Classical music meets the machine. Episode 23 - Boléro by Maurice Ravel

A steady beat and a catchy tune are unremarkable these days, but when Ravel wrote Boléro, repetition was radical. Did Ravel predict the future of popular music in a brilliant lightbulb moment? Or was he just being, well, a bit lazy? Is it deceptively complex or outrageously simple? Or both? What does Boléro tell us about how this eccentric French composer ticked? Let’s find out…
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Composer: Maurice Ravel
Work: Boléro
Performer: New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Pierre Boulez
Year: 2010
Label: Sony

[@ClassicsExplained]

If you want to see more Classics Explained episodes, please consider supporting us on Patreon. You can pretend you're a 17th century lord patronising a court musician.

[@aashishharijan1780]

Okies

[@cbgeary]

DO BALLETS RUSSES BY SERGEI DIAGHILEV NEXT, PLEASE!!!

[@robertmatch6550]

The world creates a needed niche for autistic percussionists.

[@TristanMA]

@@cbgeary More importantly try Firebird and Petrushka next.

[@kirstendonovan4092]

I hope it works ​@@TristanMA

[@Pitts_not_Pitty]

Deceptive difficulty all over this piece. Just maintaining an even crescendo over 16 minutes is impressive. Ah man and the trombone solo 🤩

[@davidbrewer9030]

I red that Ravel was so tired of people wanting to hear Bolero that he got angry and said something like "You know, I have written other things!"

[@TristanMA]

Ravel's Bolero is, in essence, a backstory to Bizet's Carmen, and an Outer-Space ballet in the manner of Holst's Mars from The Planets.

[@scaper8]

I wish I could like this comment more than once.

[@minnieyuyantung]

so ravel wrote a prequel fan fiction base on bizet's Carmen?

[@partituravid]

uh, what? Definitely not Carmen-related.

[@scaper8]

@partituravid Not directly, no, but the idea of a sexy, enchanting Gypsy woman doing a seductive dance certainly calls to mind _Carmen_ to a moder listener.

[@kininiwong5350]

Brandenburg Concrtos next please!

[@jddrew1000]

YESSSS

[@TristanMA]

@@jddrew1000 The Third Brandenurg Concerto belongs in Christmas , along with Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Christmas Oratorio, Pastorale in F Major for Organ, Variation on Vom Himmel Hoch, Sheep May Safely Graze, Sleepers Wake, & Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland.

[@TheMovieCreator]

Funfact, Koji Kondo wanted to use Bolero as the title theme of the first Legend of Zelda game back in... checks notes... 1985/86!

[@XtTapelatakettle]

And the funny thing is that it was only about a month away from the public domain as well.

[@TheMovieCreator]

@@XtTapelatakettle That's a little bit of a stretch tho, the "about a month" claim is assuming the International release date and Japanese copyright laws. The Japanese release was in February 1986, one and three quarters of a year before it would have become public domain in Japan (and Japan only).

[@gab_v250]

Yeah, the Legend of Zelda main theme is heavily inspired by Bolero for this reason (down to the rhythm)

[@Yaleni-Sotelo]

Please!!!!! Never stop making these videos!!!!! They are absolutely amazing!!!!!!! And very helpful especially when preparing for orchestra.

[@lopenash]

"His father was an engineer" And suddenly everything falls into place

[@mouf725]

They forgot to mention that he was Swiss as well, so that might also explain the love for meticulous design and timekeeping as I have heard described before!

[@kern9422]

the smoke cloud at 0:25 is hilarious bc i know it would have been ***very painful*** to actually animate that

[@nxcromxncer]

Fr

[@Masterwoke28]

Poor percussionist has to just play the same rhythm for 16 minutes over 100 times

[@ElizabethMcCormick-s2n]

Yeah, i can see why that would be rather boring!

[@ceejay0137]

With a very, very slow crescendo. The volume of the snare drum has to increase otherwise the rest of the orchestra would drown it out.

[@robertopatino6646]

In crescendo

[@yddra1732]

Well actually it changes a little bit with the modulation, for like 20 bars before the end..... So you are graced with like 40s of diversity after 13mins of playing the same 4 bars on repeat and the chance to fuck it up because you forgot!

[@davidwalterhall]

Almost every musical tradition in the world features some kind of repetitive percussive rhythm most of the time (I'm including strumming), with Western Classical being a rare exception. Most drummers are playing a beat. Bolero is one of the exceptions to the exception. I suppose your point is that there aren't any fills. In any other musical tradition the drummer would play some fills, even if they weren't written. Again, Western Classical is a curious outlier.

[@kagitsune]

I've heard the dementia explanation too. I'm glad that there's more to it than that!

