Category: Classical Music Releases

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Chopin: Waltz No. 19 in A Minor, KK IVb/11, B. 150, Jean-Michel Serres (piano), Allemagne ALLMGN015 | Classical Music Recording Release

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The Waltz No. 19 in A minor, B. 150, KK IVb/11 is one of Frédéric Chopin’s most beloved melancholic miniatures. Because it was not published during his lifetime, it has accrued a variety of catalog designations and titles over the years.

Here is the complete, detailed breakdown of the piece’s official titles, catalog numbers, and musical metadata:

Official and Alternative Titles

Official Title: Walc w tonacji a-moll (Polish) / Valse en la mineur (French)

English Title: Waltz in A minor

Alias/Popular Titles: It is universally identified as Waltz No. 19, a designation added by modern publishers long after Chopin’s death to organize his posthumous waltzes.

All Opus and Catalogue Numbers

Chopin did not give this piece an opus number. To keep track of it, musicologists have assigned it several catalog numbers:

B. 150: From the Maurice J. E. Brown catalog (the definitive chronological catalog of Chopin’s works).

KK IVb/11: From the Krystyna Kobylańska catalog (which categorizes Chopin’s unpublished and posthumous manuscripts).

Chomiński omission: The Józef Chomiński catalog generally indexes this piece under the same Brown/Kobylańska listings, as it lacks a unique “Opus Posthumous” number (unlike Op. 69 or Op. 70).

Historical and Musical Metadata

Year of Composition: Written between 1843 and 1848 (most scholars narrow it down specifically to 1847).

Year of Publication: 1955 (more than a century after Chopin’s death). It was first published in Paris by the Revue de Musicologie, edited by Jacques Chailley.

Dedication: Charlotte de Rothschild (or occasionally associated with her sister, Esselina). Chopin gave the manuscript to her as a album leaf (Feuillet d’album), which was a common practice for him with close students and patrons.

Key: A minor (with a brief middle section shifting into A major).

Tempo: Allegretto (indicated in the primary manuscript, suggesting a light, graceful, and moving pace rather than a heavy or overly slow one).

Time Signature: 3/4 (standard waltz time).

General Overview

The Waltz No. 19 in A minor is a poignant and deeply expressive miniature that stands as one of Frédéric Chopin’s most frequently performed posthumous works. Composed during his mature period, likely around 1847, the piece was never intended for public sale or formal concert performance during his lifetime. Instead, it survived as a “feuillet d’album”—a musical souvenir written into the album of his student and patron, Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild. Because Chopin suppressed its publication, the waltz remained hidden from the wider public for over a century until it was finally unearthed and published in Paris in 1955. This complex history explains why it bears no traditional opus number, relying instead on modern musicological catalog designations like Brown 150 and Kobylańska IVb/11 to establish its place in his output.

Musically, the waltz is celebrated for its elegant simplicity and approachable technical demands, making it a staple for developing pianists while retaining a emotional depth that attracts seasoned masters. Written in standard 3/4 time, the piece is structurally concise but remarkably vivid. It opens with a tender, folk-like melody marked by a recurring, sighing appoggiatura that immediately establishes an atmosphere of gentle, Slavic melancholy. This primary A-minor theme weaves a sense of quiet longing before shifting into a brief, luminous middle section in A major, which offers a fleeting moment of warmth and optimism. The tempo marking of Allegretto prevents the music from sinking into a heavy dirge, keeping the rhythm fluid and dance-like. Through its masterful blend of wistful lyricism and aristocratic grace, this brief waltz captures the absolute essence of Chopin’s unique poetic voice in a remarkably distilled form.

History

The history of Frédéric Chopin’s Waltz No. 19 in A minor is a fascinating tale of a private musical gift that escaped the public eye for more than a century. Composed during the twilight of Chopin’s life, most likely in 1847 or 1848, the piece was written at a time when the composer was suffering from failing health and the emotional fallout of his bitter separation from the writer George Sand. Unlike his grand concert waltzes, this brief, intimate miniature was never meant for the commercial publishing houses of Paris or London. Chopin viewed many of his shorter, deeply personal works as private statements, often reserving them exclusively for his inner circle of friends, patrons, and aristocratic students.

