41. Ravel loved mechanical metaphors: new pieces might be ‘en panne’ (broken down); hard at work, he writes ‘Je turbine’. After the War, ‘The magneto’s worn out’; but by the end of 1919 ‘I’ve got La Valse started up at last and I’m in 4th gear!’ #Ravel150 - ThreadSky

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ekilpatrick.bsky.social • 21 days ago

41. Ravel loved mechanical metaphors: new pieces might be ‘en panne’ (broken down); hard at work, he writes ‘Je turbine’. After the War, ‘The magneto’s worn out’; but by the end of 1919 ‘I’ve got La Valse started up at last and I’m in 4th gear!’ #Ravel150

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ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

42. Trying to complete La Valse, Ravel travelled to a friend’s house in the Rhône-Alpes, writing, ‘This has got to work: not being able to travel to Vienna, I’ve installed myself close to…Vals!’ #Ravel150

ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

43. Ravel dispatched the manuscript of La Valse to his publishers with the cheery note ‘Let’s hope it doesn’t get lost, I haven’t kept a draft’. #Ravel150

ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

44. Serge #Diaghilev rejected La Valse for his Ballets russes, telling him ‘Ravel, it’s a masterpiece… but it’s not a ballet. It’s the portrait of a ballet… It’s the painting of a ballet.’ #Ravel150

ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

45. Ravel spent much of the summer of 1920 helping nurse a friend dying of cancer. The first movement of the Duo for Violin and Cello was sketched between night watches. #Ravel150

ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

46. In 1921 #Ravel moved into Le Belvédère in #Montfort-l’Amaury. Years of renovations followed: ‘You’ll see I’m not hiding the attractions!’ he wrote of the pile of radiators in the garden and the brackish water. #Ravel150

ekilpatrick.bsky.social•21 days ago

47. At Montfort Ravel acquired a family of Siamese cats, which he loved to sketch. #Ravel150

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