[@storlok1922]

Great video! ❤

[@Superphilipp]

The Horns, Celeste and Piccolo aren't playing in completely unrelated keys. The transpositions are derived from the overtone series .... similar to an organ mixture, as you mentioned.

[@pinkchanelgirl5]

I LOVE another episode of classics explained. Benjamin is such a great narrator. I love his voice 😍😍😍

[@rufuscove1443]

I agree with you! I recently discovered this channel and I am a super fan now 😊 Benjamin you are a genius

[@MyRegularNameWasTaken]

Some absolutely stellar animations here, beautifully abstract while telling the story of the piece perfectly.

[@existentialcrisis7718]

This channel deserves way more viewers and subscribers. the quality of the animation is really good and the narrator continues to do an amazing job.

[@jiafeiskinnyproducts]

RAVEL!!! YES!!!!!!!

[@TristanMA]

This is your second Ravel survey after his orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Ravel also did Mother Goose, Pavane for a Deceased Princess, Tombeu de Couperin, and La Valse. Ida Rubinstein performed the role of Zobeide in Fokine's version of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.

[@Hailey_Paige_1937]

You forgot Daphnis et Chloé!! Fantastic work of his.

[@arisusandi5793]

Fun fact: bolero was also used in an anime called Digimon.

[@thomasrinschler6783]

Thanks for pointing out the horns - celeste - piccolo section. It's one of my favorite parts, too, with how eerie it sounds. That and the trumpets coming in fortissimo near the end are the sections I most anticipate when listening to the piece.

[@craigbrush5784]

Absolutely wonderful as always. Get this important content in schools.

[@teodoragradinaru8572]

I guessed it!🎉 The image from community looked soooo iconic that made me think immediately about Ravel.😊

[@alex9920ro]

Very nice piece of modern music. I remembered when I was in highschool and I brought a CD with famous classical music pieces to school and we all listened to Ravel's Bolero during a French class. My French teacher told us that Bolero is such a popular piece of music, that every 3 minutes someone in this world is listening to it. Its that true?

[@barasedlarova679]

I lately discovered this channel and it is absolutely brilliant, thanks for doing that!! Looking forward for the next episodes

[@starmelodyelizabethb7380]

Yay Carmen makes a guest appearance

[@colonelweird]

This is the first classical piece I heard as a child - played on the Moog synthesizer. I was fascinated. Then a few years later when it came to be associated with a nude Bo Derek, I took a rather different sort of interest in it. I heard Bolero was meant to simulate rising sexual tension, with rhythmic movement reaching a moment of climax. Maybe that was a line from 10? I don't recall. But I never forgot Bolero.

[@TristanMA]

Timbre also appears in Benjamin Britten's Guide to the Orchestra.

[@aleksimakinen8073]

This is an amazing concept! Please keep making more.

[@KibblezanBitz]

I love this piece, probably the first classical piece I ever went out of my way to listen to. I'd read in a completely unrelated context that they used the piece in the show Digimon of all things, and, having been a fan of that show as a child, got curious and gave it a listen, and got hooked. It's inspired me to listen to other classical pieces since then, so I'm really happy to see that you've done a video on it.

[@humanfingers]

BASQUE MENTIONED RAHHHHHH💪💪💪💪 No but for real, love me some ravel

[@curtisdaniel9294]

Bravo! A Most Brilliant Explanation of this Piece. Thank You Ever So Much. 💙😊

[@Miksy51]

You know what got me liking this track? *FREAKING DIGIMON!* (Especially the movies like kizuna and the beginning)

[@Nogdev]

Excellent video as always! Boléro was one of the first classical music pieces I've listened to when I seriously started exploring the genre back in 2016, and it has been one of my favourties even since. Loved the parallel between the music and the precise machines; made me wonder about Franz Kafka for a minute there. Never knew about the Toscanini bit though; that was absolutely hilarious!

[@lisys511]

I discovered classical music earlier when i was a baby :3

[@elizabethwarne2379]

I love Bolero so much in can’t wait for this video!

[@88franko]

I really appreciate all the work you put into these videos. They're both entertaining and educational.

[@SplittingProductions]

One of my favorite pieces! The simplicity of the theme being repeated for 15 minutes yet it is always interesting from it's build and you never get bored of it makes it truly a masterpiece. Also think Shostakovich has a symphony that does a similar thing, but cant remember which one.

[@erind9535]

The first movement of Shostakovich's Symphony #7 does something similar.

[@liamannegarner8083]

​@@erind9535Leningrad, right?

[@erind9535]

@@liamannegarner8083 Yes

[@OmarTravelAdventures]

Brilliant!!!

[@Gr84you]

Love it!

