Ravel: Valses Nobles et Sentimentales

Waltzes were once scandalous, as Professor Carol likes to point out. The court dances of the 17th and 18th centuries featured intricate footwork; a couple’s fingertips might touch lightly. In the waltz, however, a man would grab a woman by the waist and spin her in circles. She had to hold on. And to avoid dizziness, the couple would have to lock eyes.

But when he put his arm around her, pressed her to his breast, cavorted with her in the shameless, indecent whirling-dance of the Germans and engaged in a familiarity that broke all the bounds of good breeding—then my silent misery turned into burning rage. —Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim by Sophie von La Roche (1771)

Waltzes became all the rage in 19th-century Europe. It’s difficult for us to think of the waltz as anything other than elegant—even a bit old-fashioned. We forget how they were perceived in their day.

Composers repeatedly returned to the waltz, even after newer dances became popular. Far from scandalous, the engaging compendium of waltzes (valses) by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) bears the labels “noble” and “sentimental.” Those terms had actually been employed by Schubert almost a hundred years earlier than Ravel’s 1911 composition. Ravel was paying homage to Schubert’s collection of waltzes.

Ravel tends to be paired with Debussy as French Impressionist composers. In certain pieces that association is not without justification. But overall, I don’t find the pairing very useful. Debussy rejected the idea that his music should be considered Impressionistic, yet his music emphasizes mood and color (as opposed to thematic development) and prominence of blocks of sound (sonorities). For visual parallels, think of the paintings by Impressionist artists such as Monet, Cézanne, and Degas. Ravel, on the other hand, was a classicist, a craftsman whose music sometimes shares qualities with Debussy’s, but far more often features intricate design and methodical development in form and color.

In the Valses Nobles et Sentimentals, Ravel combines the elegance of the dance form with the colors of Impressionism, and applies his clarity and craftsmanship to each of the eight—very different—short waltzes. Taken together, they are a tour de force and a delight to hear.