In this particular instance, the waltz was created as a “feuillet d’album”—an album leaf or musical souvenir. Chopin penned the manuscript directly into the personal album of Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild, a member of the prominent banking family who was both his devoted piano student and a generous supporter. Because it was a private token of esteem, the manuscript remained securely within the Rothschild family archives long after Chopin’s death in 1849. The piece was entirely unknown to the broader musical world, escaping the initial posthumous publication efforts led by Chopin’s childhood friend Julian Fontana, who collected and published other rejected manuscripts as Opera 66 through 74.

The waltz slumbered in obscurity for over a hundred years until it was rediscovered in the mid-20th century. The French musicologist Jacques Chailley finally brought the piece to light, editing and publishing it for the very first time in 1955 within the pages of the Revue de Musicologie. Because it had bypassed the traditional publishing route, it completely lacked an opus number. To integrate it into the composer’s official body of work, musicologists later assigned it chronological catalog designations, specifically Brown 150 and Kobylańska IVb/11. What began as a quiet, private gesture of gratitude between a master composer and his student eventually transformed into one of the most widely recognized and cherished classical piano pieces in the world.

Characteristics of Music

The musical architecture of the Waltz No. 19 in A minor is a masterclass in distilled romanticism, defined by an elegant simplicity that conceals a rich emotional core. At its heart, the piece relies on a straightforward rondo-like structure that alternates between its hauntingly melancholic main theme and brief contrasting episodes. The entire composition is driven by a texture typical of Chopin’s salon pieces: a rock-steady, “boom-chic-chic” left-hand accompaniment that provides the rhythmic foundation of the waltz, over which the right hand is free to spin highly expressive, vocal-like melodies.

The primary melody in A minor immediately establishes a bittersweet, folk-like atmosphere. It is characterized by a distinctive, sweeping leap upward that gently cascades downward, incorporating subtle chromatic ornaments and sighing motives that mimic human speech or singing. Chopin adds a layer of rhythmic interest here by playing with syncopation and slight shifts in emphasis, preventing the strict triple meter of the waltz from feeling mechanical. This main theme relies heavily on a recurring harmonic progression that builds a sense of quiet longing, using suspensions to delay resolution and prolong the music’s tender tension.

A striking structural and emotional pivot occurs during the brief middle section, where the music modulates from the tragic coloring of A minor into the luminous warmth of A major. This parallel major key brings a sudden, fleeting sense of hope and aristocratic grace, featuring brighter, more ascending melodic lines. However, true to Chopin’s introspective style, this sunny diversion is short-lived. The piece naturally flows back into the initial A minor theme, concluding not with a dramatic or virtuosic flourish, but with a quiet, fading whisper. By keeping the technical demands accessible and the harmonic palette clear, Chopin created a miniature where every single note carries immense expressive weight, capturing the pure essence of Slavic melancholy.

Style(s), Movement(s) and Period of Composition

Stylistically, the Waltz No. 19 in A minor is a quintessential example of Romanticism, the dominant artistic movement of the mid-nineteenth century. At the time of its composition around 1847, the piece sat firmly within the contemporary musical landscape—it was “new” music for its era, yet it was written by a mature master working at the absolute height of his established style rather than trying to pioneer an entirely new avant-garde movement.

While it belongs to the Romantic era, the piece exists at a fascinating crossroads between tradition and innovation. Structurally, it honors the tradition of the classical waltz, keeping the clear phrases and predictable harmonic boundaries of late Classicism. However, Chopin infuses this traditional dance form with a deep, subjective emotional intensity, flexible phrasing, and a poetic intimacy that are fiercely innovative for the period. Rather than a boisterous ballroom dance, Chopin transforms the waltz into a stylized, introspective tone poem meant for the intimate Parisian salon.

