MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) Born on March 7, 1875 in Ciboure, France, Maurice Ravel started his musical studies with piano lessons at the age of seven; when he turned fourteen, he enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire. His first works, MENUET ANTIQUE (1895) and LES SITES AURICULAIRES (1898), both for piano, received only minimal recognition; the composer's first published composition was JEUX D'EAU (WATER GAMES) (1901).
In 1903, he finished a song cycle, SHEHERAZADE, followed by his STRING QUARTET IN F (1904). Strongly influenced by fellow French composer Claude Debussy as well as Liszt, Mussorgsky, and Faure, his concern for precise, rhythmically balanced musical patterns was already apparent at this point in his career. Further works would continue to reflect and refine this.
Ravel left the Paris Conservatoire in 1905, following sixteen years of study, and composed a tremendous amount of music before the beginning of World War I. His output included SONATINE and five MIROIRS, both in 1905, INTRODUCTION AND ALLEGRO for harp, flute, clarinet, and string quartet (1906), a one-act comic opera,