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Thursday 15 April 2010
Tune of the Day: Piece en forme de Habanera
by Maurice Ravel, arranged for Flute and Piano
The “Vocalise-Étude en forme de Habanera” was originally written for low voice and piano in March 1907, and was commissioned by A.-L. Hettich as one of a series of studies by contemporary composers for use in his voice classes at the Paris Conservatoire. It was subsequently arranged in various instrumental versions, under the title “Pièce en forme de habanera”.
As you can see, Ravel was particularly fond of the characteristically Spanish habanera rhythm, which occurs not only in this piece, but also in his famous Rapsodie espagnole