Bolero is an orchestral work in C major by the French composer Maurice Ravel, composed in 1928 and first performed on November 22 of that year at the Paris Opera with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska. Built over an unbroken snare drum rhythm repeated 169 times, the piece consists of two 18-bar melodies stated in alternation with steadily changing orchestration across one long, continuous crescendo from a near-silent opening to a fortissimo close. Ravel described it modestly as orchestral tissue without music, consisting of one very long, gradual crescendo, but it became by far his most famous composition, and renewed popular attention after its use in the 1979 film 10 briefly made him, four decades after his death, the best-selling classical composer of the day.
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1. Bolero (Ravel) (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationlead paragraph
Boléro is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel.
Composition section
The work's creation was set in motion by a commission from the dancer Ida Rubinstein, who asked Ravel for an orchestral transcription of six pieces from Isaac Albéniz's set of piano pieces, Iberia.
Infobox: composed
1928
Lead sentence
Boléro is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel.
In Group: Symphonies and Orchestral Works, Lead
Boléro is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel.
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