Furthermore, the piece subtly reflects nationalism. The haunting, modal-sounding contours of the melody breathe with the distinct spirit of Polish folk music and żal (a specific Polish word for a deep, wistful sorrow), which Chopin carried with him throughout his life in exile.

In terms of texture, the waltz is strictly a work of homophony, not polyphony or monophony. It features a single, clear, highly expressive melody in the right hand supported entirely by a subordinate chordal accompaniment in the left hand—the classic “oom-pah-pah” waltz pattern. There are no competing, independent counter-melodies (polyphony), nor is it a single un-accompanied line (monophony).

Instead, Chopin relies on a vocal, operatic style known as bel canto line writing, where the left hand acts as a reliable orchestra and the right hand acts as a soaring diva. While Chopin’s delicate use of chromaticism and non-harmonic “sigh” notes gently foreshadows the harmonic freedom of later movements like impressionism, the piece remains firmly rooted in the golden age of Romantic piano literature.

Episodes & Trivia

Behind the deceptively simple facade of the Waltz No. 19 in A minor lies a rich history filled with aristocratic secrets, a century-long disappearance, and a modern pedagogical twist. Because Chopin intentionally kept this piece away from publishers, its journey from a private notebook to the global stage is one of the most unique in his entire catalog.

The piece owes its survival entirely to the high-society world of the 19th-century Parisian salon. Chopin penned the only surviving manuscript into the personal keepsake album of Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild. For a composer of Chopin’s stature, presenting a short, handwritten piece—a feuillet d’album (album leaf)—was a highly intimate gesture of gratitude and friendship reserved for his most valued patrons and talented students. Because it was treated as a family heirloom rather than a commercial property, the piece remained entirely unknown to the public for 107 years. Even Julian Fontana, Chopin’s close friend who spent years collecting and publishing the composer’s left-behind manuscripts after his death, had no idea this waltz existed, leaving it out of the famous posthumous Opus 66 to 74 collections.

When the waltz was finally rediscovered and published in 1955, it caused an immediate sensation in the musicological community, but it also sparked an ironic twist in modern piano education. Today, the Waltz in A minor is globally recognized as one of Chopin’s most accessible pieces, frequently assigned to intermediate pianists who are not yet technically ready for his demanding Ballades or Nocturnes. However, music historians emphasize that Chopin never intended it as an “educational” exercise. He wrote it during his late, mature period—a time of intense emotional isolation and worsening tuberculosis. The simplicity of the music was an artistic choice, a distillation of his late-style poetic voice rather than a compromise for a student’s technique.

A final bit of trivia lies in the piece’s tempo marking, Allegretto. Because the melody features a heavy, sighing appoggiatura (a musical leaning note) on the first beat of almost every measure, many casual listeners and student pianists naturally slow the piece down to a mournful, dragging funeral march pace. True to the Allegretto designation left in Chopin’s hand, however, the piece was actually meant to possess a light, moving, and aristocratic grace. It is a dance performed through a veil of tears, balancing heavy Slavic melancholy with the elegant, flowing motion of a Parisian ballroom.

(The writing of this article was assisted and carried out by Gemini, a Google Large Language Model (LLM). The content of this article is not guaranteed to be completely accurate. Please verify the information with reliable sources.)

Genres: Romantic, Waltz, Piano Solo

Similar Composers: Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn

Cover Art: “Girl at Piano” (1887) by Theodore Robinson

from Allemagne, ALLMGN015

Released 29 May, 2026

© 2026 Allemagne
℗ 2026 Allemagne

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Debussy: Rêverie, CD 76, L. 68, Jean-Michel Serres (piano), Allemagne ALLMGN014 | Classical Music Recording Release

Information

Lesure Catalogue (1977): L. 68

Lesure Catalogue (Revised 2001): L. 76

Chronological Catalogue (Cobb): CD 76

Note: Debussy did not assign traditional opus numbers to most of his works, including this one.

