- Fact 2 - Date of Birth: Ravel was
born on March 7, 1875
- Fact 3 - Place of Birth: Ciboure,
France near the border of Spain and the Basque region
- Fact 4 - Full Name: Maurice Ravel
aka Maurice Joseph Ravel
- Fact 5 - Lifespan: 1875-1937
- Fact 6 - Name of mother and father:
His parents names were Joseph Ravel and Marie
Delouart
- Fact 7 - Family background: A
wealthy Catholic family, his father was a Swiss inventor and
industrialist
- Fact 8 - Childhood and education:
The family moved to Paris at an early age and started taking
music and piano lessons. Maurice Ravel made his first public
piano recital at the age of 14. He received an excellent
education. He received his later music education at the
Conservatoire de Paris where he was taught by Emile Descombes
- Fact 9 - One of his contemporaries
and friends was
Debussy
- Fact 10 - Ravel was a sensitive,
short dapper man who took care with his appearance and dressed
well He also possessed a good sense of humor but was shy and
introvert. Maurice Ravel never married.
- Fact 11 - His music received great
accolades and Ravel became quite wealthy. His work provoked
considerable jealousy from other composers and musicians of his
era
- Fact 12 - Maurice Ravel suffered
from Alzheimer’s disease which started in the 1930's
- Fact 13 - One of the most famous
works by Ravel is Bolero. The music from 'Bolero' was used by
Olympic Ice Dance Champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean
in a free dance performance at the 1984 Winter Olympics in
Sarajevo
- Fact 14 - Ravel received an
honorary degree of Doctor of Music from Oxford University in
1928
- Fact 15 - Maurice Ravel was a
member of "Les Apaches," a creative group of Impressionists
consisting of writers, poets, painters and musicians referred to
as 'artistic outcasts' and included
Stravinsky as one
of its members
- Fact 16 - Date of Death: Maurice
Ravel died Dec. 28, 1937 in Paris aged 62
- Fact 17 - His types of compositions and works included piano
and chamber music, vocal music and orchestral music
- Fact 18 - His music lives on and
the musical works of this famous composer and musician include the following:
- Jeux d'eau
Miroirs
Gaspard de la nuit
Le tombeau de Couperin
Bolero
Daphnis et Chloé
Rapsodie espagnole
Pavane pour une infante défunte
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