[@mybachhertzbaud3074]

This is a very entertaining synopsis of both Ravel and Bolero. Thank you.😁🎶🎹🎶Play On

[@lisys511]

Ravel is one of my favourite composers next to debussy mozart etc… And ravel is sooo cute on this animation :3

[@raguifarag7709]

This is your best video so far

[@ClassicsExplained]

Thank you so much

[@thepostapocalyptictrio4762]

Yeah!! You’re back!! And you brought Ravel with you this time!! Woow!!

[@IntegralKing]

I love the whimsical animations! I wish you had done Gaspard de la Nuit, though! My daughter Ondine would be so pleased haha

[@jarekwrzosek2048]

I didn't expect Max Rebo of all the cameos! Still, excellent job as always Classics Explained. Bravissimo!

[@elleh.790]

Just discovered your channel recently! I really enjoy your videos! Thanks! 🎉😊

[@justintuccimusic]

Great video 🤵🏻‍♂️👏🏼

[@gabrielkatz1295]

Another amazing video! Thank you for this wonderful content🙏🏻

[@LittleB2007]

I would've loved to see Maurice Béjart's exquisite solo ballet piece included here but, well, T&D's Sarajevo performance may well take the cake! Wonderful video.

[@Rgoid]

6:55 George Gershwin with Maurice Ravel!

[@nathalieplum2137]

Le Boléro will forever be associated in my mind with the ballet in the Claude Lelouch Les Uns Et Les Autres, a 1981 film that everyone should see.

[@eosborne6495]

This is your best animation yet! Funny, informative, brilliant artwork. Bravo!

[@TristanMA]

You mentioned Toscanini. He was at the premiere of Puccini's Turandot (completed by Alfano) and conducted the American premiere of Respighi's Pines of Rome.

[@lisys511]

This is soo awesome and adorable 😸👏💖

[@Cholisztberlix]

I actually cant wait 😍😍😍

[@jacksonelmore6227]

Let’s get you to 100k, your work is valuable and I’d show it to my kids if I had any, listened to Bolero the first time last month after I heard Bernstein say it’s an orchestrational masterclass, at first the piece pissed me off but now I replay it just for its experience I can just let go of the music a bit and let the thing ride higher 😎🙏🥇

[@TristanMA]

1970s and 1980s saw the the rise of Tintinabulation under Arvo Part, John Rutter's mature carols, and John Tavener's Holy Minimalism.

[@teodoragradinaru8572]

I loved it! ❤ Sooo great!🎉🎉 Congrats!🎉🎉🎉

[@teodoragradinaru8572]

I'm curious about what will happen. I'm really excited. ❤

[@kk_hsym]

Finally! :D

[@lirannine]

This is kind of a weird fact. I live in Israel and like 99% of the popularion thinks about chocolate milk when they hear this piece because of a series of commercials back in the early 2000s of a man sleepwalking to a Kibbutz to get said chocolate milk.

[@pdqbachfan]

Second. Fantastic vid! Keep them comin’!

[@damonkinell-cm3uu]

I saw a video saying that this was the worst piece of classical music ever. I cannot understand how anyone could think that. This piece captivates me from start to finish and the ending always gives me shivers.. even just the snippet at 8:28 was enough to give me goosebumps!

[@joedellinger9437]

So in another nearby universe they have Ravel’s Fandango but have never heard of Bolero.

[@justinscaife530]

Always fun and educating content. Please do Darius Milhaud’s Saudades do Brasil!!!!🎉🎉❤❤❤

[@sirbarryrogers8411]

Isn't it disappointing that RAVEL has composed a lot of other works, much more elaborated than BOLERO, and that people only know him for BOLERO???

[@emilyglass5313]

Makes me wonder how Holst felt when he composed other suites (e.g. The Japanese Suite), but people only recognize him as the guy who wrote The Planets.

[@woodencoyote4372]

Exquisite. What a treat for the ear and the eye!

[@dedede5586]

i love this piece, thank you for making a video about it!!!

[@2BiTeddy]

I live the Little Book of Calm (Black Books reference?!)

[@SrSacaninha]

Thank you! Brilliant, as usual! Plase, find it in your heart to do Pärt's Cantus in memoriam of Benjamin Britten next. It's one of the saddest pieces of music ever imo, and I would love to see how your comic style would tackle it.

[@zjschrage]

Some Bruckner next!

[@golden_smaug]

I love this video to bits

[@grisha4167]

The first techno track

[@supreetsahu1964]

I love this song

[@lisys511]

Piece* not song

[@kirstendonovan4092]

Me too.

[@izzy1221]

This was a great explanation!

[@bryannguyen8440]

Brahms Requiem would be a great animation. Its beautiful

[@hagerty1952]

Excellent, as always. However, I believe it was Bo Derek's character that introduced Dudley Moore to Bolero, not the other way around.

