Score Salon:
Robert Henry on Ravel's violin concerto Tzigane
With special guest, violinist Gennady Filimonov

May 12, 2003 at Bad Animals

During the early 1920s, Maurice Ravel was in a severe compositional slump. Ravel's spirit and Parisian musical society had been devastated by the war, and he was deeply depressed over the death of his mother.  He managed to complete his Violin Sonata in 1922, but the years leading up to this were extremely unproductive.

In July of 1922, Ravel was invited to a private concert where the Hungarian violinist Jelly d'Arani played the recently-completed Violin Sonata. Ravel was entranced by her playing, and was particularly fascinated by her Hungarian musical heritage. He asked her to play some authentic Gypsy tunes, and the two stayed together until 5:00 in the morning, discussing Hungarian music.  Tzigane (meaning "Gypsy") was obviously inspired by this experience and, although it was relatively slow in coming, it marked the beginning of a new period of creativity for Ravel.

Ravel's friend, the violinist André Polah, who advised him on technical details of the solo part, wrote that: "Ravel's idea was to represent a Gypsy serenading a beautiful woman (real or imaginary) with his fiery temperament and with all the resources of good and bad taste at his command. In the solo part, Ravel has not only used every known technical effect, but has invented some new ones!"  Ravel was particularly adept at absorbing musical influences, and in Tzigane he creates his own version of Hungarian music.  The work opens with a lengthy and spectacular solo cadenza that manages to capture the essence of Gypsy fiddling, together with echoes of the 19th-century violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini.  When the orchestra finally enters, it provides a rich, but unobtrusive background to an ever-more-complicated battery of virtuoso techniques:  rapid harmonics, quadruple stops, and an amazing passage that calls upon the player to play pizzicatti with the left hand in the midst of bowed arpeggios.

Come see composer Robert Alan Henry lead a discussion on Ravel's Tzigane. Henry is a pianist, composer, and teacher in the Seattle area. He studied composition with Gerald Strang (an assistant to and protégé of Arnold Schoenberg) and with Donald Andrus and Edward Applebaum. He has written in a wide variety of styles and teaches piano, theory, composition, music history, and form and analysis. He has extensively researched the music of Bach, including most of the keyboard works. He has also researched the Baroque performance practice of the period and brings a unique perspective to the music as both a musicologist and a composer.

Joining Robert will be Gennady Filimonov, 1st Violin of the Odeon String Quartet. Consistent with the spirit in which the piece was originally inspired, Gennady will demonstrate the gypsy themes used in the piece and discuss the performance techniques involved in playing the work.

For more about the Odeon String Quartet, see: www.odeonstringquartet.org.

Capitol Music Center is the official sponsor of the SCA Monthly Score Salon.

2003 Past Events
About the Score Salon series