Music from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic - Study guide for Orpheus recordings by Ravel, Fauré, and Stravinsky - City of Marina
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Music from the 1918
Influenza Pandemic
Study guide for Orpheus recordings by
Ravel, Fauré, and Stravinsky
Listen on Spotify Listen on Idagio
Get to know Orpheus… Orpheus is a chamber
orchestra. We perform
Orpheus was founded in 1972! music written for 20-40
musicians and larger-
What Makes Orpheus unique? scale orchestral works
In most orchestras, a single figure—the conductor—directs the musicians that have been adapted
in all aspects of the music, including entrances, speed, and time. for a smaller ensemble.
However, Orpheus rehearses and performs without a conductor.
The Orpheus Process®
In this unique process, the members of the orchestra work together to
make the interpretive decisions that are usually the work of a conductor.
Each musician has a voice and is expected to express their interpretation
to make the performance better.
Orpheus is Grammy® Award winning!
The Stravinsky album Shadow Dances featured in this playlist won the Grammy for Best Small Ensemble
Performance in 2000!
Historical Context
This playlist explores music by Maurice Ravel, Gabriel Fauré, and Igor Stravinsky composed or
orchestrated during the influenza pandemic of 1918.
The influenza pandemic began at the end of World War I (1914-1918). The First World War
was a global war centered in Europe between the Allies - The British Empire, France,
Belgium, Russia, and eventually the USA – and the Central Powers – Germany, Austria-
Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. World War I was the first major war to use new
weapons and vehicles such as machine guns, chemical weapons, and fighter planes.
World War I caused major changes to warfare and to global politics. The war marked the end
of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, confiscated territories from Germany and
Russia, and incited many political uprisings including the Russian Revolution, which began in
1917.
Terms:
• A composer is a person who writes music.
• Orchestration is the combination of instruments a composer uses to create the music.
• A pandemic is a global outbreak of a disease.
Historical Context continued
The 1918 Influenza (or Flu) Pandemic was caused by an
unusually deadly version of the flu virus. The pandemic started Note: Why not the “Spanish Flu?”
in the spring of 1918 and lasted until the summer of 1919. Though the origin of the 1918
Flu is unknown, it is sometimes
It infected over 500 million people, or about one third of the referred to as the Spanish Flu
world’s population at the time, and death tolls are estimated at since the French blamed Spain
between 17 and 50 million people. for spreading the flu across
their shared border. Because
this name is based on national
Like today, there were bans on public gatherings, school
prejudice, we’ve chosen not to
closures, and mandated mask wearing to help stop the spread of
use it here.
the virus.
As we know, life continues despite conflict and illness: people find ways to
learn and love, and even if concerts are cancelled, musicians will still make
music.
We hope you enjoy this playlist of music written during a different pandemic
100 years ago, and we hope to see you in the concert hall again someday soon.
1914-1917: Ravel composes Le
1919: Ravel orchestrates four
Tombeau de Couperin for solo
movements of Le Tombeau de Couperin
piano
1919: Fauré composes incidental
music for Masques et Bergamasques
March 1918– June 1920:
1918 Flu Pandemic
July 1914 – November 1918: World War I
1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923
March 1917 – June 1923: The Russian Revolution & Civil War
1914 – 1920: Stravinsky in exile in Switzerland
1918: Stravinsky composes
Ragtime and Duet for Bassoons
1921: Stravinsky orchestrates the Three
1914-1915: Stravinsky writes 1917: Stravinsky writes Five Easy Pieces and Five Easy Pieces to become
Three Easy Pieces for piano duet Easy Pieces for piano duet Suites No. 1 and No.2 for Small Orchestra
Maurice Ravel Ravel was inspired by
1875– 1937 many musical styles,
including baroque,
neoclassicism, and jazz
Maurice Ravel was
one of the best-
known French
Baroque: A style of music composed
composers of the from around 1600 to 1850. J.S.
early 20th century Bach composed during the Baroque
period!
Neoclassicism: A 20th century music
style that drew inspiration from 18th
century music, especially from the
Some words to describe
Classical period (1730-1820)
Ravel’s music:
Jazz: A music genre developed in
New Orleans by African-American
• Colorful
musicians around the turn of the
• Exotic
20th century, with roots in the Blues
• Complex
and Ragtime.Ravel during World War I The war years were hard for Ravel.
Between his time as a truck driver, his
Ravel tried to enlist in the recovery from illness, and the death of
French armed forces at his mother in 1917, Ravel was mostly
the start of World War I too busy, sad, and sick to write music.
but was turned away However, one of his only compositions
because of his small size from 1914-1918, Le tombeau de
and bad health. Couperin, would go on to be one of the
best-known works of the War period.