[@Rgoid]

Allegro Non Troppo: Am I a joke to you?

[@sksk-bd7yv]

Oh, I wish I could've just watched Classics explained instead of being forced into a classroom to "learn"! Those lessons in frustration taught me classical music is boooooring. Turns out I love a lot of classical music. Cheers!

[@pink_jacket]

Love this video, love this channel ❤

[@kranzandstern]

Suggestion: Charles Ives Country Band Suite. Had to play that in college.

[@lisys511]

Ives entered the public domain in the EU this year since he passed away in 1954

[@monke9742]

Goldberg variations next pls

[@hm51008]

Awesome animation! Love your content!

[@poorwotan]

I first remember Bolero from the movie 10. Having Bo Derek running down the beach was a bit of MTV before MTV. Would have been viral if it happened today. A whole generation of teen boys realized that classical music was ok actually... lol.

[@Rgoid]

Is Allegro Non Troppo a joke to you?

[@LambentOrt]

I love Bolero. I think it's such a daring and subversive composition because of its structure. It's still not as crazy as Satie's Vexations though...

[@chip715715]

Yuuuuuuh

[@kamronbyrd7628]

Can you please do a video about his string quartet? I beg

[@TristanMA]

You mentioned Shostakovich. He wrtoe the Second Piano Concerto (whose first movement was set to an animated Adapation of Hans Christian Anderson's The Steadfast Tin Soldier), and the Seventh Symphony "Leningrad", among other works.

[@TommyBoggs-cq4te]

Purple (from World Of Colors/Discovery Kit) Nyala

[@adrianvelasco1265]

Mahler 2 pls 👉🏼👈🏼

[@georgeluft7881]

Mahler is number 2 MUST be next! We've been waiting for far too long! 🙏 🙏

[@uweshep4578]

So Ravel was on the neurodivergent spectrum. Awesome!

[@_rstcm]

Thinking about doing the Roman Trilogy next????

[@alex9920ro]

Can you talk about Rossini's Barber of Seville next, please?

[@victorfontaine3031]

His precision and perfectionism surprises me, didn t Emile de Combes say that Ravel was the laziest student he ever had?

[@ClassicsExplained]

That was Satie he was talking about :)

[@victorfontaine2739]

​@@ClassicsExplainedthanks! Your videos are extraordinary by the way

[@jscz]

Love your videos! Just to let you know that there's a small error at 8:45 where the subtitles say "tantrum" instead of "tam-tam"

[@ClassicsExplained]

Thank you for picking that up - it's been corrected

[@meganlewis2377]

@@ClassicsExplained Is Bartered Bride, Barber of Seville, Pines of Rome, Finlandia, Bells across the Meadow, Rigoletto, Scottish Fantasy, Kinderszenen, Hungarian Rhapsody and Appalachian Spring coming soon?

[@ClassicsExplained]

One of those is coming up next! An additional two of those are in the making!

[@meganlewis2377]

@@ClassicsExplained Don’t forget Norma!

[@ceejay0137]

In the commentary you keep referring to "the melody" as if there was only one. In fact there are two different melodic themes in Bolero. The first one opens the work and is repeated, then there is a second theme which is jazz-based, also repeated. The repeated pairs occur (I think) eight times in total, before the final dramatic outburst. There is also an underlying rhythmical 'bom bom, bom bom' which moves around the orchestra like the other themes, as well as the snare drum rhythm which stays the same throughout. There is a fantastic performance of the piece by the Polish film & television orchestra (AkademiaFilmuiTelewizji) on KZbin, well worth watching.

[@ClassicsExplained]

The melody comprises two melodic themes is the way I’d put it :)

[@einsteinvivaldi8152]

I was lucky enough to see the episode on time. Just one question. Why is it unlisted? Is it because the music or something is copyrighted? Are you going to delete the video eventually?

[@ClassicsExplained]

Just technical hiccup on our emd. You were lucky to get an advance screening! The episode will be released as usual very soon.

[@einsteinvivaldi8152]

Thank you. PS: I first saw your videos in 2020!

[@teodoragradinaru8572]

​@@ClassicsExplained I hope you will explain Beethoven's 7th next. The 2nd movement is my favorite and I'm curious about the story behind it. 🧐

[@scavenger_of_human_sorrow9272]

When I first saw the thumbnail I thought the video was going to be about 4'33'' by John Cage.

[@BennyPaulos]

Nutcracker next please!

[@mechmaster315]

Please do Bizet’s L’arlesienne Suite next

[@TristanMA]

This is one of Bizet's Lighter works and is a fitting choice for Epiphany.

[@luisfelipegoncalves4977]

Chopin's Ballade no. 1 next pleeeeeaaaase

[@Rgoid]

Something by Antonio Salieri soon, I hope.