Sniff Royal Funeral Shuffle for Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte
The Backstory
Pavane pour une infante défunte, M. 19
Ayo, Ravel here, fam, droppin' the backstory of Pavane pour une infante défunte on ya, so settle in, bruh! Ya gonna find out how I, at 24, cooked up this slow, silky dance for solo piano in 1899, and it's worth every minute 'cause the story ain't the sad funeral ya think, dang! On this site my fellow composers and I teach ya to recognize our pieces the moment they play, yo, so jump into the Trainer and test yourself, bruh!
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Yo, Meet The Kid From Ciboure
Yo yo yo, hold up, fam, I popped out on 7 March 1875 in Ciboure, right near Biarritz, and swear to me ya never saw a baby with bigger plans, no cap! Fast-forward, and by 1897 I was back at the Paris Conservatoire, grindin' away like a hamster on a double espresso, deadass! My teacher was Gabriel Fauré, and lemme tell ya, that dude was straight-up smooth, a real legend in the composition game, dang! So when this Pavane came outta my head in 1899, I was just a student kid doodlin' pretty sounds between classes, ya feel me?Kicked Out, Still Showed Up
Okay okay, plot twist, bruh: in 1900 the Conservatoire booted me out 'cause I'd won zero prizes, not a single shiny thing, zilch! Did I stay home cryin' in a pillow fort, though? Heck no, I kept strollin' right back into Fauré's classes as an auditeur, which is basically a fancy word for 'sneaky listener with no homework'! I kept that gig up until 1903, so picture me sittin' in the back row like a free-samples guy at the grocery store, whoa! Rejected on paper but still hangin' with the squad, that's how ya flip a burn into a flex, no joke!The Hooligans Had Great Snacks
Around 1900 I joined this crew of artists, poets, critics and musicians called the Apaches, and yeah, that's a real thing, fam! Ricardo Viñes came up with the name, and it means 'The Hooligans', which is hilarious 'cause we mostly just argued about art and sipped drinks, wild! Picture the rowdiest gang on the block, except the big fight was over who understood the poem best, haha! Viñes would soon matter to this piece way more than any hooligan business, so hang tight, homie!A Princess Gets The Shout-Out
So here's the VIP part: I dedicated the piano piece to the Princesse de Polignac, whose real name was Winnaretta Singer and who was my patron, big money energy, ya hear me? Some folks say she commissioned it, others only say it was dedicated to her, and honestly the story goes both ways, so the receipts are kinda missin', my guy! Either way, my name's on a classy piece with her name tucked on it, which was like gettin' a blue checkmark in the 1890s, boom! Not bad for a guy who'd just been shoved out the Conservatoire door, right, right?Paperwork, Plates, And A Date Mystery
Eugène Demets published the piano version in Paris, and the plate number is E. 623 D., which sounds like a secret agent's locker combo, yo! When exactly? IMSLP says 1899 and Wikipedia says 1900, so the history nerds are arm-wrestlin' over it and nobody's winnin', lol! The whole thing is one movement, just 72 bars long, so it's shorter than your average group-chat argument, bam! Small and sweet like a pocket-sized cupcake, but that cupcake ended up feedin' the whole planet, I'm tellin' ya!The Premiere Was Kinda Quiet
On 5 April 1902, my buddy Ricardo Viñes played the premiere at a concert of the Société nationale de musique, and the hooligan finally earned his keep, woo! Did the crowd lose its mind and rush the stage? Nope, the piece got little attention at first, crickets, bruh, crickets! Yeah, that stings, but hey, slow burners sneak up on ya like a ninja in fuzzy socks, gotta respect it! Little did I know this sleepy lil' tune would be the one everybody hums in the shower someday, for real!Dead Princess? Chill, Nobody Died
Listen up, 'cause folks always freak out about the title: it ain't a lament for a dead child, so wipe those tears, fam! I said it evokes a pavane a little princess might've danced at the Spanish court, and I told Manoah Leide-Tedesco I just loved how the words sounded, simple as that, boom! Then in 1925 I said it was only the pleasure of alliteration, so basically I picked it like ya pick a cool username, ha! Some researchers link it to the Infanta Margarita in Velázquez's Las Meninas, but I never named any painting, so that's pure speculation, my dude, total guesswork!Dressin' It Up For The Big Band
Fast-forward to 1910, when I orchestrated the thing, 'cause the piano version was askin' for a glow-up, ya know? I used two flutes, an oboe, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, a harp and strings, so basically a tiny dream team with no loud drums crashin' the party, sweet! On 27 February 1911 it premiered in Manchester with Henry Wood conducting, and the critic Samuel Langford called it 'most beautiful', which made me grin like a goofball, whoa! That orchestral version is catalogued as M. 19a while the piano original stays M. 19, so don't mix 'em up, or the librarians will come for ya, yikes!Me Roastin' My Own Homework
Plot twist, fam: in 1912 I judged my own piece harshly, wrote that Chabrier's influence was much too glaring, and said the form was rather poor, ouch! Yeah, I trashed my own baby like a grumpy food critic at a birthday party, savage! Then the world went and fell in love with it anyway, and I gave most of the credit to remarkable interpretations from the folks playin' it, 'cause performers make magic happen, period! Moral of the story: creators are terrible judges of their own stuff, so never trust the guy who made it, ha!Still Goin' Strong, Baby
I recorded the piece on piano roll in 1922, so ya can say I dropped a mixtape way before streaming, haha! Since then folks kept remixin' it: there's the song 'The Lamp Is Low', Pedro Aznar's synthesizer version from 1982, William Orbit in 2000 and Hayley Westenra's vocal take in 2004, what a ride! Classic FM even ranked it 230th in its Hall of Fame as of 2020, which is a legit flex for a tune that started out ignored, mind blown! So next time that dreamy melody floats by, give a nod to the kid who got kicked out and still dropped a banger, peace out!---
Ayo, sheesh, we've reached the end of the road, and my heart's doin' a slow, swishy sway like a little princess at the Spanish court, word! Did ya vibe with the backstory of Pavane pour une infante défunte, or did it hit ya straight in the feels, fr? Lowkey, I still can't believe this dreamy little tune started as a solo piano piece in 1899, when I was a young buck scribblin' away, bet! And get this: the thing was never some sad funeral cry, 'cause it's all about that elegant, floaty, velvet-smooth dance, ya heard? Hold up, though, 'cause we've barely scratched the surface, my friend, and there's a whole stack of juicy stuff still waitin' on ya! Think about the orchestra version, the wild remixes, the rondo twists, and all the other bussin' corners of Pavane pour une infante défunte, sheesh! So don't dip out yet, homie, 'cause the vibe check keeps goin' and goin'! Smash those links on this page right now, dive on in, and go explore the rest of this slow-motion beauty, no cap, let's gooo!