Composition & Publication Details

Year of Composition: 1890

Year of Publication: 1895 (Published by Fromont. Debussy actually composed it during a financially difficult period in 1890 and sold it to the publisher. He later regretted its publication, writing to Fromont in 1904 that he considered it an unimportant work written in a hurry, though it ultimately became one of his most beloved pieces).

Dedication: None. The piece was issued without a formal dedication.

Musical Attributes

Key: F major (with significant modal shifts and a middle section in B-flat major)

Tempo Marking: Andantino (sometimes supplemented with Très doux et expressif in performance tradition)

Time Signature: 4/4 (Common Time)

General Overview

Claude Debussy’s Rêverie, composed in 1890 during a financially precarious chapter of his early career, stands as one of the most enduringly popular yet historically misunderstood pieces in the impressionist piano repertoire. Written well before his groundbreaking mature works, the piece captures a transitional moment where Debussy was beginning to shed the heavy influences of Russian Romanticism and Jules Massenet to find his own distinctive harmonic language. It unfolds with an understated, hypnotic beauty, characterized by a gently undulating accompaniment that mirrors the fluid, aimless quality of a daydream. The main melody enters with a stark, modal simplicity, weaving through subtle chromatic shifts and lush, suspended harmonies that create a sense of weightlessness. This atmospheric quality is enhanced by the middle section’s shift into B-flat major, where the textures become more expansive and resonant before gently dissolving back into the opening material.

Despite its current status as a beloved staple of piano literature, Rêverie was viewed with severe distaste by the composer himself. Short on funds in 1890, Debussy sold the manuscript to the publisher Fromont, who held onto the piece for five years before releasing it in 1895 to capitalize on the composer’s rising fame. When Debussy discovered it had been published without his consent, he was furious, famously writing a letter to Fromont in 1904 in which he declared the piece to be “unimportant” and “written in a hurry,” even going so far as to call its publication a commercial manipulation that did him artistic harm. History, however, took a vastly different view than its creator. The piece’s rich, ambiguous chord structures and evocative atmosphere not only captivated classical audiences but also exerted a profound influence on twentieth-century popular music. Its modal changes and smooth harmonic vocabulary laid foundational groundwork for modern jazz harmony, a connection made literal in 1938 when bandleader Larry Clinton adapted the melody into the massive big-band swing hit “My Reverie,” cementing the piece’s timeless crossover appeal.

History

The history of Claude Debussy’s Rêverie is a fascinating tale of financial necessity, a composer’s fierce rejection of his own work, and an unexpected legacy that bridged nineteenth-century classical music with twentieth-century American jazz.

The story begins in 1890. Debussy was in his late twenties, struggling to establish himself in Paris after his return from the Villa Medici in Rome. He was desperately short of funds and had not yet achieved the widespread recognition that would come with later works like Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. To make ends meet, he composed a handful of accessible, salon-style piano pieces—including the Suite bergamasque (which contains Clair de lune) and this standalone Rêverie—and sold the manuscripts outright to the publisher Jurgenson, who later transferred the rights to the Parisian publisher Fromont.

For five years, the manuscript sat unpublished. It wasn’t until 1895, as Debussy’s reputation began to soar, that Fromont decided to cash in on the composer’s growing fame and officially released Rêverie. Debussy, whose style had rapidly evolved into a much more mature and groundbreaking impressionism, was blindsided and deeply displeased by the publication of what he considered a juvenile effort. His frustration boiled over nearly a decade later, in 1904, when the piece was being distributed in a new edition. Debussy wrote a scathing letter to Fromont, stating in no uncertain terms that he considered the work “absolutely bad” and “unimportant,” noting that it had been written in a hurry solely to fulfill a financial obligation. He even begged the publisher not to distribute it, fearing it would damage his artistic reputation.

