THE MOTHER GOOSE PIANO SUITE - AN AESTHETIC PARADIGM OF RAVEL’S MUSIC

Authors

  • Attila FODOR The Partium Christian University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Music, RO-410209 Oradea, Primariei Str. 36, assistant professor, Ph.D., E-mail: musicalaesthetics@ yahoo.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4774-0247

Keywords:

Mother Goose, fairy tales, suite, ballet, aesthetic values, Beauty, melancholy

Abstract

The Mother Goose suite is not only one of Ravel’s most beloved works, but also a paradigmatic manifestation of his artistic thought. Composed in his impressionistic period, these musical tales reflect the composer’s dialog with several contemporary trends, like symbolism, neoclassicism or futurism, trends manifested as distinct periods of his output. In this sense, the suite form and genre appear as an optimal medium in expressing the variety in the limits of coherence. By evocating the fantastic universe of tales, Ravel reveals his childish, sensitive personality and aesthetic credo focused on the permanent aspiration to Beauty, and melancholy, as well as the fear of losing it. These principles adopted from the views of his mentor, E. A. Poe, appear in his art through a continuous pursuit of perfection, balance, compositional sophistication and refinement, elegance, playfulness and illusionism. Ravel’s motto – complexe mais pas compliqué – perfectly fits this suite, demonstrating once more, as a creative challenge, that the simplicity and richness of expression are not opposite concepts. Our study is focused on revealing the message and value configuration of the Mother Goose suite, analyzing both in a stylistic and aesthetic sense its expression devices.

References

*** The Cambridge Companion to Ravel (ed. Deborah Mawer), Cambridge University Press, 2000.

*** The Portable Edgar Allan Poe (ed. J. Gerald Kennedy), Penguin Books, 2006.

Angi István, Lectures on Musical Aesthetics, vol. I, University of Oradea Press, 2004.

Bronfen, Elisabeth, Death, femininity and the aesthetic, Manchester University Press, 1992.

Ivry, Benjamin, Maurice Ravel: A life, Welcome Rain Publishers, New York, 2000.

Larner, Gerard, Maurice Ravel, Phaidon Press Limited, London, 1996.

Messiaen, Olivier; Messiaen Yvonne Loriod, Analyses des œuvres pour piano de Maurice Ravel, Durand, 2003.

Myers, Rollo, Ravel. Life and Works, G. Duckworth, London, 1960.

Orenstein, Arbie, A Ravel Reader, Columbia University Press, New York Oxford, 1990.

Orenstein, Arbie, Ravel: Man and musician, Columbia University Press, New York and London, 1975.

Roland-Manuel, Maurice Ravel, Dennis Dobson Ltd., London, 1947.

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Published

2011-06-30

How to Cite

FODOR, A. (2011). THE MOTHER GOOSE PIANO SUITE - AN AESTHETIC PARADIGM OF RAVEL’S MUSIC. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Musica, 56(1), 67–84. Retrieved from https://studia.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/index.php/subbmusica/article/view/8903

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