La valse

Creation and meaning#

The idea of La valse began first with the title “Vienne”, then Wien (French and German for “Vienna”, respectively) as early as 1906, when Ravel intended to orchestrate a piece in tribute to the waltz form and to Johann Strauss II. An earlier influence was the waltz (Fête polonaise) from Emmanuel Chabrier’s opera Le roi malgré lui. In Ravel’s output, a precursor to La valse is his 1911 Valses nobles et sentimentales, which contains a motif that Ravel reused in the later work. After his service in the French Army, Ravel returned to his original idea of the symphonic poem Wien. He described his attraction to waltz rhythm as follows, to Jean Marnold, while writing La valse: You know my intense attraction to these wonderful rhythms and that I value the joie de vivre expressed in the dance much more deeply than Franckist puritanism. After hearing a two-piano reduction performed by Ravel and Marcelle Meyer, Diaghilev called it a “masterpiece” but “not a ballet. It’s a portrait of ballet”. Hurt by the comment, Ravel ended the relationship. La valse became a popular concert work and when the two men met again in 1925, Ravel refused to shake Diaghilev’s hand. Diaghilev challenged Ravel to a duel, but friends persuaded him to recant. They never met again. The ballet was premiered in Antwerp in 1926 by the Royal Flemish Opera Ballet and was produced by the Ballets Ida Rubinstein in 1928 and 1931, with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska. The music was also used for ballets of the same title, one in 1951 by George Balanchine, who had made dances for Diaghilev, and one by Frederick Ashton in 1958, at the premiere of which Francis Poulenc complimented Ashton on what he considered the first successful interpretation of Ravel’s intentions for the music. Ravel described La valse with the following preface to the score: Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished. The clouds gradually scatter: one sees at letter A an immense hall peopled with a whirling crowd. The scene is gradually illuminated. The light of the chandeliers bursts forth at the fortissimo letter B. Set in an imperial court, about 1855.

Description#

The beginning starts quietly (the mist), with the rumbling of the double basses with the celli and harps subsequently joining. Silently and gradually, instruments play fragmented melodies, gradually building into a subdued tune on bassoons and violas. Eventually, the harps signal the beginning culmination of instruments into the graceful melody. Led by the violins, the orchestra erupts into the work’s principal waltz theme. A series of waltzes follows, each with its own character, alternating loud and soft sequences:

Transcriptions#

Ravel himself gave two transcriptions for piano. One is for two pianos, which was first publicly performed by Ravel and Alfredo Casella. The other is a solo piano version. It is infrequently performed due to its difficulty. He had transcribed Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin in 1919 in similar fashion. Glenn Gould, who rarely played Ravel’s music, made his own arrangement of it in 1975. Sean Chen recorded his own arrangement on the Steinway & Sons label in 2014. In 2005, Don Patterson transcribed La valse for symphonic wind ensemble for the United States Marine Band. The arrangement is recorded on the album Symphonic Dances, conducted by Michael J. Colburn. In 2020, in honor of the 100th anniversary of La valses première, Belgian composer Tim Mulleman transcribed it for string nonet (4 vn, 2 va, 2 vc, 1 cb) for Philippe Graffin and Friends. A filmed performance was made possible by Lars Konings. The Linos Piano Trio included a transcription of La valse for piano trio on its 2021 album Stolen Music. In 2025, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth, flutist and composer Nikka Gershman premiered her transcription of La valse, heard on flute for the first time, at Lincoln Center’s Paul Hall.

Bibliography#

• Orenstein, Arbie; Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Columbia University Press, 1968)
• Mawer, Deborah: “The Ballets of Maurice Ravel: Creation and Interpretation” (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006)

External links#

• Program notes, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• Recording of La valse in transcription for two pianos by Neal and Nancy O’Doan in MP3 format
• Performance of La valse in transcription for solo piano by Jean-Frédéric Neuburger from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format
• , Leonard Bernstein, Orchestre National de France
• , Benjamin Zander, Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra
• , Yuja Wang, Verbier Festival 2012
• , Philippe Graffin & Friends, Traces Festival 2020