3.6.5 Note on Ravel’s Bolero

[In answer to charges that Ravel's Bolero was an act of
'pandering' on the part of the composer]

As has been pointed out, Bolero does use a crescendo effect. But it also uses changes of orchestration and re-harmonization—particularly organ-registration-like effects. I don’t think it’s quite as simple as to say simply, ’It gets louder.’

Many composers do stunt pieces, in which the challenge for them, as composers, is to create something satisfying with limited means. The story i read (years ago) said that Ravel made up a theme he liked enough that he claimed he could make a satisfying work out of it without resorting to classical development or variation at all.

It’s a long theme—it only repeats a handful of times (something like five times, if i remember correctly). It feels like more because it’s catchy, and because it is so very long—over 150 notes, i guess.

And the bottom line is: if it works it works. Ravel was a consummate craftsman, one of the best ever (he wrote not that many pieces, but almost every one of them is in the standard repertoire); he built something unusual, but built it well. I don’t need to listen to it every day, but i think it enjoys a well-deserved reputation and place in the repertoire. It is not fair to call it pandering.

Based on a post to the Music Theory
tribe on tribe.net