Hello, John and Doves,An aural peek at heaven:Despite the devastation Ravel felt both after the death of his mother in 1917 and of his friends in the First World War, Le tombeau de Couperin retains a light-hearted flavour. When criticised for composing a light-hearted, and sometimes reflective work rather than a sombre one, for such a sombre topic, Ravel replied: "The dead are sad enough, in their eternal silence.”
But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise-- let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy-- your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
Le Tombeau de Couperin is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917.
It is in six movements. Each movement is dedicated to the memory of friends of the composer who had died fighting in World War I. Ravel himself served in the war as an ambulance driver and was wounded in the process. The movements are:
I. Prélude. "To the memory of Lieutenant Jacques Charlot" (who transcribed Ravel's four-hand piece Ma Mère l'Oye for solo piano).
II. Fugue. "To the memory of Jean Cruppi" (to whose mother Ravel dedicated his opera L'heure espagnole).
III. Forlane. "To the memory of Lieutenant Gabriel Deluc" (a Basque painter from Saint-Jean-de-Luz).
IV. Rigaudon. "To the memory of Pierre and Pascal Gaudin" (brothers killed by the same shell).
V. Menuet. "To the memory of Jean Dreyfus" (at whose home Ravel recuperated after he was demobilized).
VI. Toccata. "To the memory of Captain Joseph de Marliave".
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin (Piano)_______________________________________________________________In 1919 Ravel orchestrated four movements of the work (Prélude, Forlane, Menuet and Rigaudon); this version was first performed in 1920, and has remained one of his more popular works.Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin (Orchestral version)--________________________________________________________________~Blessings,Mike