Ravel chooses an eclectic mix of instruments to play the melody including: flute, clarinet, bassoon, tenor saxophone, trumpet, horn, celesta and more. The melodies are repeated a total of eight times, with the ninth time foreshadowing a development into E major, which doesn’t get very far until returning back to C major. Instead, the music keeps interest by Ravel’s constant reorchestration of the melody which leads to a wide-variety of timbres, textures and dynamics. Unlike many other works Boléro does not develop through the melody or tonality. Tension is built during the steady percussive rhythm, the long and expressive melody and the plodding bassline. The simple bassline is played by pizzicato strings, mainly using tonic and dominant notes. The first melody is encased within one octave, is diatonic in tonality and sets the foundation for the second melody which spans over two octaves and introduces more modal movement, syncopation and flattened notes. On top of this rhythm are two melodies, each of which are 18 bars in length. The tension of the work is built through the forces that Ravel enlists to play this driving rhythm. This repeated rhythm grows in both dynamic and texture as more instruments join in. The music starts at a very delicate pianissimo dynamic and grows throughout the 15 minute piece. Musicologist Lee Douglas describes Boléro as “Ravel’s most straightforward composition in any medium.” It is in C major, 3/4 time and is built over an unchanging ostinato rhythm set out by a snare drum. The composer famously turned to a friend at this point and said “Don’t you think this theme has an insistent quality? I am going to try and repeat it a number of times without any development, gradually increasing the orchestra as best I can.” When holidaying at St Jean-de-Luz, Ravel started playing some melodies on a piano and etched out a simple melody, soon to be the famous Boléro motif. Ravel looked back to some of his earlier piano pieces for inspiration, but finally decided to start from scratch. Ravel was offered to rights by Arbos, but declined as he wanted to take this commission on a different course. This ended up not happening due to copyright issues being given to Spanish composer Enrique Arbos.
Boléro came about during the evolution of this commission, as Rubinstein’s original request was for Ravel to orchestrate six pieces from Albeniz’s Iberia. Ravel is often noted for his ballet works, most notably the orchestra score of Ma mère l’oye (1912) and the one-movement work La valse (1920).Īlthough the final product that came from Rubinstein’s commission has been one of the most popular pieces of music ever written, it wasn’t part of the original idea.
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For instance he composed the full score of music for the 1912 ballet Daphnis et Chloé for the Paris-based company Ballets Russes. Before composing Boléro in 1928, Ravel had composed music for ballets including suites for ballet and full large-scale ballet scores. Composed originally as a ballet that was commissioned by the Russian actress Ida Rubinstein, Maurice Ravel’s orchestral work Boléro is his most famous composition.
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