Maurice Ravel

Joseph-Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937) was a French composer and pianist, known especially for the subtlety, richness, and poignancy of his music and generally considered to be one

Joseph-Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937) was a French composer and pianist, known especially for the subtlety, richness, and poignancy of his music and generally considered to be one of the major composers of the 20th century. His piano, chamber-music, and orchestral works have become staples in the repertoire. Ravel's piano compositions, such Miroirs and Gaspard de la Nuit are virtuosic, and his orchestrations, such as in Daphnis et Chloé and his orchestral arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, are notable for the effective use of tonal color and variety of sound and instrumentation. To the general public he is probably best known for his orchestral work, Boléro, which he considered a trivial work and once described as "a piece for orchestra without music".

Ravel was born in Ciboure, France near Biarritz, part of the French Basque region, bordering on Spain. His mother was Basque while his father was a Swiss inventor and industrialist. After the family moved to Paris, Ravel's younger brother Edouard was born. At seven years old, young Maurice began piano lessons and composed pieces beginning about five or six years later. His parents encouraged his musical pursuits and sent him to the Conservatoire de Paris, first as a preparatory student and eventually as a piano major. During his schooling in Paris, Ravel joined with a number of innovative young composers who referred to themselves as the "Apaches" ("hooligans") because of their wild abandon. The group was well known for its drunken revelry.