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Home , Le Tombeau de Couperin, Making a New World, Maurice Ravel, Orpheus (ballet), Pavane (Fauré), Spanish flu

Music from the 1918

Study guide for recordings by Ravel, Fauré, and Stravinsky

Listen on Spotify Listen on Idagio Get to know Orpheus… Orpheus is a chamber . We perform Orpheus was founded in 1972! music written for 20-40 musicians and larger- What Makes Orpheus unique? scale orchestral works In most , a single figure—the conductor—directs the musicians that have been adapted in all aspects of the music, including entrances, speed, and time. for a smaller ensemble. However, Orpheus rehearses and performs without a conductor.

The Orpheus Process® In this unique process, the members of the orchestra work together to make the interpretive decisions that are usually the work of a conductor. Each musician has a voice and is expected to express their interpretation to make the performance better.

Orpheus is Grammy® Award winning! The Stravinsky Shadow Dances featured in this playlist won the Grammy for Best Small Ensemble Performance in 2000! Historical Context

This playlist explores music by , Gabriel Fauré, and composed or orchestrated during the of 1918.

The influenza pandemic began at the end of World I (1914-1918). The First World War was a global war centered in between the Allies - The , , Belgium, Russia, and eventually the USA – and the – , Austria- Hungary, Bulgaria, and the . was the first major war to use new weapons and vehicles such as machine guns, chemical weapons, and fighter planes.

World War I caused major changes to warfare and to global politics. The war marked the end of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, confiscated territories from Germany and Russia, and incited many political uprisings including the , which began in 1917.

Terms: • A composer is a person who writes music. • is the combination of instruments a composer uses to create the music. • A pandemic is a global outbreak of a . Historical Context continued

The 1918 Influenza (or Flu) Pandemic was caused by an unusually deadly version of the flu . The pandemic started Note: Why not the “?” in the spring of 1918 and lasted until the summer of 1919. Though the origin of the 1918 Flu is unknown, it is sometimes It infected over 500 million people, or about one third of the referred to as the Spanish Flu world’s population at the time, and death tolls are estimated at since the French blamed Spain between 17 and 50 million people. for spreading the flu across their shared border. Because this name is based on national Like today, there were bans on public gatherings, school prejudice, we’ve chosen not to closures, and mandated mask wearing to help stop the spread of use it here. the virus.

As we know, life continues despite conflict and illness: people find ways to learn and love, and even if concerts are cancelled, musicians will still make music.

We hope you enjoy this playlist of music written during a different pandemic 100 years ago, and we hope to see you in the concert hall again someday soon. 1914-1917: Ravel composes Le 1919: Ravel orchestrates four Tombeau de Couperin for solo movements of 1919: Fauré composes incidental music for – June 1920: 1918 Flu Pandemic July 1914 – : World War I

1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923

March 1917 – June 1923: The Russian Revolution & 1914 – 1920: Stravinsky in exile in Switzerland

1918: Stravinsky composes and Duet for 1921: Stravinsky orchestrates the Three 1914-1915: Stravinsky writes 1917: Stravinsky writes Five Easy Pieces and Five Easy Pieces to become Three Easy Pieces for Easy Pieces for piano duet Suites No. 1 and No.2 for Small Orchestra Maurice Ravel Ravel was inspired by 1875– 1937 many musical styles, including baroque, neoclassicism, and

Maurice Ravel was one of the best- known French Baroque: A style of music composed composers of the from around 1600 to 1850. J.S. th early 20 century Bach composed during the Baroque period! Neoclassicism: A music style that drew inspiration from 18th century music, especially from the Some words to describe Classical period (1730-1820) Ravel’s music: Jazz: A developed in New Orleans by African-American • Colorful musicians around the turn of the • Exotic 20th century, with roots in the Blues • Complex and Ragtime. Ravel during World War I The war years were hard for Ravel. Between his time as a truck driver, his Ravel tried to enlist in the recovery from illness, and the death of French armed forces at his mother in 1917, Ravel was mostly the start of World War I too busy, sad, and sick to write music. but was turned away However, one of his only compositions because of his small size from 1914-1918, Le tombeau de and bad health. Couperin, would go on to be one of the best-known works of the War period. In 1916 he got a job as a truck driver for the French army, but he Ravel’s health declined after the death became sick with of his mother. When the flu pandemic dysentery and was began in 1918, many of his friends were discharged in 1917. worried the delicate Ravel would catch the new flu and die. Yet Ravel survived the pandemic and would live nearly 20 more years, composing many more works including the famous . The title of Le tombeau de Couperin, meaning “The Tomb of Couperin,” refers to the 16th and 17th century French practice of writing “tombeaus”—short poems or musical works to commemorate the dead—and to the French composer Francois Couperin (1668-1733). Each movement is written in a different Baroque musical style and honors a different friend of Ravel's who died in the war. The original solo piano piece was 6 movements; Ravel shortened the orchestrated version to four.