Despite Debussy’s harsh self-criticism, the public and the broader musical world disagreed entirely. The piece’s lush, suspended harmonies and modal progressions found an enthusiastic audience. Decades later, its unique harmonic DNA crossed the Atlantic and had a profound impact on American popular music. In 1938, the big-band leader Larry Clinton took Debussy’s sweeping principal melody, added lyrics, and renamed it “My Reverie.” Recorded by vocalist Bea Wain, the song became a massive number-one hit on the Billboard charts, introducing Debussy’s melodic genius to millions of swing-era listeners. Over the years, jazz legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Glenn Miller, and Sarah Vaughan recorded their own versions, cementing a piece its creator once disowned as a timeless masterpiece of cross-genre appeal.

Characteristics of Music

On a structural and harmonic level, Rêverie serves as an intriguing window into Claude Debussy’s emerging impressionist style, beautifully balancing late-Romantic lyricism with the innovative tonal colors that would define his maturity. The composition is built on a highly fluid, undulating accompaniment pattern in the left hand, which relies on a steady stream of eighth notes that deliberately obscure the downbeats. This rolling texture creates an atmospheric cushion, giving the piece its signature sense of weightlessness and capturing the hazy, unstructured nature of a daydream.

Harmonically, the piece begins to move away from traditional functional harmony—where chords serve to drive a narrative toward a strict resolution—and instead treats chords as independent colors. While the piece is anchored in F major, Debussy frequently introduces modal inflections and gentle chromaticism that soften the tonality. One of the most characteristic features of the piece is its use of unresolved suspensions and extended chords, particularly major seventh and ninth chords, which linger in the air to create an ambiguous, dreamlike space. Rather than building dramatic tension, the harmonies shift in parallel or modal blocks, a technique that would later become a hallmark of his impressionistic writing.

The melodic construction of Rêverie is marked by an elegant, understated simplicity. The principal theme enters over the rolling bassline with a modal quality, floating effortlessly across the register. Debussy avoids grand, virtuosic climaxes, choosing instead to develop the theme through subtle changes in texture and register. In the contrasting middle section, the key signature shifts to B-flat major, and the musical fabric becomes noticeably thicker and more resonant, utilizing richer chordal structures and broader dynamic contrasts. This section builds to a lush, singing texture before the music gradually strips away its layers, allowing the initial, hypnotic F-major theme to return and ultimately dissolve into a quiet, peaceful codetta that leaves the listener suspended in silence.

Style(s), Movement(s) and Period of Composition

Stylistically, Rêverie occupies a fascinating transitional space on the historical timeline, sitting right on the cusp between late Romanticism and early Impressionism. Written in 1890, the music was considered “new” for its time, embodying the forward-looking spirit of the late nineteenth-century French avant-garde, though it had not yet broken as radically with past traditions as Debussy’s later modernist masterpieces would. It represents a bridge where the emotional expressiveness of the Romantic era begins to dissolve into the atmospheric, color-driven language of Impressionism.

When evaluating whether the piece is traditional or innovative, it is genuinely a hybrid of both. Structurally and melodically, it retains traditional Romantic sensibilities, featuring a clear, singing melody and a balanced, accessible form that appealed to the salon culture of the era. However, harmonically, it is quietly innovative. Instead of using chords purely to build tension and resolve it traditionally, Debussy treats harmonies as pure auditory color, utilizing unresolved suspensions and modal scales that hint at the revolutionary Impressionist techniques he would soon perfect.

In terms of texture, Rêverie is fundamentally homophonic rather than polyphonic or monophonic. It features a single, distinct, and highly expressive melodic line supported by a lush, undulating chordal accompaniment. While there are moments where inner voices gently answer the main theme, it never enters the dense, overlapping territory of Baroque polyphony, nor does it ever strip down to a single unaccompanied line of monophony.

