00:00:23.999 --> 00:00:28.999
(music - Ravel, "Bolero")

00:02:08.839 --> 00:02:16.509
Dear friend, I'm writing to you
from Ciboure, the town of my birth.

00:02:17.839 --> 00:02:20.788
And to think that you
could have chosen to come here

00:02:20.789 --> 00:02:24.999
where the seaside is
lined with acacias.

00:02:26.779 --> 00:02:30.103
And then there's the light.

00:02:30.104 --> 00:02:35.999
It has a delicate brilliance, the people feel it.
They are fragile, elegant,

00:02:35.999 --> 00:02:37.999
and they are filled with joy.

00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:55.329
You know I was born near the border and
have Spanish as well as French blood.

00:02:57.409 --> 00:03:01.828
I have the greatest admiration
for Spanish music and

00:03:01.829 --> 00:03:06.339
was cradled in my youth by habaneras,
which I have never forgotten.

00:03:07.219 --> 00:03:10.999
These Spanish folk songs sung to me
at nighttime by my mother

00:03:10.999 --> 00:03:14.139
formed my first instruction in music.

00:03:41.059 --> 00:03:47.863
At the age of 3 months I left Ciboure
for Paris where I have lived ever since.

00:03:47.864 --> 00:03:55.689
Even as a child I was sensitive
to music-- to every kind of music.

00:09:30.889 --> 00:09:33.999
I began to study piano
at the age of 6,

00:09:33.999 --> 00:09:37.999
and entered the Paris
Conservatory at 14.

00:09:37.999 --> 00:09:40.999
But who knows if I would have continued

00:09:40.999 --> 00:09:43.999
had it not been for
my parents' encouragement

00:09:43.999 --> 00:09:46.999
and the occasional bribe
from my father.

00:21:27.139 --> 00:21:33.729
When I was a student I discovered the
romantic poetry of Aloysius Bertrand.

00:21:35.419 --> 00:21:43.199
"Scarbo" is a poem about little goblin
who appears and reappears in a vision.

00:21:43.199 --> 00:21:44.399
A nightmare.

00:21:50.689 --> 00:21:55.899
In that poem, I felt music.

00:25:32.289 --> 00:25:37.218
As soon as I began to compose
I knew that I had found my calling.

00:25:38.999 --> 00:25:43.113
Ravel said, "In some years from now,

00:25:43.114 --> 00:25:47.583
"you will have learned
everything about composition,

00:25:47.584 --> 00:25:53.193
"but you will have lost something
which is impossible to keep.

00:25:53.193 --> 00:25:55.713
"And that's the freshness of youth.

00:25:55.713 --> 00:25:58.499
"And you have to regret it
all your life."

00:25:58.499 --> 00:26:04.219
I said, but about your own music,
what would be the freshness of youth

00:26:04.219 --> 00:26:06.299
that you have lost afterwards?

00:26:06.299 --> 00:26:08.999
Immediately he said, "Sheherazade."

00:26:08.999 --> 00:26:14.299
"It's full of things that I am
ashamed today to have written.

00:26:15.904 --> 00:26:22.889
"But there is something in this
composition that I've never found again."

00:33:39.499 --> 00:33:45.118
He was small of size,
not terribly handsome,

00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:53.113
and dressing always with a
yellow tie, chocolate overcoat.

00:33:53.114 --> 00:33:55.999
And at this time people were
dressed always in black,

00:33:55.999 --> 00:34:02.299
and it was surprising to see somebody
who wouldn't attract attention otherwise

00:34:02.999 --> 00:34:03.999
but attracting attention.

00:34:03.999 --> 00:34:08.299
So afterwards you had
to notice this man.

00:35:30.949 --> 00:35:34.999
Oh God, to think that my size alone
could prevent me from experiencing

00:35:34.999 --> 00:35:38.199
the splendid moments of this holy war.

00:35:42.409 --> 00:35:45.988
But my mother is a poor old lady
whose only idea

00:35:45.989 --> 00:35:48.999
has always been the love
of her husband and children.

00:35:48.999 --> 00:35:54.999
I don't know how well she will be able
to endure what I'm hiding from her.

00:37:14.449 --> 00:37:18.699
I'm far away from Paris,
and far away from music.

00:37:18.699 --> 00:37:23.999
I am at Bar-le-Duc, dressed in
goatskin with helmet and gas mask,

00:37:23.999 --> 00:37:28.999
who drives along forbidding roads into
the heart of a gigantic struggle.

00:37:40.819 --> 00:37:44.299
This stupid and useless
existence has deadened me

00:37:44.299 --> 00:37:47.999
to the point where nothing
interests me anymore

00:37:47.999 --> 00:37:52.999
except music, and my leave,
which doesn't come through.

00:39:31.069 --> 00:39:35.713
To Jean Marnold, April 4th, 1916.

00:39:35.714 --> 00:39:41.098
The other day I received orders to
bring back an abandoned vehicle.

00:39:41.099 --> 00:39:47.143
During my mission I saw a
hallucinating thing--a nightmarish city,

00:39:47.144 --> 00:39:50.169
horribly deserted and mute.

00:39:51.319 --> 00:39:56.683
It isn’t the fracas from above,
or the white puffs of smoke

00:39:56.684 --> 00:39:59.503
rising against the very pure sky.

00:39:59.504 --> 00:40:02.999
It's not this formidable and
invisible struggle which is anguishing,

00:40:02.999 --> 00:40:11.439
but to feel alone in the center of this city
which has lapsed into a sinister sleep.