1: Prelude, in memory of First Lieutenant Jacques Charlot: A prelude is an introductory piece of music. This ornamental piece has a lot of winding movement including a famously difficult part. 2: Forlane, in memory of First Lieutenant Gabriel Deluc: A forlane is a type of Italian folk song. This piece is in the complex form of a rondo - A-B-A-C-A-D-A (i.e., one theme is repeated four times, with different sections between each repetition). 3: Menuet, in memory of Jean Dreyfus: A menuet is a slow dance in 3/4 or triple meter (three beats to a bar). The oboe stars again in this stately piece; the mysterious middle section features plucked strings and harmonics. 4: Rigaudon, in memory of Pierre and Pascal Gaudin: A rigaudon is a type of French baroque dance that is lively and in duple meter (or two beats to a bar). In this fast movement, the strings and winds alternate in importance. Listen for how each solo wind instrument is showcased.

Ravel Gabriel Fauré Fauré’s music is often seen as a stylistic link 1845-1924 between the musical periods of Romanticism and Gabriel Fauré was a Modernism. French organist, , and composer. Though he was best known as an organist and teacher until middle age, by the Romanticisim was a end of his life he had musical period spanning become one of France’s the 19th century with an most popular composers. emphasis on emotion and song-like melodies.

Fauré’s music is: Modernism was an era at the beginning of the 20th • Full of melodies century where composers and began to challenge the • Often rambling, traditional ways of like a long walk in composing music. the woods Fauré 1914-1920 During the war, Fauré began to lose his hearing and he would eventually In 1905, Fauré became head of the become completely Conservatoire. He upset many professors by deaf. Despite ill health including contemporary music in the and worry for his son curriculum and changing how students were fighting in the army, admitted and graded. The Conservatoire Fauré composed a lot of stayed open during World War I, but there music during the war. were fewer students because many young men were in the armed forces. In January 1920, at the Terms: age of 74, Fauré became • Conservatoire is the French word for conservatory. seriously ill with the new A conservatory is a university where people study influenza. He survived art, like music, theatre, or visual art. but retired from his • Contemporary means occurring at the same time. position at the Music contemporary to Fauré means music Conservatoire later that written while he was alive. Contemporary music year because the flu had for us is music that is being written now. made him weaker. Fauré: Masques et Bergamasques

Masques et Bergamasques was Incidental music is music composed for the background of a play or composed as incidental music for a film to create a mood or feeling (like a film score) one-act comic play adapted from Verlaine by René Fauchois about Italian comedians on their day off. The play premiered in Monte Carlo in Ouverture: Ouverture means opening and is usually the first 1919 and the sheet music was movement in a suite of music. This movement is playful and published that same year. The play fast! was first performed in Paris in March Menuet: A menuet is an elegant and stately piece based on 1920, after Fauré recovered from influenza. a 17th century dance in A-B-A form (i.e., the end of the piece echoes the beginning)

