MAURICE RAVEL AND PAUL WITTGENSTEIN: LE CONCERTO POUR LA MAIN GAUCHE IN RESPONSE TO WORLD WAR I A THESIS IN MUSICOLOGY Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF MUSIC by AURÉLIEN BASTIEN BOCCARD B.A., University of Geneva, Switzerland, 2006 B.A., Haute École des Arts de Bern, Switzerland, 2008 M.M.E., Haute École de Musique de Genève, Switzerland, 2008 M.M., University of Fayetteville Arkansas, 2010 D.M.A., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2017 Kansas City, Missouri 2017 © 2017 AURELIEN BASTIEN BOCCARD ALL RIGHT RESERVED MAURICE RAVEL AND PAUL WITTGENSTEIN: LE CONCERTO POUR LA MAIN GAUCHE IN RESPONSE TO WORLD WAR I Aurélien Bastien Boccard, candidate for the Master of Music degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2017 ABSTRACT Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein (1887–1961) lost his right arm during World War I. Wittgenstein recovered from the surgery, then in 1915 returned to Vienna to commission one of the most celebrated left-hand piano pieces from Maurice Ravel (1875–1937): the 1930 Concerto pour la Main Gauche. Ravel’s war experience was not as dramatic as Wittgenstein’s, but it still affected him personally, professionally and artistically; his involvement definitely shaped his future compositions and most certainly the Concerto for the Left Hand. This thesis explores Wittgenstein and Ravel’s war experiences through the scope of the Concerto pour la Main Gauche. Fighting on opposite sides, these artists are united post-war around this composition, which stands as a sign of peace and reconciliation. Several inquiries emerge: What makes this composition a war concerto? Is the piece a hymn to resilience, courage and artistic triumph? Does Wittgenstein’s recording of it portray a war experience or more specifically his war experience? How can elements of fragmentation, jazz and blues, industrial noise and sonic war material, cataclysmic virtuosity and lyric beauty be linked to World War I? iii Finally, this research will survey how these musicians’ lives were marked by war, one subject to terrible phantom pains for the rest of his life, and the other plagued with insomnia until his death in 1937. iv APPROVAL PAGE The faculty listed below, appointed by the Dean of the Conservatory of Music and Dance, have examined a thesis titled “Maurice Ravel and Paul Wittgenstein: Le Concerto pour la Main Gauche in Response to World War I,” presented by Aurélien Bastien Boccard, candidate for the Master of Music degree, and certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. Supervisory Committee Sarah Tyrrell, Ph.D., Committee Chair Conservatory of Music and Dance Andrew Granade, Ph.D. Conservatory of Music and Dance Alison DeSimone, Ph.D. Conservatory of Music and Dance v CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................ iii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF EXAMPLES .................................................................................................................................x ACNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................ xi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 Opening ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Literature Review ..................................................................................................................... 2 With One Hand ........................................................................................................................26 2. THE GREAT WAR ....................................................................................................................30 Artists in the War ...................................................................................................................30 Maurice Ravel ..........................................................................................................................40 Paul Wittgenstein ...................................................................................................................48 3. LE CONCERTO POUR LA MAIN GAUCHE .........................................................................57 History of the Left-Hand Repertoire for Piano ............................................................57 Image and Disability ..............................................................................................................63 Genesis of Le Concerto pour la Main Gauche ................................................................71 Recordings ................................................................................................................................82 4. THE CONCERTO AND THE WAR ......................................................................................88 Jazz and War .............................................................................................................................88 Jazz Noise and Reconciliation ............................................................................................94 vi 5. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 108 Appendix A. Le Noël des Enfants qui n’ont plus de Maison (1915) .............................................. 111 B. Manifesto of the National League for the Defense of French Music ................ 112 C. Letter from Ravel to the Committee of the National League for the Defense of French Music ........................................................................................... 115 D. Ravel: Trois beaux oiseaux du Paradis ........................................................................ 118 E. 1916 iconography of Maurice Ravel as a soldier during World War I ............ 119 F. Count Géza Zichy (1849–1924) ..................................................................................... 124 G. Adolfo Fumagalli (1828–1956) ...................................................................................... 125 H. Excerpt of Alfred Cortot’s Transcription of Ravel Concerto pour la Main Gauche ............................................................................................................................................ 126 I. Ravel’s analysis of his Concerto pour la Main Gauche in 1933 ........................... 127 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................... 128 VITA ........................................................................................................................................................ 139 vii TABLES Table Page 2.1. Major composers/compositions from World War I .......................................................33 3.1. Left-hand concerti composed for Wittgenstein before 1930 ......................................74 3.2. Major French pianists who played Ravel’s Concerto pour la Main Gauche ............ 84 3.3. List of known performances of the Concerto pour la Main Gauche with Wittgenstein between 1932 and 1937 ....................................................................................... 86 viii ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1.1 Maurice Ravel and Paul Wittgenstein................................................................................... 1 2.1. Le Noël des Enfants qui n‘ont plus de Maison by Claude Debussy ...............................35 E.2. Ravel as a stretcher-bearer near Verdun ......................................................................... 119 E.3. Ravel 1916 .................................................................................................................................. 120 E.4. Ravel 1916 on leave ................................................................................................................. 121 E.5. Ravel 1916 on leave ................................................................................................................. 122 E.6. Ravel 1916 on leave ................................................................................................................. 123 F.1. Count Geza Zichy (1849–1924) ........................................................................................... 124 G.1. Adolpho Fumagalli (1849–1924) ........................................................................................ 125 ix EXAMPLES Example Page 4.1. Concerto pour la Main Gauche , Number 1, mm. 8-10 ......................................................99 4.2. Concerto pour la Main Gauche , Number 3, mm. 23-24 ................................................ 100 4.3. Concerto pour la Main Gauche , Number 28, mm. 277-287 ........................................ 101 4.4. Concerto pour la Main Gauche , Number 4, m. 33 .......................................................... 103 4.5. Concerto pour la Main Gauche , Number 4, Vivo to 5, mm. 57-58 ............................ 103 4.6.