If we look at the specific historical movements, the piece cannot be boxed into Baroque, Classicism, or Neoclassicism, nor is it raw, mid-century Modernism. Instead, it is best described as a blend of Romanticism, Post-Romanticism, and early Impressionism. It retains the deep emotional warmth of the Romantic tradition, shares the rich, complex harmonic palette of Post-Romanticism, and introduces the fluid, dreamlike textures, modal inflections, and static atmosphere that became the absolute hallmarks of Impressionism. It is a snapshot of a genius finding his voice, shedding the past to pave the way for modern musical art.

Episodes & Trivia

Behind the serene facade of Claude Debussy’s Rêverie lies an ironies-packed history filled with intense artist-publisher drama, financial desperation, and a massive pop-culture crossover that occurred decades after the composer’s death.

One of the most remarkable episodes surrounding the piece is the sheer vitriol Debussy directed toward it once it achieved commercial success. Having composed it in 1890 purely as a “potboiler” to alleviate his severe poverty, he thought little of its artistic merit. When the publisher Fromont released it in 1895, it immediately struck a chord with the public. As its popularity soared into the next decade, Debussy became profoundly embarrassed by its success. In a famous 1904 letter to Fromont, he furiously tried to halt its distribution, declaring it an insignificant, rushed work written for money and calling its publication a personal insult to his artistic integrity. He genuinely feared that audiences would judge his revolutionary new style based on what he viewed as a sentimental, juvenile salon piece.

Despite the composer’s harsh rejection, Rêverie held an underground power that would reshape 20th-century American pop and jazz. A particularly fascinating piece of trivia involves the American bandleader Larry Clinton, who in 1938 heard the piece and realized its main theme was a ready-made pop vocal melody. He adapted the theme into a swing-era ballad titled “My Reverie” and hired vocalist Bea Wain to record it. The song became an absolute juggernaut, reaching number one on the Billboard charts and staying there for eight weeks. It triggered a massive mid-century trend of big bands “swinging the classics,” but it also caused a legal and cultural stir. Because Debussy’s original classical music was still highly protected under European copyright laws, the adaptation faced heavy pushback from the French classical establishment, who felt that transforming an impressionist masterpiece into a danceable jazz tune was a form of cultural vandalism.

Ironically, the jazz world saw something in Rêverie that Debussy himself had overlooked: its revolutionary harmonic layout. The piece relies heavily on extended chords like major 7ths and 9ths, alongside modal shifts that don’t immediately resolve. While standard pop music of the 1930s relied on strict, predictable chord progressions, Debussy’s open-ended, dreamlike harmonies gave jazz musicians an entirely new playground for improvisation. Following Clinton’s hit, the melody was quickly covered by titans like Glenn Miller, Django Reinhardt, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan. Ultimately, the piece Debussy dismissed as a rushed, forgettable assignment to pay his rent became the exact vehicle that introduced his signature impressionistic colors to millions of listeners worldwide, forever linking French avant-garde classical music with the birth of modern American jazz.

Genres: Impressionist, Piano Solo, Piano Suit, Salon Music

Similar Composers: Maurice Ravel, Déodat de Séverac, Gabriel Fauré, Charles Koechlin

Cover Art: « Madame Manet au piano » (1867-1868) de Éduard Manet

from Allemagne, ALLMGN014

Released 22 May, 2026

© 2026 Allemagne
℗ 2026 Allemagne

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Ravel: À la manière de Borodine, M. 63/1, Jean-Michel Serres (piano), Allemagne ALLMGN013 | Classical Music Recording Release (EN)

Liner Notes / Sleeve Notes

Information

Official French Title: À la manière de… Borodine (often subtitled Valse)

English Title: In the Manner of Borodin / In the Style of Borodin

German Title: Nach der Art von Borodin

Italian Title: Alla maniera di Borodine

Catalogue Number: M. 63, No. 1 (Marnat Catalogue)

Year of Composition: 1912–1913

Year of Publication: 1914

Key: D-flat major

Tempo Marking: Valse: Allegretto giusto

Dedication: Ida Godebska (daughter of Ravel’s close friends Cipa and Ida Godebski)

Historical Context & Usage

This piece was originally conceived as part of a set intended to parody or pay homage to various composers. While the Borodin movement is the most famous from this specific impulse, it is frequently paired with its companion piece, À la manière de… Emmanuel Chabrier (M. 63, No. 2).

