Bolero
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Boléro, a one-movement orchestral piece originally composed as a ballet, premiered in 1928, is arguably Maurice Ravel's most famous musical composition.
Before Boléro Ravel had composed as well large scale ballets (Daphnis et Chloé, composed for the Ballets Russes 1909–1912), as suites for the ballet (second orchestral version of Ma Mère l'Oye, 1912), as one-movement dance pieces (for example La Valse, 1906-1920). Apart from such compositions intended for a staged dance performance, Ravel had demonstrated an interest in composing re-styled dances, from his earliest successes (the 1895 Menuet and the 1899 Pavane) to his more mature works like the Tombeau de Couperin (which takes the format of a dance suite).
Boléro epitomises Ravel's preoccupation with restyling and re-inventing dance movements. It was also one of the last pieces he composed before illness forced him into retirement: the two piano concertos and the Don Quichotte à Dulcinée song cycle were the only compositions that followed after Boléro.
Background
The work had its genesis in a commission from the dancer Ida Rubinstein, who asked Ravel to create a ballet score with a Spanish character. The original plan had been for him to orchestrate excerpts from Isaac Albéniz' set of piano pieces, Iberia, but he was unable to obtain the rights to do so, since Albéniz had given the rights of orchestration to his pupil Ferdinand Enrique Arbos. Upon Arbos's hearing of this, he said he would happily allow Ravel to orchestrate the pieces. However, Ravel instead wrote a brand new piece based on the Spanish dance and musical form called bolero.The composition was a great success when it was premiered at the Paris Opéra on November 22, 1928, with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and designs by Benois. It has remained somewhat popular ever since, though is usually played as a purely orchestral work, only rarely being staged as a ballet. Ravel purported to be somewhat embarrassed that a composition which was, in his words, "without music", should become so well known. Apparently, at the premiere, a woman declared that Ravel was mad. When told about this, Ravel remarked, "Aha! She understood the piece!"
The piece was first published by the Parisian firm Durand in 1929. Arrangements of the piece were made for piano solo and piano duet (two people playing at one piano), and Ravel himself composed a version for two pianos, published in 1930.
Music
Boléro is written for a large orchestra consisting of two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, oboe d'amore, cor anglais, E-flat clarinet, two B-flat clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, piccolo trumpet in D, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, three saxophones (one sopranino, one soprano and one tenor- one of the first large ensemble pieces to employ the virtually new family), timpani, two snare drums, cymbals, tam-tam, celesta, harp and strings (violins, violas, cellos and double basses). An average performance will last in the area of fifteen minutes, with some recordings extending as long as 18 minutes. The original version by Ravel took 17 minutes 6 seconds.[[Citing sources citation needed]]The composition has a very simple structure—it consists almost entirely of one melody and one countermelody, repeated over and over again, orchestrated differently each time, but otherwise unchanging. It begins quietly, with the melody played in C major by a flute over an ostinato rhythm played on a snare drum that continues throughout the piece:
The melody is passed between different instruments, clarinet, bassoon, E-flat clarinet, oboe d'amore, trumpet, saxophone, horn, trombone and so on. The accompaniment becomes gradually thicker and louder until the whole orchestra is playing at the very end. This progression from soft to loud in volume is called a crescendo. Just before the end (rehearsal number 18 in the score), there is a sudden change of key to E major, though C major is reestablished after just eight bars. Six bars from the end, the bass drum, cymbals and tam-tam make their first entry, and the trombones play raucous glissandi while the whole orchestra beats out the rhythm that has been played on the snare drum from the very first bar. The work ends on a C major chord.
Boléro in culture
In motion pictures
- Boléro is played in the background of the movie "The New Guy" in the scene in which the new guy is dragging a knocked out tough guy through the halls.
- Boléro was used in the movie 10 to great acclaim. The character played by Bo Derek keeps restarting this music on a phonograph, while trying to seduce Dudley Moore. The identification of the piece with Bo Derek in the minds of moviegoers of the time was the admitted inspiration for the movie Bolero starring Bo five years later.
- Boléro appears in Futurama season 4, episode 18, in which Fry proceeds to play the Holophoner.
- Boléro was featured in the 1977 Italian animated movie Allegro Non Troppo, directed by Bruno Bozzetto.
- Boléro was used in a sequence in the fantasy animation Wizards (1977) by Ralph Bakshi, which featured a post-nuclear war wasteland scenario several hundred years in the future.
- Boléro, in the piece's entirety, plays over the carnage of the Fourth Battle of Tiamat in the 1988 anime film Legend of Galactic Heroes: My Conquest is the Sea of Stars, the first film in the Legend of the Galactic Heroes series.
