finally ended up in a carnival atmosphere.

Ravel adopted a very unique technique in this work: the whole song consists of two themes and their constant alternation and repetition on a fixed rhythm background. The rhythm is full of energy and runs through the whole song. The whole song is always in c major, and only the last two bars begin to be tuned; The first half is accompanied by harmony, which is played in unison except solo, and the second half is accompanied by weak chords. And there is only one gradient from beginning to end.

At the beginning of music, tambourine, viola and cello are plucked to express the rhythm of Bolero (tambourine plays the same rhythm from beginning to end). This rhythm lasted for four stanzas, and the first theme began to appear in the fifth stanza. The first theme is bright and has a strong Spanish style. The theme is first played gently by the flute in the bass area. After repeated clarinets, the second theme was played by bassoon. The second theme of music is the bleak answer to the first theme, which is called Spanish-Arabic style by the author.

The two themes are in sharp contrast in mode color, and they are repeated eight times in a row. The melody, rhythm and speed of the whole music remain unchanged in the process. In the third iteration, parallel primary and rotation are added to form parallel voices, as if two or even three tones exist at the same time, resulting in multi-modal color effects. In the constant repetition of the theme, the intensity is from weak to strong, the application of different musical instruments and the constant change of colors make the mood more and more enthusiastic. Towards the end, the melody suddenly turned to E major, and then quickly turned back to C major. In the discordant voice and strong rhythm, the whole song ends in different ways.

It is recognized as one of the most representative orchestral works in France in the 20th century.

Structure and orchestration of Bolero dance music

Flute 1

A 1 clarinet 1

B mark 1

B 1 clarinet 1

A2 lyric oboe 1

A3 flute 1, trumpet 1

B2 alto saxophone 1

B3 treble saxophone 1

A4 piccolo 2, French horn 1, piano

A5 oboe 1, lyric oboe 1, English oboe 1, clarinet 2.

B4 Trombone 1

B5 piccolo 1, flute 2, oboe 1, English pipe 1, clarinet 2, alto saxophone.

A6 piccolo 1, flute 2, oboe 1, clarinet 2, violin I.

A7 piccolo 1, flute 2, oboe 2, clarinet 2, alto saxophone, violin 1, 2 and 4 parts.

B6 piccolo 1, flute 1, oboe 1, English pipe 1, trumpet 1, violin 1 and 2.

B7 piccolo 1, flute 1, oboe 1, clarinet 1, treble saxophone, trombone 1, viola and cello.

A8 piccolo 2, flute 2, oboe 2, clarinet 2, horn 4, trumpet 4, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone and violin I.

B8 piccolo 1, flute 2, trumpet 4, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone and violin I.

About ravel:

all one's life

1On March 7th, 875, the outstanding French composer maurice ravel was born in Boone, a small town near the border of the Pyrenees Valley. My father, a French engineer of Swiss descent, once applied for railway construction in Spain, where he met Mary Draut, a girl from the Basque country of Spain, and they got married. Little Ravel was born only a few months ago, and his family moved to Paris. Three years later, I added my brother Edward. My father loves music and wants to train his two sons to be musicians. As a result, only Morris embarked on this road.

He began to learn piano at the age of seven and made rapid progress. Fourteen-year-old, admitted to the piano preparatory course of Paris Conservatory of Music. Two years later, he was promoted to Beriau piano class and studied harmony with Peisar. In class, I met Ricardo Yiqi Yao, a Spanish student his age. He deeply admired Yiqi Yao's excellent piano playing skills and tried to catch up with them. However, because he is often dominated by lazy emotions, his enthusiasm failed to achieve the expected results. From then on, Yiqi Yao became his lifelong friend, always playing his new works enthusiastically. At this time, Ravel was very enthusiastic about composing music. His first two piano pieces "minuets in ancient style" and the first "Habanella" (1895) have already shown his personality. 1897, he went to Gaidar Japanese School and asked Foley to learn composition.

Shortly after entering the Conservatory of Music, Ravel was influenced by symbolic poetry and loved Baudelaire Malamei's poems and Poe's works. Rimsky Kosakov's wonderful orchestral works and the oriental music played by the Javanese Camerland Band at the international exposition held in Paris from 65438 to 0889 deeply attracted this 14, 15-year-old conservatory student. Later, I came into contact with the color harmony of French composer Chabrill and Eric Saadi's novel and grotesque music thoughts and music creation. In his own works, he also began to explore some new musical languages and expressions, which made him "have a bad reputation" in the conservative conservatory of music. Peisar is a good teacher. He always encourages students' creativity. Foley also fully realized Ravel's extraordinary creative talent. Even these two enlightened teachers think that his musical ideas are too presumptuous and his harmony techniques are too novel.

