Maurice Delage

Maurice Delage (1879–1961) was a French composer and pianist who showed a profound interest in the music and culture of the Far East.

A student of Ravel and member of 'Les Apaches', an assemblage of fourteen musicians, artists and writers (hooligans) who met weekly to discuss and commiserate about the culture and politics of the 1900's. From the music and culture of Europe, Delage turned to a more exotic sound in his works from being influenced by his travels to India and the East. Ravel's "La vallée des cloches" from Miroirs was dedicated to Delage while the rest of the collection was dedicated to the members of Les Apaches.

One of the techniques that Maurice Delage especially learned from Ravel was the manner in which dynamics and tempo were used to color a composition. For example, in Ravel's Bolero, Ravel uses the same melody repeatedly yet each time one hears it, it is performed a bit louder. Thus, the composer creates colorful and exciting changes with dynamics alone. Another technique that Ravel used was inputting the harmonic resources of the Spanish culture into his 'Rapsodie Espagnole' (Spanish Rhapsody). Such ethnomusicological musical ventures gave much impetus to Delage's interest into other cultures through music. Finally, in the composition 'Tzigane', Ravel made a side excursion into the gypsy style of music and composed the piece for a Hungarian violinist. With these fine examples of compositions involving multi-cultural music, Delage learned about the power and interest in other cultures through music and thus embarked on many ethnomusicological ventures. Delage experimented with the art of dynamics and tempo in his earlier pieces; however, he was remarkedly drawn to the exoticism of the music of the far east because of his fascination with new and different tonal, tempo and dynamic colorations. Maurice Delage's best known piece is Quatre poèmes hindous (1912-13) which exhibits his fascination of the culture and music of India. His Ragamalika (1912-22), based on the classical music of India, is also significant in that it calls for a 'prepared piano'. The score specifies that a piece of cardboard be placed under the strings of the B-flat in the second line of the bass clef to dampen the sound, imitating the sound of an Indian drum.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Korevaan, David; Baudelaire, Charles, "Ravel's Mirrors", thesis/dissertation/manuscript, 2000. OCLC 44155305
• Rodriguez, Philippe. Maurice Delage, ou, La solitude de l'artisan. Mélophiles, 7. Genève: Editions Papillon 2001. ISBN 9782940310081
• Stravinsky, Igor, and Robert Craft. Stravinsky, selected correspondence. London: Faber and Faber 1982. ISBN 9780571117246

External links

• Composer: Maurice Delage (1879-1961) Retrieved April 22, 2007.
• Maurice Delage Retrieved April 22, 2007.
• Maurice Delage (1879 - 1961) Retrieved April 22, 2007.

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