Boléro: Ravel’s Keepsake of the Grand Canyon Amid Early Dementia

Voiceover

Presenter(s)

Ruth Sheyko, Tabitha Sheyko

Abstract or Description

Boléro, an orchestral piece by Maurice Ravel composed in 1928, has become the composer’s most well-known work through countless concert performances and many appearances in film soundtracks. The piece consists of a two-bar rhythm repeated 169 times, two melodies in constant alternation, and a steadily building crescendo across the duration of the work. These distinctive features have invited various interpretations. Idries Shah (1964), an Afghan author and Sufi teacher, identified a Sufi melody in one of Boléro’s two themes. Other scholars have suggested that Boléro evokes machinery and Spanish musical references, influenced by Ravel's Swiss engineer father and Basque mother (Fillerup, 2021). Scholar Michael Lanford (2011) drew parallels between this piece and Poe's poem “The Raven.”Additionally, some interpretations link the repetitive nature of Boléro to Ravel’s neurodegenerative disease. While these theories offer valuable insights, we propose a new perspective. After visiting the United States in 1928, Ravel was profoundly moved by the vastness of the Grand Canyon. We propose that this unique encounter was the inspiration for Boléro’s unique qualities. We argue that during this time, Ravel was just beginning to experience the early stages of neurodegenerative disease, which would later dramatically affect his cognition and behavior (Aldbous, 2008). The fact that Ravel recognized the critics who described his music as "madness" suggests his awareness of his changing mental state. We propose that Boléro represents Ravel's effort to preserve the memory of the Grand Canyon while grappling with the onset of his illness.

Mentor

Dr. Benjamin Binder