Le Tombeau de Couperin for reduced orchestra
Orchestration: Flute (piccolo), 2 Oboes (2nd EH), Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Harp, Strings (minimum count recommended of 4,3,3,2,2)
The work was writen as a solo piano piece between 1914 and 1917 and was orchestrated by the composer in 1919. Although François Couperin is the intellectual inspiration for the composition (the work emulates forms and ornamentations often used by the Baroque French composer) the spiritual inspiration of the piece is certainly the Great War. Ravel, who served as an ambulance driver at the front, dedicated each movement of the piece to specific ffriends who were killed in action. After receiving criticism for "failing" to capture the somber mood of the war with "Le Tombeau," Ravel commented: "The dead are sad enough in the eternal silence."
Orchestration: Flute (piccolo), 2 Oboes (2nd EH), Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Harp, Strings (minimum count recommended of 4,3,3,2,2)
The work was writen as a solo piano piece between 1914 and 1917 and was orchestrated by the composer in 1919. Although François Couperin is the intellectual inspiration for the composition (the work emulates forms and ornamentations often used by the Baroque French composer) the spiritual inspiration of the piece is certainly the Great War. Ravel, who served as an ambulance driver at the front, dedicated each movement of the piece to specific ffriends who were killed in action. After receiving criticism for "failing" to capture the somber mood of the war with "Le Tombeau," Ravel commented: "The dead are sad enough in the eternal silence."
Orchestration: Flute (piccolo), 2 Oboes (2nd EH), Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Harp, Strings (minimum count recommended of 4,3,3,2,2)
The work was writen as a solo piano piece between 1914 and 1917 and was orchestrated by the composer in 1919. Although François Couperin is the intellectual inspiration for the composition (the work emulates forms and ornamentations often used by the Baroque French composer) the spiritual inspiration of the piece is certainly the Great War. Ravel, who served as an ambulance driver at the front, dedicated each movement of the piece to specific ffriends who were killed in action. After receiving criticism for "failing" to capture the somber mood of the war with "Le Tombeau," Ravel commented: "The dead are sad enough in the eternal silence."