- Boléro was frequently played in the first season of the anime series Digimon.
- Boléro is featured in "Stairway to Lenin," part of a music video called The Orchestra (1990), directed by Zbigniew Rybczyński, and produced for PBS's Great Performances, Canal+, and Japan Broadcasting Corporation. It is regularly shown on the Classic Arts Showcase channel.
- Boléro was played in the background during the introduction monologue of 2003 movie BASIC, starring John Travolta, Connie Nielsen, Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by John McTiernan.
- Boléro is featured in the 1956 Mexican comedy film "El Bolero de Raquel", starring Mario Moreno Reyes "Cantinflas" as a street shoe-cleaner (a bolero, as they are called in Mexico).
- Boléro is the opening and ending theme of the French musical Les Uns et les Autres by Claude Lelouch directed in 1980.
- Blue Man Group used to use Boléro as the background music for their "Twinkie Feast" sketch, in which they invite a woman from the audience to eat Twinkies with them. Once they moved from the Luxor to the Venetian in Las Vegas in September 2005, they changed the music to an original piece of their own. This change was later implemented in their other theatrical shows. Though it is still worth mentioning Bolero was the background music to this skit for fifteen years.
- Boléro was featured as the background music of a animated movie short that illustrated evolution.
- Boléro is played in the 2006 Doctor Who episode "The Impossible Planet" during the transition of the Sanctuary Base from day to night.
In video games
- Boléro was the original intended theme during the opening of The Legend of Zelda video game for the NES. Copyright prevented its use, but the rhythm melody for the eventual included theme remains similar to the snare rhythm of Boléro.[link]
- One of the songs which a player can learn in is called Boléro of Fire, and has a snare rhythm similar to its eponym. It is taught to the protagonist by Sheik upon entering Death Mountain Crater after defeating the Forest Temple.
In sport
- Ice dancers Torvill and Dean skated to Boléro in the long program of their gold medal-winning performance at the 1984 Winter Olympics, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, which is still the only ice dancing performance ever to have received a perfect score from every judge.
- The 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2006 FIFA World Cup Final Draw ceremonies featured video clips having the Boléro as their background music.
- Figure Skater Michelle Kwan skated to Boléro as her free skate music in the 2004-2005 season.
In popular music
- Boléro has been rearranged and performed by many artists, including quotations in the chorus of Rufus Wainwright's "Oh What A World.", and an Emerson, Lake & Palmer version called "Abaddon's Bolero" on their Trilogy album.
- A heavy metal version of the song, called "Great Boleros of Fire", was the show-opening number for Meat Loaf.
- Jefferson Airplane used the ostinato snare pattern of Boléro in its 1967 song "White Rabbit," in which the driving, hypnotic rhythm evokes the allure and effects of psychedelic drugs.
- Boléro was remixed by Frank Zappa and released on his album "The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life" in 1995 as a live performance. The signature rhythm enters 4 minutes into the 5 minute piece.
- Boléro is the opening song in the Broadway production Blast!, and also serves as a reprise at the very end of the show. The snare drummer playing the signature rhythm begins in the middle of the stage under a spotlight and remains stationary as the rest of the ensemble moves around the drummer.
- A rendition of Boléro (composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto as a tribute to Ravel) is used in the Brian DePalma film Femme Fatale where Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (now simply known as Rebecca Romijn) and Rie Rasmussen are making out in a restroom stall and during the closing credits.
- A 90 second rendition of Boléro can also be heard played by Joe Walsh during his days with the James Gang in their song "The Bomber". A lesser known group, Colosseum, put out their own version in the late 60's.
- A composition of "Beck's Bolero" appeared on Jeff Beck's Truth. It featured the playing of both Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, and the writing was credited to Page.
- Larry Adler used to perform the Boléro on his harmonica (mouth organ). Ravel even made Larry exempt from paying royalities on his performances of it.
- Isao Tomita featured Boléro on "The Ravel Album" (alternatively known as "Daphnis et Chloé - Boléro"). As a keyboard virtuoso the track remains for the most part faithful to the original, the progressive layering and shift between instruments (featuring synthesised oboe, clarinet and flute alongside less traditonal instruments only a Moog synthesizer or similar could produce) - and of course the ever present snare drums (in this case played by a distorted tinny 'orchestra strike' sound). In all it lasts only 9:16 and peters out on an almost 'traditional' organ sound.
Miscellany
- The sopranino saxophone called for in the instrumentation is a sopranino saxophone in F; whilst the ones of today are in Eb. It is not known if an F sopranino sax actually existed, or if the player transposed the part. Today, both the soprano sax and the sopranino sax parts are commonly played on the Bb soprano saxophone.
External links
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