Piece en Forme de Habanera

Piece en Forme de Habanera was written by Maurice Ravel (see below) in 1907. The arrangement we are using was transcribed for band by David Marlatt (see also below) in 2008, with solo parts for flute, oboe, clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet and bassoon/euphonium. We are using the version with solo alto saxophone, with Jessie Sanchez as our soloist.

It was written in March 1907, commissioned by Amédée-Louis Hettich, a singing teacher at the Paris Conservatory, who wanted to have a repertoire of vocal exercises by composers of his time, Ravel wrote a Vocalise-étude in the form of a habanera.

The score was published in 1909 by Alphonse Leduc, in the Répertoire moderne de vocalises-études, alongside other vocalises-etudes by d’Indy, Dukas and Hahn.

Concerning this melody and its future, Maurice Ravel was very upset by the total silence of the publisher Alphonse Leduc to the piece, according to a letter to Gustave Samazeuilh dated January 25, 1919:

"I don't see any problem with my Vocalise being sung at the Nationale. I'd only see one: if the performer had a soprano voice; for this vocalise is written for mezzo-contralto or contralto. If this piece is published, it is with the most decidedly smug publisher there is. You guessed it, it's Alphonse Leduc. It's been years since I gave the go-ahead: I haven't heard anything since. You'll be the first to give me news of this play.”

The work was premiered in concert at the Société nationale de musique on February 22nd, 1919, in the Salle de la Société des Concerts (former conservatory), by Magdeleine Greslé and Marcel Chadeigne.

Maurice Ravel's disappointment with Alphonse Leduc was such that he categorically refused to orchestrate the Vocalise, according to a letter to Marguerite Babaïan dated December 8, 1927: “As for the Vocalise, I cannot prevent you from singing it, of course; but forgive me not only for refusing to play it, but also for declining the pleasure of hearing it by you. It's not that I disown this little work, but it has the misfortune of being published by a publisher, discourteous, to say the least, or perhaps unconscious, who has been pestering me for years with letters to which I have never wanted to reply, waiting myself for more than 15 years for a response to a letter that at least demanded an apology. As he may still be astonished at this refusal, I authorize you to communicate this letter to him, which he will doubtless pretend not to understand. And don't worry: he'll find a lackey to orchestrate my Vocalise. Please excuse this long explanation: I owed it to you to justify my refusal.”

The melody is in G minor, almost slow and indolent, for mezzo-soprano and piano, and evokes a “nostalgic and haunting Andalusian cantilena”.

The character and rhythm of the habanera, already experimented by Ravel in his Sites aurulaires, are marked by an ostinato in the left hand of the piano, on which flourish “melodic elements combining binary and ternary rhythms, vocal melismas either measured or cadential (then bearing the indication 'rubato').”

According to Arthur Hoérée (a Belgian musicologist, critic, conductor and composer):

“Ravel's Vocalise is a charming piece that deserves to be more widely used. (It is reminiscent of the style of L'Heure espagnole, which also dates from 1907.) Candidates for the high C will find something to develop their technique and will be able to taste vocal pleasure and ear pleasure together. For gruppetto, trill, rapid scale, voice carriage, staccato, swollen or spun, half-tone sound not only testify to the singer’s competence in singing, but also find, on the piano, a graceful support that is balanced by the indolent Habanera.”

Along with his elder, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937) was the most influential figure in French music of his time and the main representative of the so-called Impressionist movement at the beginning of the twentieth century. His work, modest in quantity (eighty-six original works, twenty-five orchestrated or transcribed works), is the result of varied influences ranging from Couperin and Rameau to the colours and rhythms of jazz, including the recurring one of Spain.

Characterized by its great diversity of genres, Ravel's musical production as a whole respects the classical tradition and is spread over a creative period of more than forty years that makes it contemporary with those Faure, Debussy, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartok, and Gershwin. The vast majority of his works have been included in the concert repertoire. Among these, the symphonic ballet Daphnis and Chloe (1909-1912), Bolero (1928), the two concertos for piano and orchestra for the left hand (1929-1930) and in G major (1929-1931) and the orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (1922) are those that have contributed most to his international fame. Recognized as a master of orchestration and a perfectionist craftsman, this man with a complex personality never lost a sensitivity and expressiveness that, according to Le Robert, made him evoke in his work both “the subtlest games of the intellect” and “the most secret outpourings of the heart.”

Transcriber David Marlatt (b. 1973) is a Canadian composer and trumpet player. He obtained a music education degree from the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

He was Principal Cornet in the Whitby Brass Band for six years and founder of the trumpet ensemble Trumpets in Style. As a performer, he has played in jazz bands, brass quintets, orchestras, concert bands, brass bands and period instrument ensembles.

Marlatt has composed pieces for concert band, string orchestra, brass quintet, trumpet ensemble, piano, tuba and trumpet. His writing style is diverse and he has written for a wide range of difficulty levels from very young concert band to professional brass quintet. His jazz based trumpet ensemble pieces Groovy Vamp and A Coconut Named Alex have been well received by audiences everywhere and his concert band compositions are found on many festival lists. He has also arranged over 800 pieces of repertoire from the Baroque to the Romantic eras such as Monteverdi madrigals, a large suite of music from Handel’s Messiah, Largo from Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and even Mahler's First Symphony.