Emily Kilpatrick

(And yes, Tim Ashley, I wanted an index too!) reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice...

Review - Maurice Ravel (by Emily Kilpatrick) ‘This is a portrait of a man who remained aloof and apart from a musical establishment that treated him warily almost from the beginning’

‘...in meticulous, elegant prose ... it packs a great deal of thought and information into a relatively short space, and often encourages us to think afresh about its subject.’
@reaktionbooks.bsky.social www.gramophone.co.uk/review/artic...

Nice review in Gramophone of my #Ravel biography: ‘Affecting in her examination of Ravel’s life – her account of his final illness is astonishingly moving – Kilpatrick’s discussions of the music are, in contrast, succinct, cool and finely judged…’

reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice... @reaktionbooks.bsky.social

'We have to let him know we're here': on writing a life for Maurice Ravel This book began twenty-one years and half my life ago.

'We have to let him know we're here': a little essay on why writing Ravel's biography felt like a homecoming. emilykilpatrick.substack.com/p/we-have-to...

The book is published today, and you can find it here: reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice... @reaktionbooks.bsky.social

Claude was funny, earthy, generous, passionately devoted to Ravel, passionately knowledgeable. If this book has one aim, it is that it might make this most entrancing, most enigmatic of composers feel alive for its readers, as Claude brought him to life for me.

YouTube video by caramelorb Maurice Ravel - 3 brief silent films

At Le Belvédère Ravel wasn’t an icon but a presence, fallible, exasperating and comical; spoken of not just with reverence but with affection, with humour and the occasional eyeroll. www.youtube.com/watch?v=j93G...

As part of the renovations the door to the tiny steep staircase to the garden needed replacing, so Claude took the old one home with her, mounted it on her wall and behind it painted a trompe d’oeïl image of the descending stair. She was certain Ravel would have approved of this.

And every day, I worked alongside the marvellous curator Claude Moreau. Claude changed my life. ‘Bonjour petit Maurice!’, she would call every morning as she unlocked the doors and opened the shutters (‘I have to let him know we’re here’).

That summer, I learned Miroirs at #Ravel's piano, I sat on his balcony and talked to people – visitors, and some older residents who could just remember calling ‘Bonjour Monsieur Ravel!’ when they saw him working in his garden.

And this adorable and very badly photographed postcard: 'Monsieur Ravel', it says, 'Merci mon grand ami / Gisele'. I still have my own letter from Gisele, the daughter of Ravel's house editor: she wrote of her memories of Ravel playing with her, and his love for bloody steak.

The door concealing the 'cagibi', the small storeroom.

This sailing ship, afloat on a papier-mache sea

This rather beautiful joke teacup with a hole in it.

I loved this tiny nightingale, which, when wound, sings with astonishing sweetness.

So I spent the summer scrubbing #Ravel’s floors (and his toilet), putting his books back on his shelves, his knickknacks on his piano, his glasses on their stand in the music room.

To my lasting astonishment, a fax came back, inviting me to spend a summer assisting in the renovations and then conducting some of the tours.

I was fortunate beyond measure to spend a summer working here in 2004, having optimistically sent a fax (!) to the Fondation #Ravel asking if they had any work for a young Australian with high-school French.

My #Ravel biography is published today by
@reaktionbooks ! This book began here, more than twenty years ago: at Le Belvédère, Ravel’s home from 1921 until his death.

reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice...

I wrote a book! It's the story of the most entrancing of French composers, and it's published on Monday. I am informed by my nine-year-old that it is a 'very small book'. This means that it is also portable and inexpensive and is therefore perfect summer reading. Get to it (link follows...)!

Maurice Ravel | Reaktion Books Maurice Ravel is one of the twentieth century’s most intriguing and contradictory composers. This timely new biography – published for the 150th anniversary of his birth – describes Ravel’s journey fr...

My biography of #Ravel will be published shortly by
@reaktionbooks.bsky.social, and is available for pre-order now! #Ravel150 reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice-ravel

YouTube video by BBC Radio 3 Happy Birthday Ravel

So happy birthday #Ravel, and thankyou. #Ravel150 www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEES...

62. Late in life Ravel reflected, ‘My object . . . is technical perfection. I can strive unceasingly towards this end, as I am certain that I will never attain it. The important thing is to get closer all the time.’ #Ravel150

61. Another friend, the poet Léon-Paul #Fargue, wrote simply that #Ravel was ‘a profoundly sensitive and good man’. #Ravel150

60. Ravel’s friends loved him dearly: he ‘was the surest, most faithful and most profoundly affectionate of friends’, Roland-Manuel wrote. #Ravel150

59. Ravel liked to have his own way, his younger brother noted, but he wanted others to agree with him in considering it the best way – ‘otherwise his pleasure was spoiled’. #Ravel150

58. Ravel was a punishing and sometimes infuriating collaborator, but a generous one; a demanding friend, but intensely loyal; an exacting teacher, who laid down boundaries to watch his students discover how to breach them. #Ravel150

57. Ravel had a dry, biting wit, and a lively sense of the ridiculous; he was funny, sharp and quick to anger. #Ravel150