Ravel always tirelessly participates in the annual competition held by the Conservatory of Music. 190 1 year, he decided to take part in the Rome prize competition. The Rome Prize was established by the French government to reward outstanding talents in the fields of painting, sculpture, printmaking, architecture and music. After passing the exam, the winner of the Rome Prize can go to the Medici Manor in Rome for further study for three years. Since 1803 established the Music Award, Berlioz, Cournot, Bicai, Debussy and other musicians have enjoyed this kind of treatment. But in this year's competition, Ravel only won the second place. Convinced that he could win the grand prize, Mr. Welfare suggested that he try again the next year. Surprisingly, he failed again the next year. When 1903 lost again, Foley was shocked, and it was useless to protest with several other famous musicians who were convinced of Ravel's talent. By 1905, Ravel almost exceeded the age limit for the participants of the Rome Prize and decided to try again. At this time, he has published such works as "minuet in ancient style", "Pafan Dance in memory of the dead princess" and "Playing in the water". During the years when he won the Rome Prize, he composed string quartets and sonatas in F major, and he has become a famous young composer in China and even Europe. However, he missed out on Sun Shan again and was eliminated in the primary election. To this end, progressive musicians all over France expressed their opposition, and newspapers and intellectuals also complained for him. Romain rolland wrote, "I am not a friend of Ravel. I can even say that I personally don't like Ravel's elusive and meticulous art, but justice drives me to say that Ravel is not only a promising student, but also one of the most outstanding young masters of China Music School. ..... Ravel entered the competition not as a student, but as a composer whose identity has been determined. I admire those composers who dare to evaluate him. Who will judge them? " This incident triggered a social storm, forcing Theol Dubois, dean of the Conservatory of Music, to resign and be replaced by Foley.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the artistic life in Paris was very active, and there were many young artists in Montmartre and La Chateau who were dissatisfied with reality. Ravel also made friends with a group of artists who opposed the conservative forces of art and pursued novelty. They call themselves "Troublemakers Association", and its members include composers Floren Schmidt, Maurice Deraze, Andrei Kaplet, Calvo Corisi, Spanish composer De Fa Ya, pianist Ricardo Yiqi Yao and later Stravinsky, as well as some painters, writers and critics. They often have long and serious discussions on art, music, literature and politics in the studio of painter Salder. They play the piano and make noise all night, which makes their neighbors restless. Soon they move to a secluded Deraze's house for a party. Ravel's piano suite Mirror is dedicated to the members of this association. 1908, his Spanish Rhapsody premiered at a concert, and all the troublemakers came out to cheer for it, for fear that the work would not be treated fairly. In fact, Ravel's views are far less intense than those of other members of this association. He is always gentle and gentle, and is called "Baudelaire's dude."

Debussy's opera Pereas and Meiyu Sander was staged in Paris on 1902, which deeply touched Ravel. At this time, the two composers met for the first time. 1903, ravel wrote three songs with orchestral music, and we can see Debussy's influence on him. Some critics think that he is Debussy's faithful successor. Indeed, they accepted the influence of similar literary thoughts and pursued colorful musical effects. But judging from the development after Ravel, their aesthetic views are not consistent. Ravel even protested that his Water Wedding was influenced by Debussy.

His main creative period was after 1905, and he composed the suite Goose, Ghost of the Night, Some Songs and the comedy opera Spanish Time. From 65438 to 0909, the Russian ballet swept through Paris, leaving a deep impression on Ravel. He immediately gave the job to the manager, Dia Gilev, and undertook the task of creating ballet according to the Greek Oracle, Daphne and Chloe. In order to write this exquisite music score, he spent amazing efforts, and wrote it for a year at the last Dionysian banquet alone. The next work "Waltz of Elegance and Sadness" was not well premiered, but at the request of the dancer Trucha Nova, it was made into a ballet "Adelaide or the Language of Flowers" similar to La Traviata, which was a sensation. This success prompted him to adapt the "Mother Goose" suite with the story of sleeping beauty as the theme, and also made it into a ballet.

While writing for Russian ballet, Ravel met Stravinsky. 19 13 In the summer, they lived together in Clarence, Lake Geneva, and they collaborated to re-match Musorgskiy's Hovan Sheena. Stravinsky was writing the Sacrifice of Spring. After watching this soundtrack, Ravel had the same vibration as watching Pereas and Merisander. In Switzerland, I came into contact with Schoenberg's music again. The influence of these modernist music on him is reflected in three poems written by Malamei this year.

The first world war also affected the musician. He joined the army as a truck driver in the army. The war was a terrible experience for him, and he gradually hated the murderous imperialism. He felt that it was meaningless to involve the people of Germany and France in this war, so he refused to sign up for an organization aimed at preventing France from playing German music, regardless of public criticism. 19 17 His mother's death plunged him into severe depression and his health deteriorated sharply. He retired this summer.

