The "Swiss watchmaker" who is French? Ravel!
Paris at the turn of the century was an inspiring centre for all the arts in Europe! Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Satie... composers who are still popular today. Maurice Ravel deserves a special place among the geniuses of the period, not as a performer, but as a composer and master of orchestral orchestration! Was the composer of Bolero responsible for Musorgsky's success in Europe? Why is orchestration important? Can one be a great composer and a barely acceptable conductor?
We invite you on a 90-minute journey, with live music and accompanying arts, with pianist Márton Mikulík.
Schedule
The most important centre of music at the turn of the century was Paris, where, alongside new trends in literature and the visual arts, music was reborn and became a precursor of the musical language of the 20th century. Alongside Faure, Debussy, Saint-Saëns and Satie, Maurice Ravel is one of the most popular and well-known composers of this period. Why is he a significant figure in music history? As Ravel self-deprecatingly remarked to Honegger: 'I have composed only one masterpiece, the Bolero; unfortunately there is no music in it'. Indeed, Bolero is a classic hit! Ravel presented himself mainly as a composer, although he played the piano, but he was not outstanding as an instrumentalist, nor did he excel as a conductor. His life was full of twists and turns: rejected state honours, military service, accusations, disappointments and late successes. Yet he has written countless masterpieces.
House of Music Hungary
A music education centre and concert venue in the heart of the City Park, behind the airy futuristic glass facade of Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto.