In 1916 he got a job as a
truck driver for the
French army, but he Ravel’s health declined after the death
became sick with of his mother. When the flu pandemic
dysentery and was began in 1918, many of his friends were
discharged in 1917. worried the delicate Ravel would catch
the new flu and die. Yet Ravel survived
the pandemic and would live nearly 20
more years, composing many more
works including the famous Bolero.The title of Le tombeau de Couperin, meaning “The Tomb of Couperin,” refers to the 16th and 17th century
French practice of writing “tombeaus”—short poems or musical works to commemorate the dead—and to
the French composer Francois Couperin (1668-1733). Each movement is written in a different Baroque
musical style and honors a different friend of Ravel's who died in the war. The original solo piano piece was 6
movements; Ravel shortened the orchestrated version to four.
1: Prelude, in memory of First Lieutenant Jacques Charlot: A prelude is an introductory piece of music. This
ornamental piece has a lot of winding movement including a famously difficult oboe part.
2: Forlane, in memory of First Lieutenant Gabriel Deluc: A forlane is a type of Italian folk song. This piece is in
the complex form of a rondo - A-B-A-C-A-D-A (i.e., one theme is repeated four times, with different sections
between each repetition).
3: Menuet, in memory of Jean Dreyfus: A menuet is a slow dance in 3/4 or triple meter (three beats to a bar).
The oboe stars again in this stately piece; the mysterious middle section features plucked strings and
harmonics.
4: Rigaudon, in memory of Pierre and Pascal Gaudin: A rigaudon is a type of French baroque dance that is
lively and in duple meter (or two beats to a bar). In this fast movement, the strings and winds alternate in
importance. Listen for how each solo wind instrument is showcased.
RavelGabriel Fauré Fauré’s music is often
1845-1924 seen as a stylistic link
between the musical
periods of
Romanticism and
Gabriel Fauré was a Modernism.
French organist, pianist,
and composer. Though
he was best known as an
organist and teacher
until middle age, by the
Romanticisim was a
end of his life he had
musical period spanning
become one of France’s
the 19th century with an
most popular composers.
emphasis on emotion and
song-like melodies.
Fauré’s music is: Modernism was an era at
the beginning of the 20th
• Full of melodies century where composers
and harmonies began to challenge the
• Often rambling, traditional ways of
like a long walk in composing music.
the woodsFauré 1914-1920 During the war, Fauré
began to lose his hearing
and he would eventually
In 1905, Fauré became head of the Paris
become completely
Conservatoire. He upset many professors by
deaf. Despite ill health
including contemporary music in the
and worry for his son
curriculum and changing how students were
fighting in the army,
admitted and graded. The Conservatoire
Fauré composed a lot of
stayed open during World War I, but there
music during the war.
were fewer students because many young men
were in the armed forces.
In January 1920, at the
Terms: age of 74, Fauré became
• Conservatoire is the French word for conservatory. seriously ill with the new
A conservatory is a university where people study influenza. He survived
art, like music, theatre, or visual art. but retired from his
• Contemporary means occurring at the same time. position at the
Music contemporary to Fauré means music Conservatoire later that
written while he was alive. Contemporary music year because the flu had
for us is music that is being written now. made him weaker.Fauré: Masques et Bergamasques
Masques et Bergamasques was
Incidental music is music composed for the background of a play or
composed as incidental music for a
film to create a mood or feeling (like a film score)
one-act comic play adapted from
Verlaine by René Fauchois about
Italian comedians on their day off.
The play premiered in Monte Carlo in Ouverture: Ouverture means opening and is usually the first
1919 and the sheet music was movement in a suite of music. This movement is playful and
published that same year. The play fast!
was first performed in Paris in March
Menuet: A menuet is an elegant and stately piece based on
1920, after Fauré recovered from
influenza. a 17th century dance in A-B-A form (i.e., the end of the
piece echoes the beginning)
The music for the play had 8 pieces, Gavotte: A gavotte is also a Baroque dance in A-B-A form,
including several songs sung by a tenor but it is in common time (4 beats to a bar), beginning on the
or a chorus. The published orchestral third beat of the bar.
suite leaves out the movements with
singers and is only four movements. It Pastorale: Pastorale is music that portrays the countryside.
is one of the only orchestra works by This is calm, melodic piece using a gentle rocking rhythm.