The music for the play had 8 pieces, Gavotte: A gavotte is also a Baroque dance in A-B-A form, including several songs sung by a but it is in common time (4 beats to a bar), beginning on the or a chorus. The published orchestral third beat of the bar. suite leaves out the movements with singers and is only four movements. It : Pastorale is music that portrays the countryside. is one of the only orchestra works by This is calm, melodic piece using a gentle rocking rhythm. Fauré, who is better known for . Igor Stravinsky Stravinsky is best known for the music 1882 - 1971 he composed for , including and The Rite Igor Stravinsky was a of Spring Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, considered one of the most important th composers of the 20 Stravinsky composed century in many different styles including neoclassicism, modernism, and . Stravinsky’s music is: Serialism is a • Cutting-edge composition technique • Colorful and dramatic that uses a fixed series • Rhythmically complex of notes. Stravinsky in Switzerland: 1914 – 1920 Stravinsky began composing works for smaller groups that were cheaper to Stravinsky had his first big period perform. One was L’hi s toi re de soldat (A of success from 1910-1913. The Soldier’s Tale), a theatrical production with Ballet Russes, a Parisian ballet a small group of musicians and actors company formed by Russian that was scheduled to tour Switzerland. artists, premiered three with music by Stravinsky: Firebird, After L’hi s toi re premiered in September Petrouchka, and . 1918, members of the cast and crew became sick with the new flu and the tour When World War I started was cancelled. Stravinsky himself caught Stravinsky and his family moved the flu in early 1919. to Switzerland . In 1917, the Russian Revolution broke out and all of Stravinsky’s property in Stravinsky composed many other works for duets Russia was confiscated. (two instruments) , quartets (four instruments), Stravinsky’s French and Russian and small ensembles while he lived in Switzerland. sponsors were losing money, too, In the summer of 1920, Stravinsky and his family and there was no funding for the moved to France. They lived there until the start big ballets that Stravinsky had of World War II in 1939, after which they moved been writing. to the . Stravinsky: Suites No. 1 and No. 2 for Small Orchestra

Suite No. 1 and Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra are of a series of piano duets Stravinsky composed to teach his young children while they were living in In 1921 Stravinsky Switzerland. arranged the works for chamber orchestra. The Three Easy Pieces (1915) first four movements of Five and Five Easy Pieces Easy Pieces became Suite (1917) were written so No. 1, and the fifth that one of the two piano movement was added to the parts was easier than the end of the Three Easy Pieces other, allowing Stravinsky to round out Suite No. 2 and his children to play together. Stravinsky: Suite No. 1 for Small Orchestra

Suite No. 1 1. Andante: A short piece made from repeated small rhythmic and melodic • Andante means at a walking building blocks. pace. 2. Napolitana: A minimalistic fast • A Napolitana is a 16th century piece based on an Italian folk dance dance from Naples, Italy. form, with a comic ending. • Española means Spanish. This 3. Española: Different instruments movement was inspired by play their own melodies, which are Stravinsky’s travels in Spain. layered in a mash-up. • A Balalaika is a Russian 4. Balalaika: Strings accompany the stringed instrument that is wind instruments, and there are plucked like a . occasional outbursts from the whole orchestra. Stravinsky: Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra

Suite No. 2 1. March: Solo winds are featured • A March is a musical genre written one by one in this rather sinister with 2 or 4 beats to a measure. It sounding little piece. originated from music written for 2. Waltz: play an endless the military to accompany loop while the have bird-like soldiers marching. melodies. • A Waltz is a type of dance that 3. Polka: and are originated in Austria, in triple featured soloists in a fast piece that meter with a strong emphasis on seems to run out of energy. the first beat. 4. Galop: The entire orchestra plays • A Polka is a lively, jumping dance in this exuberant fast piece, that originated in the 19th century interrupted by comical slow sections. in Bohemia (now part of Czechia). • A Galop is a 19th century dance named after a gallop – or the fastest gait of a horse! Stravinsky: Ragtime Stravinsky: Duet for Bassoons

Ragtime was an early form of jazz in the Stravinsky composed the Duet first years of the 20th century. Ragtime for bassoons (sometimes called combined the American march with Lied ohne Name, or Song Without rhythms inspired by African music. a Name), in 1917 or 1918, but it Ragtime was the first African-American wasn’t published until after his music to become broadly popular among death. people of all races in the US and in Europe.

Stravinsky’s first ragtime-inspired piece was the third dance in his theatre piece L’ histoire du soldat, which was cancelled due to the 1918 flu pandemic. That same year, he wrote the standalone Ragtime for Syncopation is when the eleven instruments. While Stravinsky’s rhythmic accent is shifted, Ragtime is different from American rag, usually by stressing you can hear its source of inspiration in normally unaccented Stravinsky’s use of syncopation. beats. Questions for Discussion & Reflection (page 1 of 2)

