I was listening to bits and pieces of classical music on YouTube this morning, and came across Ravel's Bolero conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

I know it is a well known, and overplayed piece, but I enjoyed listening to it very much. Unfortunately, because of YouTube's ten minute rule, it's divided into two parts:

Ravel - Bolero - Daniel Barenboim - Berliner Phil. Pt. 1

Pt. 2

Anyway, then I got to reading about Ravel, and apparently it's thought that when he wrote Bolero he was suffering from the early stages of dementia, and this accounts for the repetitive nature of the piece. Indeed, during an early performance, the story goes that a woman shouted out from the audience that Ravel was mad. When he was told about this, he replied, that she had understood the music.

Is this a longstanding theory about Ravel and the creation of Bolero, or is it just something recently suggested?

I found this article in the New York Times from April of this year: A Disease That Allowed Torrents of Creativity

quote:

Is this a longstanding theory about Ravel and the creation of Bolero, or is it just something recently suggested?

The story I heard is that he wrote it on a bet that he couldn't compose a piece made up completely of only one line of music.

Well, if what I read has any truth to it, I find it fascinating that a debilitating and degenerative disease can produce such creativity.

Just before I went on holiday, I bought a new version of Daphnis et Chloé and I'd quite forgotten. Where is it? It's the longest work Ravel ever wrote and all but 100 years old. A true gem, but living here I'm biased.