A CUBIST READING OF MAURICE RAVEL’S LA VALSE

Abstract

Ravel’s La valse is often interpreted as the embodiment of fallen or disintegrating romantic idioms, embodied in his treatment of the waltz. However, La valse can also be discussed in the context of the artistic trends of its time, particularly its relationship to cubist aesthetics in painting. Although there is no concrete evidence that cubism was used as a source for La valse, Deborah Mawer has written about the influence of cubist ideas on other works by Ravel. My analysis will correlate certain cubist techniques with Ravel’s compositional techniques and explain how to translate cubism into a musical aesthetic consisting of characteristics such as fragmentation, angularity, and collage, similar to the analytical cubist works of Picasso and Braque. Comparisons with paintings by Picasso and Braque, along with Ravel’s earlier Valses nobles et sentimentales, replace the analytical focus on the destruction of the waltz idiom with a depiction of the many layers, angles and facets of the waltz, as if it were the subject of a cubist painting. This cubist interpretation emphasizes the structure and form of the piece, as well as emphasizing the thematic relationships. Rather than giving primacy to a climactic arrival in the final bars of the piece, this reading focuses the performer’s attention on the development of the main body of the piece.