The influence of World War I on him remained for a long time after the armistice. He suffers from insomnia, is depressed from time to time and seldom writes. It took two years to complete the tomb of Couperin, which is a memorial to friends who died in the war. In order to change the environment and hate his own spirit, he moved to the countryside and began to compose the ballet music "The Grand Waltz" commissioned by Dia Gilev several years ago. After the work was completed and premiered at the concert, Dia Gilev thought it was not suitable for performance and refused. Ravel was angry. They broke up. At this time, he also spent a lot of time traveling and performing, and almost traveled all over Europe and America to perform his own works. Later, I found a small villa in the picturesque village of Montfermeil, not far from Paris, where I concentrated on composing music and lived a quiet and plain life. He composed the operetta "Ballet Children and Magic", violin sonata, Tzgang violin rhapsody, Bolero and two piano concertos.

He was injured in a car accident. Soon, signs of hemiplegia appeared. I tried to take a vacation and travel to Spain and Morocco, but there was still no obvious improvement. Since then, I have lost my ability to work. 1937 12 19 died in the hospital in the early morning of 28th. At the age of 62.

Ravel's life and creation are at the turn of19th century and 20th century, and between the two world wars. He has his own views on art. He said, "Strictly speaking, I am not a' modern composer' because my music is far from a' revolution', but just an' evolution'. Although I have always been open and receptive to the new trend of music (one of my violin sonatas has bulut movement), I have never tried to give up the accepted rules of harmony composition. On the contrary, I often draw inspiration from some masters widely (I have never stopped studying Mozart), and most of my music is based on the tradition of the past era and is its natural result. I am not the kind of' modern composer' who is good at writing excessive harmony and chaotic counterpoint, because I have never been a slave to any composition style. I have never formed an alliance with any particular music school. "

He attached great importance to the role of melody, and once said to his student, Vaughan Williams, a famous British composer, "In all living music, there is an implicit melody outline". The modes and harmonies he used are novel and unique, such as natural modes, pentatonic scale, undecided seventh chord, ninth chord and so on. But they are always based on traditional harmony and never go too far in the field of atonality. Many of the rhythms he uses are limited by dance music. He prefers the genre of dance music, such as French minuet, Pavan, Rigton, Spanish Malaga, Habanella, Bolero and so on. Ravel handled these dance music elegantly, clearly and elegantly, with the characteristics of French music. Ravel is recognized as a master of orchestra. He created a unique orchestral orchestration method, giving full play to the performance of each instrument and forming an extremely exquisite and gorgeous effect. The structure and texture of his works are clear, and the general style tends to be pure and beautiful in classical music, full of sense of humor. Ravel's most important creative feature is the pursuit of perfection in technology. Despite his superb skills, he still treats every work carefully and repeatedly until he is perfect. He once said to his biographer Manuel, "My goal is technical perfection, because I know this goal will never be achieved, so I ask myself to keep getting closer to it." Because of Ravel's hobby, Stravinsky once jokingly called him "the exquisite Swiss watchmaker".

Ravel is also an excellent teacher, but he only teaches a few private students who are interested in him. Masnai (French composer, 1842- 19 12) often took this sentence as his motto during his own study. When teaching students, he often gives a suggestion to young composers: "Find a blue copy." If you have nothing to say, you'd better copy it. When the body has something to say, you naturally don't copy it. At that time, your personality will be most obvious. "He also wrote several articles with distinctive features, and always fully affirmed the works of contemporary composers; It also actively supports talented young people.

Generally speaking, Ravel's life circle is narrow and the art world has great limitations. Throughout his works, the theme is relatively narrow, and the content of his works rarely comes directly from the social life at that time, but mostly describes and expresses scenery, fairy tales, legends and stories. And music lacks passion for life. This reflects that1at the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 20th century, some intellectuals tried to break away from the psychological state of social reality in the case of increasingly acute contradictions in capitalist society. In the early days, Ravel's music was influenced by Impressionism. However, from the later development, he gradually got rid of the shackles of impressionist aesthetic thought and wrote some works with clear images, bright colors, artistic creativity and enlightenment and influence on later generations. His music is based on French music culture and has many innovations in giving full play to the color characteristics of orchestral music. Therefore, Ravel occupies an important position in the history of French music.

magnum opus

His masterpieces include the opera Daphne and Croix, the ballet The Goose, the violin Tzgang and the orchestra Bolero. In addition, he adapted Musorgskiy's piano solo "Photo Exhibition" into an orchestra suite with the same name, which made it widely circulated.