Fauré, who is better known for
chamber music.Igor Stravinsky Stravinsky is best
1882 - 1971 known for the music
he composed for
ballet, including The
Firebird and The Rite
Igor Stravinsky was a of Spring
Russian composer, pianist,
and conductor,
considered one of the
most important
composers of the 20th Stravinsky composed
century in many different styles
including neoclassicism,
modernism, and
serialism.
Stravinsky’s music is:
Serialism is a
• Cutting-edge
composition technique
• Colorful and dramatic
that uses a fixed series
• Rhythmically complex
of notes.Stravinsky in Switzerland: 1914 – 1920 Stravinsky began composing works for
smaller groups that were cheaper to
Stravinsky had his first big period perform. One was L’histoire de soldat (A
of success from 1910-1913. The Soldier’s Tale), a theatrical production with
Ballet Russes, a Parisian ballet a small group of musicians and actors
company formed by Russian that was scheduled to tour Switzerland.
artists, premiered three ballets
with music by Stravinsky: Firebird, After L’histoire premiered in September
Petrouchka, and The Rite of Spring. 1918, members of the cast and crew
became sick with the new flu and the tour
When World War I started was cancelled. Stravinsky himself caught
Stravinsky and his family moved the flu in early 1919.
to Switzerland . In 1917, the
Russian Revolution broke out and
all of Stravinsky’s property in Stravinsky composed many other works for duets
Russia was confiscated. (two instruments) , quartets (four instruments),
Stravinsky’s French and Russian and small ensembles while he lived in Switzerland.
sponsors were losing money, too, In the summer of 1920, Stravinsky and his family
and there was no funding for the moved to France. They lived there until the start
big ballets that Stravinsky had of World War II in 1939, after which they moved
been writing. to the United States.Stravinsky: Suites No. 1 and No. 2 for Small Orchestra
Suite No. 1 and Suite No.
2 for Small Orchestra are
orchestrations of a series
of piano duets Stravinsky
composed to teach his
young children while they
were living in
In 1921 Stravinsky
Switzerland.
arranged the works for
chamber orchestra. The
Three Easy Pieces (1915)
first four movements of Five
and Five Easy Pieces
Easy Pieces became Suite
(1917) were written so
No. 1, and the fifth
that one of the two piano
movement was added to the
parts was easier than the
end of the Three Easy Pieces
other, allowing Stravinsky
to round out Suite No. 2
and his children to play
together.Stravinsky: Suite No. 1 for Small Orchestra
Suite No. 1
1. Andante: A short piece made from
repeated small rhythmic and melodic • Andante means at a walking
building blocks. pace.
2. Napolitana: A minimalistic fast • A Napolitana is a 16th century
piece based on an Italian folk dance dance from Naples, Italy.
form, with a comic ending. • Española means Spanish. This
3. Española: Different instruments movement was inspired by
play their own melodies, which are Stravinsky’s travels in Spain.
layered in a mash-up. • A Balalaika is a Russian
4. Balalaika: Strings accompany the stringed instrument that is
wind instruments, and there are plucked like a guitar.
occasional outbursts from the whole
orchestra.Stravinsky: Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra
Suite No. 2
1. March: Solo winds are featured • A March is a musical genre written
one by one in this rather sinister with 2 or 4 beats to a measure. It
sounding little piece. originated from music written for
2. Waltz: Clarinets play an endless the military to accompany
loop while the flutes have bird-like soldiers marching.
melodies. • A Waltz is a type of dance that
3. Polka: Trumpet and clarinet are originated in Austria, in triple
featured soloists in a fast piece that meter with a strong emphasis on
seems to run out of energy. the first beat.
4. Galop: The entire orchestra plays • A Polka is a lively, jumping dance
in this exuberant fast piece, that originated in the 19th century
interrupted by comical slow sections. in Bohemia (now part of Czechia).
• A Galop is a 19th century dance
named after a gallop – or the
fastest gait of a horse!Stravinsky: Ragtime Stravinsky: Duet for Bassoons Ragtime was an early form of jazz in the Stravinsky composed the Duet first years of the 20th century. Ragtime for bassoons (sometimes called combined the American march with Lied ohne Name, or Song Without rhythms inspired by African music. a Name), in 1917 or 1918, but it Ragtime was the first African-American wasn’t published until after his music to become broadly popular among death. people of all races in the US and in Europe. Stravinsky’s first ragtime-inspired piece was the third dance in his theatre piece L’histoire du soldat, which was cancelled due to the 1918 flu pandemic. That same year, he wrote the standalone Ragtime for Syncopation is when the eleven instruments. While Stravinsky’s rhythmic accent is shifted, Ragtime is different from American rag, usually by stressing you can hear its source of inspiration in normally unaccented Stravinsky’s use of syncopation. beats.
