15. One of Ravel’s Basque cousins gave him a piece of ‘hangman’s rope’ as a lucky token for the Prix de Rome. He still lost – and though he offered to divide the rope between the performers of his cantata in gratitude, ‘what do you think? None of them wanted it!!!’ #Ravel150 - ThreadSky

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ekilpatrick.bsky.social • 21 days ago

15. One of Ravel’s Basque cousins gave him a piece of ‘hangman’s rope’ as a lucky token for the Prix de Rome. He still lost – and though he offered to divide the rope between the performers of his cantata in gratitude, ‘what do you think? None of them wanted it!!!’ #Ravel150

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ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

16. In the early 1900s Ravel and his friends created an imaginary friend, ‘Gomez de Riquet’, with whom they could pretend to be dining if they wanted to refuse an unwelcome invitation. #Ravel150

ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

17. Ravel’s father and brother invented a stunt vehicle called ‘La Tourbillon de la Mort’ (the Whirlwind of Death): when launched from a ramp, it was capable of turning a somersault metres in the air.

ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

18. Ravel left the manuscript of his Introduction et Allegro on the counter of a Parisian tailor’s shop; fortunately the shopkeeper retrieved and returned it. #Ravel150

ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

19. The first movement of Ravel’s Sonatine was written for a competition; he signed his manuscript ‘Verla’ (the jury shouldn’t have found it hard to unravel that). #Ravel150

ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

20. The first performance of 'Histoires naturelles' prompted the staid Société nationale de musique to a ‘veritable revolt’; one critic wrote sternly, ‘The Société nationale is not a Music-Hall’. #Ravel150

ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

21. The song 'Sur l’herbe' was written while Ravel was battling charges of ‘debussysme’ and plagiarism in the musical press; that’s probably why the last line, ‘Hé! bonsoir la Lune!’ (‘Good evening, Moon!’) cheekily quotes Debussy’s ‘Clair de lune’. #Ravel150

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