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.
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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
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
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
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
22. In his first opera, L’heure espagnole, Ravel not only parodies Wagnerian leitmotifs, but uses ‘Tristan’ chords as a deliberate comic shorthand (‘thwarted desire!’). #Ravel150
23. When the director of the Opéra-Comique rejected his opera Ravel wrote, ‘I realise now that the least innocent foible of Carmen, Manon, Chrysis or Queen Fiamette was picking their nose too much.’ #Ravel150
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