Questions for Discussion & Reflection (page 1 of 2) 1. If you could write a piece for Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in this pandemic, what would the title be? How would the music feel? What do you think is important to express right now? 2. Ravel is often described as an “Impressionist,” and his music seen in the same spirit as the paintings of artists Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Georges Seurat. What about Ravel’s music relates to visual art? What pictures do you see in your mind when you listen to the music? 3. In Le tombeau de Couperin, Ravel uses music to remember his friends. What music would you use to send a message to your family or friends? How would you say "I miss you," "I love you," or "Hope you are well," through music? Would you write your own or use someone else's music? 4. Masques et Bergamasques was written as music to accompany a play. Listening to the music, what would be the plot of the play if you were to write it?
Questions for Discussion & Reflection (page 2 of 2) 5. Ravel's composition Le tombeau de Couperin reflects on the sadness of the times and the loss of his friends. Fauré, on the other hand, spent the flu pandemic composing music for Masques et Bergamasques, a fun story about clowns on their day off. Living now during the Covid-19 pandemic, do you find yourself listening more to music that makes you reflect on what you're going through, or happy music that provides a distraction? 6. Stravinsky's Suites for Small Orchestra are orchestrations of pieces he wrote to teach his children how to play the piano while they were hiding out in Switzerland during the war. Has your family come up with any creative ways to learn from home? Is there anything you’ve learned at home that you wouldn’t have learned if you had been at school? 7. The titles of all the movements in both of Stravinsky’s Suites are names of dances. If you were to write a suite for orchestra, what dances would you use? And what would be the *orchestration for the piece? *Orchestration is the combination of instruments a composer uses to create the music.
Thank you for listening!
Bibliography (page 1 of 4) Buja, Maureen. “Stravinsky Meets Modern.” Interlude, https://interlude.hk/stravinsky-meets-modern/. Accessed 30 April 2020. “1918 Pandemic Influenza Historic Timeline.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/pandemic-timeline-1918.htm. Accessed 29 April 2020. Counts, Jeff. “Stravinsky – Suite 1 and 2 for Small Orchestra.” Utah Symphony, https://utahsymphony.org/explore/2011/08/stravinsky-suite-1-and-2-for-small-orchestra/. Accessed 30 April 2020. Drummond, John, host. “Interrupted Cadences - Stravinsky and the Spanish ‘flu.” The Sunday Feature, RNZ, 11 December 2016. RNZ, https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/sundayfeature/audio/201819385/interrupted-cadences-stravinsky- and-the-spanish-flu. Fauré, Gabriel, composer. “Masques et Bergamasques.” Pavane – Ravel, Satie, & Fauré, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1995. “Biography.” Fondation Igor Stravinsky, https://fondation-igor-stravinsky.org/en/composer/biography/. Accessed 30 April 2020.
Bibliography (page 2 of 4) “Spanish Flu.” History, https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic. Accessed 30 April 2020. Huscher, Phillip. “Program Notes, Gabriel Fauré - Suite from Masques et bergamasques, Op. 112.” Chicago Symphony Orchestra, https://cso.org/uploadedFiles/1_Tickets_and_Events/Program_Notes/042910_ProgramNotes_Faurq_Masques- bergamasques.pdf. Accessed 30 April 2020. Huscher, Phillip. “Program Notes, Maurice Ravel – Le tombeau de Couperin, Suite for Orchestra.” Chicago Symphony Orchestra, https://cso.org/uploadedFiles/1_Tickets_and_Events/Program_Notes/010710_ProgramNotes_Ravel_Le_tombeau .pdf. Accessed 30 April 2020. James, Burnett. Ravel. Omnibus Press, 1987. Jankélévitch, Vladimir. Ravel. Translated by Margaret Crosland, Grove Press, 1959. Koechlin, Charles. Gabriel Fauré. Translated by Leslie Orry, London, Dennis Dobson Ltd., 1945. Leonard, James. “Igor Stravinsky, Easy Pieces (3) for piano, 4 hands.” All Music, https://www.allmusic.com/composition/easy-pieces-3-for-piano-4-hands-mc0002523595. Accessed 30 April 2020.