Ravel composed the Borodin tribute by evoking the Russian composer’s lyrical, soaring melodic lines and specific harmonic shifts, particularly those found in Borodin’s own piano miniatures and Petite Suite. Despite being a “pastiche,” it remains a staple of the Impressionist piano repertoire due to its elegant construction and quintessential Ravelian charm.

General Overview

Written between 1912 and 1913, À la manière de Borodine is a charming piano pastiche that demonstrates Maurice Ravel’s extraordinary ability to inhabit the harmonic and melodic language of other composers. The piece was originally commissioned by Alfredo Casella for a collection of musical parodies and was published alongside a companion piece dedicated to the style of Emmanuel Chabrier. In this work, Ravel adopts the form of a waltz—marked Allegretto giusto—to pay homage to Alexander Borodin, specifically echoing the lyrical Russian romanticism found in works like Borodin’s Petite Suite.

Musically, the composition is set in D-flat major and is characterized by its graceful, swaying triple meter and a distinctively Slavonic melodic contour. Ravel utilizes lush, extended harmonies and frequent modulations that evoke the “oriental” and nationalist flavors of the Mighty Handful, yet he filters these elements through his own refined French sensibility. Though brief and technically less demanding than his major cycles like Gaspard de la nuit, the piece is celebrated for its sophistication and its affectionate, rather than mocking, imitation of Borodin’s style. It remains a popular encore and an insightful example of Ravel’s mastery of musical mimicry and historical tribute.

History

The history of À la manière de Borodine is rooted in a collaborative project initiated by the Italian composer and pianist Alfredo Casella. In the early 1910s, Casella invited several prominent composers to contribute to a collection of musical parodies and homages titled À la manière de…. Ravel, who possessed a legendary talent for stylistic mimicry, responded to this invitation by composing two pastiches: one in the style of Alexander Borodin and another in the style of Emmanuel Chabrier.

The Borodin tribute was composed between 1912 and 1913, a period during which Ravel was at the height of his creative powers, having recently completed Daphnis et Chloé. Rather than a simple imitation, the work was a sophisticated “reconstruction” of the Russian composer’s lyrical sensibility. Ravel had long admired the “Mighty Handful,” and his choice of Borodin allowed him to explore the specific brand of Russian Romanticism—characterized by folk-like melodies and lush, exotic harmonies—that had influenced French music since the late 19th century.

Ravel chose the form of a waltz for this homage, specifically nodding to Borodin’s piano miniatures. The piece was published in 1914 by Éditions Mathot and was dedicated to Ida Godebska, the young daughter of his closest friends, Cipa and Ida Godebski. This dedication reflects the intimate, playful nature of the composition. While it originated as a commissioned exercise in parody, the work quickly became recognized as a genuine contribution to the piano repertoire, illustrating how Ravel could maintain his own meticulous craftsmanship while speaking through the musical “voice” of another.

Characteristics of Music

À la manière de Borodine is a masterclass in stylistic synthesis, where Maurice Ravel seamlessly blends his own meticulous French craftsmanship with the lyrical, nationalist language of Alexander Borodin. The composition is cast as a Valse in D-flat major, a key often associated with romantic warmth and resonance. Its primary musical characteristic is a soaring, expansive melody that utilizes the distinctively Russian “long-breathed” line, frequently featuring the lowered sixth and seventh degrees of the scale to evoke a Slavic folk flavor. This melodic contour is supported by a rhythmic foundation of a graceful, swaying triple meter, marked Allegretto giusto, which provides a light, dance-like framework for the more complex harmonic explorations.

