as published on the website of "The Science " (1) and the journal Brain and Mind "(2), the composer was suffering from primary progressive aphasia and corticobasal degeneration. It seems that in his last and most famous work, Bolero, completed in 1928, Maurice Ravel was much influenced by the deterioration of the left side of his brain, rather than the artistic side.
"In the song alternate two main melodic themes, repeated eight times for 340 beats in a gradual and continuous crescendo from pianissimo to the initial overwhelming final, for a total of 18 musical sequences (nine repetitions of the theme A and nine of the theme B). At the same time, is based on two simple staccato bass lines (the rhythmic accompaniment of the drum) that alternate with each other. The Bolero has been called an exercise in compulsivity of structure and also perseveres in fact does not change up to 326 ° stop when suddenly accelerates. (2)
"The Bolero actually contains only two themes, each repeated 30 times, but also has 25 different combinations of sounds. Ravel himself described it as" an orchestral fabric without music. "Of course, discriminate between ' evolution of the disease and artistic development is very difficult . " (1)
"Ravel's disease may have begun in asymptomatic at that period, in which his manuscripts show signs of deterioration ." (2)
Deborah Mawer, of Lancaster University would point out that at the end of his life Ravel was interested in mechanization, and this may explain the repetition of the Bolero.
(1) The evidence graphological found (two subscriptions and a postcard dating back to 1925 of 1928), Ravel's personality is incredibly strong from a technical standpoint, and very little in terms of music although a significant difference between signature and text. The three signature, autograph certainly is
are consistent in tightness of letters and letters, highly fragmented and rigidly detached, as well as characterized by strange stretch in the straight base line. Everything you say, except that the writing of a musician. The text that appears on the card, apparently the same hand, always drawn with separate letters and considerable tightness, however, appears more easy, not without inequalities and some variability in the inclination, all of which gives some 'breathing at that picky technicality that appears in the signatures.
If the material is to hand by Ravel, would be interesting to try to understand why, in this case, against every principle expert, the artist proves more difficult to draw in a spontaneous signing (which normally keeps being more automated than in along the basic automation in case of illness) to the text.
1. The Science, January 23, 2002 (lescienze.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/Nuove_ipotesi_sulla_demenza_di_Maurice_Ravel/1289533
2. Mind & Brain, No 43, July 2008, p.58
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