1. Romany woman matador Bolero 1928 and Spanish ballerina Ida Rubinstein invited Ravel (1875- 1937) to write a dance for her. At first, Ravel didn't want to create new works for this purpose, but promised to arrange several piano pieces by Spanish composer Albeni (1860- 1909) for orchestra. Later, Ravel knew that the orchestration right of Albeni's works belonged to Fernandez Albos (1863- 1939), and he had adapted Albeni's works into an Argentine dance suite, so Ravel had to create a new orchestra.

He has an idea of orchestration in his mind, and he wants to write this work as a band etude. The whole song is a huge "gradual strengthening". Under the background of the endless three-beat rhythm of the snare drum, two melodies of 17 bar played by various musical instruments are repeated constantly. Before playing the conclusion with overwhelming force, the music suddenly slipped into e major (melody major), which caused a unique effect that was completely disproportionate to the simple technique. Ravel's masterpiece is the famous Bolero. Bolero was directed by Neri Kinska and premiered in Paris on1October 22nd, 1928 165438. The scene is in a smoky Spanish hotel. Rubinstein dressed as gypsy woman, with a comb on his head and a scarf, stood on the table and danced. The audience cheered around her. The more and more popular dance aroused the more and more fanatical emotions of onlookers. Finally, they arrested her and held her above her head.

Bolero's performance in Paris attracted the attention of many dancers and choreographers. Irish dancer Doreen (1904-) has always regarded it as her solo program and has been performing for many years. Bolero, performed by Russian dancer Lifar (1905-), is still regarded as a Spanish theme, but it avoids the traditional Spanish dance. Because Ravel's music with fixed melody and rhythm has little in common with the real Bolero. Its stage design and setting are white arcades and blood-red sky. Lifar disguised himself as a bullfighter and just got back from the bullring, teasing a woman who admired him with funny gestures. His enemy appeared in front of him and took the woman away. The matador was so disappointed that he fell to the ground and was seriously injured. The people who celebrated the festival continued their carnival as if nothing had happened. The stage was gradually crowded with people, and the band's final "gradual strength" was accompanied by the death of the matador.

Second, French composer Ravel's children's suite "Mother Goose" turned out to be a piano suite with four hands, which is a veritable children's suite-a children's theme suite, created for children and played by children. Children's themes are adopted-the contents are drawn from French writers Bello (1628- 1703), Madame Hornois (about 1650- 1705) and Madame Beaumont (17/kloc-0). Creation for children-This suite was created by Ravel in 1909 for two children of his good friend Goldberg, and this work is dedicated to them; For children to play-19 10 In April, when this suite was first played at the concert of the Paris Independent Music Association, six-year-old Wedge and ten-year-old Lamy played the piano with four hands. As an authentic children's suite, Mother Goose seems to be composed by only one composer who is not a child. But Ravel told us: "I wrote this suite to arouse the poetry of my childhood, so the technique must be simple and all superficial effects must be abandoned." It can be seen that composers also create with a childlike innocence.

19 1 1 year, ravel adapted mother goose into an orchestra suite, and later added two movements, changed the order of the movements, and connected them with interludes to become ballet music. This ballet was written by Ravel based on Bello's story about Mother Goose and choreographed by Jenny Hugard. It premiered in Paris on June 19 12. This is an interesting children's dance drama. Ravel specially designed a small stage to perform the fairy tale of Princess Luo Lina's dream, which was very delicate and childish. Two black children wearing yellow headscarves acted as curtain raisers and changed the scene. The story is based on the sleeping beauty, and spinning is a dance. The princess is dancing in the garden, and her nanny is sitting beside the spinning wheel. The princess fell on the spinning wheel and the spindle stung her waist. When she was possessed by the sandman and fell asleep on the couch, court officials danced the Simone Pavan dance of Sleeping Beauty in the forest around her. Then came a series of dreams: with the slow little waltz, the dialogue between beauty and beast began, and later the beast became a beautiful prince.

Two black children changed channels to the music of an episode. The next dream is Littlefinger (Shorty) and his little brothers walking through the Woods, scattering bread crumbs all the way as a guide sign to go home. But when the children were asleep, the birds ate all the crumbs on the road ... The following scene is a palace decorated with China antiques in the18th century, with the pagoda queen (ugly girl) and her lover green snake. The jingle and gong of the pentatonic scale are accompanied by dances full of oriental flavor. The prince appeared and found Princess Luo Lina sleeping in the fairy's garden. He kissed her and the princess woke up. When the ballet "Goose" is performed in Britain and the United States, two movements and interludes written by Ravel for ballet dance music are often deleted, which are completely in accordance with the layout of the five movements of the suite "Goose": Simone Pavan Dance-Magic Garden-Little Finger-Sleeping Princess-Beauty and the Beast. It's an adventure in a little girl's dream, and every action takes her as the protagonist.