mf@cornell.UUCP (mf) (02/07/85)
Ravel was working on this one-page musical idea, pursuing the ideal and elusive perfection, by slightly varying, from version to version, rhythm, orchestration, etc. As anybody who has seen his manuscripts can attest, he was very meticulous, albeit frustrated: he numbered each new trial, and piled the discarded pages under the lid of his piano (a concert grand Pleyel). After his death, that's where they were found, and musicologists and owners of publishing houses going broke came to the conclusion that this was the score of an unpublished (single) work of his. As to the title of the piece (which nowhere appears on the so-called manuscript), it was suggested by a friend of Ravel who thought he had heard him mutter this word while playing the main theme. Actually, what Ravel was saying was "Beau, l'air, ho?" i.e., "the melody is nice, ah?" (Pg. 244 of the autobiography of Divine, his house-maid). Similar theories (ask Phil at Rebob) seem now to appear in learned circles as to some minimalists composition patterns. In any case, it saves a lot on the recording sessions: they consist of a single take of the theme, to be duplicated as many times as necessary to fill an album of the requested volume.