1. If you could write a piece for Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in this pandemic, what would the title be? How would the music feel? What do you think is important to express right now? 2. Ravel is often described as an “Impressionist,” and his music seen in the same spirit as the paintings of artists Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Georges Seurat. What about Ravel’s music relates to visual art? What pictures do you see in your mind when you listen to the music? 3. In Le tombeau de Couperin, Ravel uses music to remember his friends. What music would you use to send a message to your family or friends? How would you say "I miss you," "I love you," or "Hope you are well," through music? Would you write your own or use someone else's music? 4. Masques et Bergamasques was written as music to accompany a play. Listening to the music, what would be the plot of the play if you were to write it? Questions for Discussion & Reflection (page 2 of 2)

5. Ravel's composition Le tombeau de Couperin reflects on the sadness of and the loss of his friends. Fauré, on the other hand, spent the flu pandemic composing music for Masques et Bergamasques, a fun story about clowns on their day off. Living now during the Covid-19 pandemic, do you find yourself listening more to music that makes you reflect on what you're going through, or happy music that provides a distraction?

6. Stravinsky's Suites for Small Orchestra are orchestrations of pieces he wrote to teach his children how to play the piano while they were hiding out in Switzerland during the war. Has your family come up with any creative ways to learn from home? Is there anything you’ve learned at home that you wouldn’t have learned if you had been at school?

7. The titles of all the movements in both of Stravinsky’s Suites are names of dances. If you were to write a suite for orchestra, what dances would you use? And what would be the *orchestration for the piece? *Orchestration is the combination of instruments a composer uses to create the music. Thank you for listening! Bibliography (page 1 of 4)

Buja, Maureen. “Stravinsky Meets Modern.” Interlude, https://interlude.hk/stravinsky-meets-modern/. Accessed 30 April 2020. “1918 Pandemic Influenza Historic Timeline.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/pandemic-timeline-1918.htm. Accessed 29 April 2020. Counts, Jeff. “Stravinsky – Suite 1 and 2 for Small Orchestra.” Utah Symphony, https://utahsymphony.org/explore/2011/08/stravinsky-suite-1-and-2-for-small-orchestra/. Accessed 30 April 2020. Drummond, John, host. “Interrupted Cadences - Stravinsky and the Spanish ‘flu.” The Sunday Feature, RNZ, 11 December 2016. RNZ, https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/sundayfeature/audio/201819385/interrupted-cadences-stravinsky- and-the-spanish-flu. Fauré, Gabriel, composer. “Masques et Bergamasques.” – Ravel, Satie, & Fauré, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1995. “Biography.” Fondation Igor Stravinsky, https://fondation-igor-stravinsky.org/en/composer/biography/. Accessed 30 April 2020. Bibliography (page 2 of 4)

“Spanish Flu.” History, https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic. Accessed 30 April 2020. Huscher, Phillip. “Program Notes, Gabriel Fauré - Suite from Masques et bergamasques, Op. 112.” Chicago Symphony Orchestra, https://cso.org/uploadedFiles/1_Tickets_and_Events/Program_Notes/042910_ProgramNotes_Faurq_Masques- bergamasques.pdf. Accessed 30 April 2020. Huscher, Phillip. “Program Notes, Maurice Ravel – Le tombeau de Couperin, Suite for Orchestra.” Chicago Symphony Orchestra, https://cso.org/uploadedFiles/1_Tickets_and_Events/Program_Notes/010710_ProgramNotes_Ravel_Le_tombeau .pdf. Accessed 30 April 2020. James, Burnett. Ravel. Omnibus Press, 1987. Jankélévitch, Vladimir. Ravel. Translated by Margaret Crosland, Grove Press, 1959. Koechlin, Charles. Gabriel Fauré. Translated by Leslie Orry, , Dennis Dobson Ltd., 1945. Leonard, James. “Igor Stravinsky, Easy Pieces (3) for piano, 4 hands.” All Music, https://www.allmusic.com/composition/easy-pieces-3-for-piano-4-hands-mc0002523595. Accessed 30 April 2020. Bibliography (page 3 of 4)

Nectoux, Jean-Michel. Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life. Translated by Roger Nichols, Cambridge University Press, 1991. Nectoux, Jean-Michel, editor. Gabriel Fauré: His Life Through His Letters. Translated by J. A. Underwood, Marion Boyars Publishers, 1984. O’Donovan, Heather. “Music in the Time of Pandemic: Brilliant Compositions Written in the Years of the Spanish Influenza.” WQXR, https://www.wqxr.org/story/pandemic-music-spanish-1918-influenza/. Accessed 30 April 2020. Orledge, Robert. Gabriel Fauré. London, Eulenberg Books, 1979. Rao, Arun. Pierrots Fâchés avec la Lune: Debussy, Fauré and Ravel during World War 1. 2013. Technological University Dublin, Masters Dissertation. Arrow@TU Dublin, https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=aaconmusdiss/. Ravel, Maurice, composer. “Le tombeau de Couperin.” Pavane – Ravel, Satie, & Fauré, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1995. Bibliography (page 4 of 4)

