RAVEL ON (HIS) IMPRESSIONISM

Abstract

Though Ravel usually avoided to include himself into aesthetic trends, his statements regarding musical works, composers or schools of the past and also of his time demonstrate that he had a quite clear view of the contemporary art. In respect of impressionism, he distanced himself systematically from it, while his arguments reflect a deep knowledge of its main aesthetic and style features. Being a consecrated admirer of impressionist painting, his observations on this trend were not against it, but the expression of his neutral position regarding any trend. As a result, his creative universe, however varied, appears to be rather a closed one. Though Ravel’s oeuvre is original, especially regarding the piano and orchestral compositions set up before the World War I, it vibrates in a subtle manner with the major trends of his time: symbolism, impressionism, expressionism, neoclassicism and even futurism. This paper analyses his connections with impressionism through his words.