Songs 1896-1914

Book excerpt: As a young composer in the years preceding World War I, Maurice Ravel brought to the art of the song that distinctive fusion of classicism and the modern spirt that characterized all his musical works and helped earn him a reputation as one of the most important modern French song composers. This superb collection includes many of his most admired and performed songs and song cycles, edited and introduced by Arbie Orenstein, the world's leading Ravel scholar, and eloquently displays the artistry that has made Ravel a favorite of 20th-century singers and their audiences. Many of the songs are settings of texts by such major poets as Paul Verlaine and Stephane Mallarme. Reprinted here from authoritative French editions and provided with new English translations of the original French texts, they include: Sainte; Epigrammes de Clement Marot; Manteau de fleurs; Sheherazade; Cinq Melodies populaires grecques; Noel des jouets; Histories naturelles; Vocalise-Etude en forme de Hababera; Les Grands Vents venus d'outremer; Sur l'herbe; Chants popularizes; Trois Poemes de Stephane Mallarme; and Deux Melodies hebra gues."