A Study of Maurice Ravel’s “Sonatine”

• Main Authors: Chen, Ying-Chen, 陳穎貞
• Other Authors: Wu, Ching-Jen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/kqm6e9

碩士 === 國立臺南大學 === 音樂學系碩士班 === 107 === Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was an French composer of the twentieth century, generally categorized as an impressionist; however, he had kept a connection to music traditions with his internal compositional characteristics and also embraced new trends before he internalized those elements into his own music language and reached a balance between tradition and innovation. This study aimed to explore the style of “Sonatine”, the piano work written by Ravel in 1905. It first looked into the development of French music in the early twentieth century, followed by the investigation on the definition of sonatina, pertinent forms and its development in all periods. Afterwards, aspects such as Ravel’s life, his piano compositions in all periods, and his music creation were all examined to understand the background information of this composition. Finally, the paper made a thorough analysis of Ravel’s compositional techniques by exploring the form, tonality, harmony, motive, melody, rhythm, and other elements of his “Sonatine”. In addition, it conducted an overall study of the appropriate performance interpretation of this composition in terms of its tempo, dynamics, touch, ornaments, and pedaling. According to the findings of this study, apart from traditional forms and tonality applied in the “Sonatine”as its basis, Ravel also combined modal elements at appropriate times to add novelty to the music, created clear, precise melodies, and connected three movements by using motivic development methods in a fashion of neoclassicism as well. In regard to the performance of this composition, Ravel put many detailed markings for tempo, expression, dynamics, articulations in music scores and therefore created abundant speed and timbre changes, which embodied the meticulous compositional language of his music. As a result, players have to read all musical markings carefully when performing to deliver the clear, round sounds of traditional French keyboard music in a more comprehensive way.