Stravinsky, Igor. “Igor Stravinsky: An Autobiography.” Internet Archive, https://archive.org/stream/igorstravinskyan002221mbp/igorstravinskyan002221mbp_djvu.txt. Accessed 1 May 2020. Stravinsky, Igor, composer. “Ragtime.” Stravinsky: Shadow Dances, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1999. Stravinsky, Igor, composer. “Duet for Bassoons.” Stravinsky: Shadow Dances, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1999. Stravinsky, Igor, composer. “Suite No. 1 for Small Orchestra.” Stravinsky: Shadow Dances, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1999. Stravinsky, Igor, composer. “Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra.” Stravinsky: Shadow Dances, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1999. Tobias, Marianne Williams. “Le tombeau de Couperin.” Indianapolis Symphony, https://www.indianapolissymphony.org/about/archive/program-notes/maurice-ravel/le-tombeau-de-Couperin. Accessed 30 April 2020. Image Sources (page 1 of 2) Braque, Georges. Rhum et guitare (Rum and Guitar). 1918. Colección Abelló, Madrid. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Georges_Braque,_1918,_Rhum_et_guitare,_oil_on_canvas,_60_x_73_cm,_Abell%C3%B 3_Collection,_Madrid.jpg. Delaunay, Robert. Igor Stravinsky. 1918. Museum New Walk, Leicester. Arthive, https://arthive.com/robertdelaunay/works/508139~Igor_Stravinsky Kheir, Fadi. Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. 2019. Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig. Selbstbildnis als Kranker. 1918. Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ernst_Ludwig_Kirchner_Selbstbildnis_als_Kranker_1918-1.jpg Monet, Claude. Le bassin aux nymphéas. 1919. Private Collection. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Le_bassin_aux_nymph%C3%A9as_-_Claude_Monet.jpg Nash, Paul. We Are . 1918. London. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nash,_Paul_-_We_are_Making_a_New_World_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg Nash, Paul. The Ypres Salient at Night. 1918. Imperial War Museum London. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Ypres_Salient_at_Night_Art.IWMART1145.jpg O’Keefe, Georgia. Blue and Green Music. 1919-1921. The Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago, https://www.artic.edu/artworks/24306/blue-and-green-music. Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Cover image. Pavane – Ravel, Satie, & Fauré. Deutsche Grammophon, 1995. Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Pavane-Ravel-Orpheus-Chamber-Orchestra/dp/B01M0BWMI5 Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Cover image. Stravinsky: Shadow Dances. Deutsche Grammophon, 1999. Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Stravinsky-Shadow-Orpheus-Chamber-Orchestra/dp/B000V6U9FE Image Sources (page 2 of 2) Ouvre, Achille. Maurice Ravel. 1909. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10525025f.item Picasso, Pablo. Dessin pour la couverture de Ragtime de Stravinsky. 1918-1919. Private Collection. Classic FM, https://www.classicfm.com/lifestyle/wellbeing/stravinsky-picasso/ Ravel, Maurice. Couverture de la première édition chez Durand Cie. 1918. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ravel_Tombeau_de_Couperin_-_page_de_couverture.jpg Sargent, John Singer. Crashed Aeroplane. 1918. Imperial War Museum London. WikiArt, https://www.wikiart.org/en/john- singer-sargent/crashed-aeroplane-1918 Sargent, John Singer. Gabriel Fauré. 1889. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/21409 Unknown. Gabriel Fauré in his office at the Conservatoire. 1918. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gabriel_Faur%C3%A9_in_his_office_at_the_Conservatoire_1918_-_Gallica_2010.png Unknown. Maurice Ravel as a soldier in the French army. 1916. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maurice-Ravel-soldier-1916.jpg Violett, Boris Roger. Igor Stravinsky. 1929. , https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/dec/03/stravinsky- funeral-song-valery-gergiev-maryinsky-st-petersburg