Ravel’s romanticism, a chosen heritage

Abstract

We propose to position Maurice Ravel in a romantic stylistic heritage, with respect
to the influences of Edgar Poe and of Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakov. Strongly nourished
by their language and aesthetics, Ravel’s style preserves their expressive, narrative
and poetic dimension. Direct legacy or product of an imitative process, the detectable
romantic imprints in Ravel’s works are analyzed in works like the Valses nobles et
sentimentales, Shéhérazade, the Rapsodie espagnole or L’Enfant et les sortilèges.
Through the orchestration or the figuralism, tools dedicated to the creation of
poetical universes, Maurice Ravel expresses his attachment to a selected romantic
aesthetic heritage. Nonexclusive reference, this legacy of the past mixes with
contemporary styles in a subtle blending characteristic of the stylistic originality of
the composer.