Bibliography (page 3 of 4) Nectoux, Jean-Michel. Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life. Translated by Roger Nichols, Cambridge University Press, 1991. Nectoux, Jean-Michel, editor. Gabriel Fauré: His Life Through His Letters. Translated by J. A. Underwood, Marion Boyars Publishers, 1984. O’Donovan, Heather. “Music in the Time of Pandemic: Brilliant Compositions Written in the Years of the Spanish Influenza.” WQXR, https://www.wqxr.org/story/pandemic-music-spanish-1918-influenza/. Accessed 30 April 2020. Orledge, Robert. Gabriel Fauré. London, Eulenberg Books, 1979. Rao, Arun. Pierrots Fâchés avec la Lune: Debussy, Fauré and Ravel during World War 1. 2013. Technological University Dublin, Masters Dissertation. Arrow@TU Dublin, https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=aaconmusdiss/. Ravel, Maurice, composer. “Le tombeau de Couperin.” Pavane – Ravel, Satie, & Fauré, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1995.
Bibliography (page 4 of 4) Stravinsky, Igor. “Igor Stravinsky: An Autobiography.” Internet Archive, https://archive.org/stream/igorstravinskyan002221mbp/igorstravinskyan002221mbp_djvu.txt. Accessed 1 May 2020. Stravinsky, Igor, composer. “Ragtime.” Stravinsky: Shadow Dances, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1999. Stravinsky, Igor, composer. “Duet for Bassoons.” Stravinsky: Shadow Dances, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1999. Stravinsky, Igor, composer. “Suite No. 1 for Small Orchestra.” Stravinsky: Shadow Dances, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1999. Stravinsky, Igor, composer. “Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra.” Stravinsky: Shadow Dances, performance by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1999. Tobias, Marianne Williams. “Le tombeau de Couperin.” Indianapolis Symphony, https://www.indianapolissymphony.org/about/archive/program-notes/maurice-ravel/le-tombeau-de-Couperin. Accessed 30 April 2020.
Image Sources (page 1 of 2) Braque, Georges. Rhum et guitare (Rum and Guitar). 1918. Colección Abelló, Madrid. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Georges_Braque,_1918,_Rhum_et_guitare,_oil_on_canvas,_60_x_73_cm,_Abell%C3%B 3_Collection,_Madrid.jpg. Delaunay, Robert. Igor Stravinsky. 1918. Museum New Walk, Leicester. Arthive, https://arthive.com/robertdelaunay/works/508139~Igor_Stravinsky Kheir, Fadi. Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. 2019. Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig. Selbstbildnis als Kranker. 1918. Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ernst_Ludwig_Kirchner_Selbstbildnis_als_Kranker_1918-1.jpg Monet, Claude. Le bassin aux nymphéas. 1919. Private Collection. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Le_bassin_aux_nymph%C3%A9as_-_Claude_Monet.jpg Nash, Paul. We Are Making a New World. 1918. Imperial War Museum London. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nash,_Paul_-_We_are_Making_a_New_World_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg Nash, Paul. The Ypres Salient at Night. 1918. Imperial War Museum London. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Ypres_Salient_at_Night_Art.IWMART1145.jpg O’Keefe, Georgia. Blue and Green Music. 1919-1921. The Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago, https://www.artic.edu/artworks/24306/blue-and-green-music. Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Cover image. Pavane – Ravel, Satie, & Fauré. Deutsche Grammophon, 1995. Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Pavane-Ravel-Orpheus-Chamber-Orchestra/dp/B01M0BWMI5 Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Cover image. Stravinsky: Shadow Dances. Deutsche Grammophon, 1999. Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Stravinsky-Shadow-Orpheus-Chamber-Orchestra/dp/B000V6U9FE
Image Sources (page 2 of 2) Ouvre, Achille. Maurice Ravel. 1909. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10525025f.item Picasso, Pablo. Dessin pour la couverture de Ragtime de Stravinsky. 1918-1919. Private Collection. Classic FM, https://www.classicfm.com/lifestyle/wellbeing/stravinsky-picasso/ Ravel, Maurice. Couverture de la première édition chez Durand Cie. 1918. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ravel_Tombeau_de_Couperin_-_page_de_couverture.jpg Sargent, John Singer. Crashed Aeroplane. 1918. Imperial War Museum London. WikiArt, https://www.wikiart.org/en/john- singer-sargent/crashed-aeroplane-1918 Sargent, John Singer. Gabriel Fauré. 1889. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/21409 Unknown. Gabriel Fauré in his office at the Conservatoire. 1918. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gabriel_Faur%C3%A9_in_his_office_at_the_Conservatoire_1918_-_Gallica_2010.png Unknown. Maurice Ravel as a soldier in the French army. 1916. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maurice-Ravel-soldier-1916.jpg Violett, Boris Roger. Igor Stravinsky. 1929. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/dec/03/stravinsky- funeral-song-valery-gergiev-maryinsky-st-petersburg
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