Harmonically, the piece is defined by a sophisticated use of extended chords—such as ninths and thirteenths—and subtle chromatic shifts that are hallmark Ravelian touches, yet they are voiced in a way that mimics Borodin’s specific brand of “orientalism.” Ravel employs transparent textures and a clear, bell-like upper register, often juxtaposing simple diatonic movements with sudden, lush modulations. The mid-section of the work introduces a more melancholic, introspective atmosphere, characteristic of Russian romantic miniatures, before returning to the initial waltz theme. This creates a balanced, ternary-like structure where the precision of the French school meets the emotional directness of the Russian school, resulting in a work that feels simultaneously like a sincere tribute and a sophisticated intellectual exercise in musical mimicry.

Style(s), Movement(s) and Period of Composition

Stylistically, À la manière de Borodine occupies a unique space as a modern pastiche that intentionally looks backward while utilizing contemporary French techniques. At the time of its composition in 1912, the music was considered “new” in its chronological release, yet it was deliberately “old-fashioned” in its aesthetic intent, as it was designed to mimic the Russian Romantic style of the previous century. It sits at a crossroads between Nationalism and Impressionism, serving as a bridge where Borodin’s 19th-century Russian lyricism is reinterpreted through Ravel’s 20th-century harmonic refinement.

The work is fundamentally homophonic rather than polyphonic, featuring a clear, dominant melody supported by a rich chordal accompaniment in a waltz rhythm. While it draws heavily from Romanticism and Post-Romanticism through its emotional expressive qualities and lush textures, the precision of the writing and the specific use of dissonant extensions align it with Modernism. It is neither Baroque nor strictly Classical, though it possesses a “Neoclassical” spirit in its disciplined form and its focus on a historical tribute. Rather than being Avant-garde, the piece is a sophisticated exercise in Traditionalism, proving that even within the innovative atmosphere of pre-war Paris, Ravel remained a master of tonal beauty and historical continuity.

Episodes & Trivia

The creation of À la manière de Borodine is steeped in the collaborative spirit of the Parisian avant-garde, particularly the circle known as Les Apaches. One of the most notable episodes surrounding its origin involves Alfredo Casella, who was not only a fellow composer but a close friend of Ravel. Casella was obsessed with the idea of musical mimicry and challenged his contemporaries to write pieces that captured the “soul” of other composers. Ravel’s contribution was so effective that many critics noted it didn’t just sound like Borodin; it sounded like what Borodin would have written had he been born in France thirty years later.

A fascinating piece of trivia lies in the dedication to Ida Godebska. Ravel was notoriously private and often appeared cold to adults, but he possessed a deep, sincere affection for children. By dedicating this sophisticated waltz to the young daughter of the Godebski family, Ravel signaled that the piece was meant to be viewed with a sense of playfulness and innocence, rather than as a dry, academic exercise. This mirrors his work on Ma mère l’Oye, which was also written for the Godebski children, highlighting a period where his most “human” and accessible music was inspired by his role as a family friend.

Another intriguing aspect of the work is its relationship to Ravel’s own creative process. He was a meticulous perfectionist who often spent years on a single orchestral work, yet he could produce these “in the manner of” pieces with remarkable speed. Despite the “parody” label, Ravel took the assignment seriously enough to ensure the piano writing remained highly idiomatic. Interestingly, the Borodin tribute is often grouped with a piece written “in the manner of” Emmanuel Chabrier, but while the Chabrier piece is a parody of a specific opera (Faust by Gounod), the Borodin piece is a more general stylistic portrait, making it a purer example of Ravel’s ability to “ghostwrite” for the masters of the past.

Genres: Impressionist, Piano Solo, Piano Suit, Piano Piece, Salon Music

Similar Composers: Claude Debussy, Déodat de Séverac, Gabriel Fauré, Charles Koechlin

Cover Art: « Jeune homme au piano (Martial Caillebotte) » (1876) de Gustave Caillebotte

from Allemagne, ALLMGN013

Released 8 May, 2026

© 2026 Allemagne
℗ 2026 Allemagne