Calle de Mauricio Ravel

Calle de Mauricio Ravel Spanishises the name of Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), author of some of the most recognisable pages in twentieth-century music. The sign calls him Mauricio, following the old Spanish habit of translating first names. Ravel was born in Ciboure, on the French Basque coast, and that root slips into his music: the zortziko and the rhythms of the region surface in several works. He studied under Gabriel Fauré and earned a reputation as a goldsmith of sound, able to calculate every timbre of the orchestra. His most popular piece came about almost by accident: the Boléro, from 1928, repeats a single melody for some fifteen minutes over a relentless crescendo, and its composer thought it a minor experiment whose success caught him off guard.