00:40:17.749 --> 00:40:23.848
Undoubtedly I've witnessed things
more frightful and repugnant,

00:40:23.849 --> 00:40:27.838
but I don't believe I've ever
experienced a more profound

00:40:27.839 --> 00:40:33.069
and strange emotion than
this sort of mute terror.

00:44:21.229 --> 00:44:25.678
And I always think that this
certainty, this feeling

00:44:25.679 --> 00:44:29.999
of this man who was
thinking of his childhood.

00:44:31.599 --> 00:44:36.999
He wrote this, you see...
(playing piano and singing)

00:45:04.699 --> 00:45:07.999
Ravel was so proud of
his old mechanic things.

00:45:08.499 --> 00:45:12.999
Look at this beautiful one--
the birds can sing.

00:45:16.299 --> 00:45:19.099
It does not move for a time.

00:45:20.299 --> 00:45:23.199
He can sing so well.

00:45:25.999 --> 00:45:28.999
You see he was so fine
when he was a child.

00:45:29.999 --> 00:45:32.999
He had such a beautiful face.

00:45:34.489 --> 00:45:37.489
An 18th century face, I would say.

00:45:39.999 --> 00:45:44.999
So that's the beautiful view
that Ravel was so fond of--

00:45:45.999 --> 00:45:48.199
the view of the country, of the church.

00:45:48.199 --> 00:45:52.099
The balcony goes all the way
around the house.

00:45:53.249 --> 00:45:59.289
And there's a little garden down too,
where he used to work.

00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:22.999
So peaceful.

00:46:28.599 --> 00:46:29.499
Did you see?

01:01:27.999 --> 01:01:38.278
I met Ravel in 1928, and we
were asked by his manager

01:01:38.279 --> 01:01:45.999
to play his Quartet at his New York
recital, his first New York appearance.

01:01:45.999 --> 01:01:47.999
We felt very honored by this,

01:01:47.999 --> 01:01:56.999
and he made a special trip to Toronto because
we wanted him to hear us play the Quartet.

01:01:56.999 --> 01:02:00.099
And we were anxious that
he would like what we did.

01:02:00.099 --> 01:02:07.498
So we went up to his hotel room
at the King Edward Hotel,

01:02:07.499 --> 01:02:11.999
and we did each movement of the three
movements without a word.

01:02:11.999 --> 01:02:20.099
And at the end he said,
(speaking in French)

01:02:21.999 --> 01:02:24.999
Well we were a little bit
stung by that, naturally.

01:02:24.999 --> 01:02:29.983
It's, "That is not how I
conceived the Quartet," he said.

01:02:29.984 --> 01:02:33.148
We said, "Well, tell us how did you
conceive it?

01:02:33.149 --> 01:02:36.628
"Can you give us any
help in this matter?"

01:02:36.629 --> 01:02:39.799
"No," he said, "You play it
with such conviction

01:02:37.999 --> 01:02:43.499
"that I wouldn't dream of touching it,
just leave it the way it is.

01:02:43.499 --> 01:02:46.749
"Let's go and have lunch."

01:08:13.129 --> 01:08:17.799
I must say Ravel-- that will
surprise, I'm sure, many people--

01:08:17.799 --> 01:08:21.599
was a very stern professor.

01:08:21.599 --> 01:08:28.199
Very often I left Montfort-l'Amaury crying
because he was so rude, so brutal.

01:08:28.199 --> 01:08:29.999
But he was right.

01:08:29.999 --> 01:08:32.119
You know, he said
"You have to be

01:08:32.119 --> 01:08:36.448
"very difficult with yourself
as I am with myself."

01:08:36.449 --> 01:08:41.803
One day I left swearing that
I will never come back.

01:08:41.804 --> 01:08:45.013
He was really too rude,
too brutal with me.

01:08:45.014 --> 01:08:48.238
I was crying, and I went
to the mail coach

01:08:48.239 --> 01:08:51.699
which brought me from Montfort-l'Amaury
to the railway station.

01:08:51.699 --> 01:08:55.423
And it was raining like cats and dogs,

01:08:55.424 --> 01:08:57.999
but I went into the mail coach.

01:08:57.999 --> 01:09:03.199
And suddenly I saw a shadow behind
the door of the mail coach.

01:09:03.199 --> 01:09:08.999
I opened the door and there
was Ravel all wet in the rain

01:09:08.999 --> 01:09:14.599
and saying, "Why do you leave without
saying goodbye to your professor?"

01:09:14.599 --> 01:09:19.999
And then I understood at this time
that Ravel was a wonderful man,

01:09:19.999 --> 01:09:24.699
but was right in being so
stern in his lessons.

01:13:58.939 --> 01:14:00.999
How's your mug?

01:14:03.199 --> 01:14:04.219
Rotten.

01:14:08.209 --> 01:14:10.099
Better had.

01:14:12.399 --> 01:14:13.399
C'mon!

01:14:22.129 --> 01:14:25.899
Black and costaud, Black and chic,
Black, black, black,

01:14:25.899 --> 01:14:30.199
Jolly fellow, jolly fellow,
black, I punch, Sir,

01:14:33.109 --> 01:14:34.999
I punch your nose,

01:14:36.799 --> 01:14:39.999
I punch, I knock out
you stupid chose,

01:14:39.999 --> 01:14:44.999
black, black and thick,
vrai beau gosse, vrai beau gosse,

01:14:44.999 --> 01:14:50.199
I box you, I marmelade you!

01:14:51.699 --> 01:14:58.999
Keng-ça-fou, Mah-jong, Keng-ça-fou,

01:14:58.999 --> 01:15:04.999
kong-kong-pran-pa,
Ça-oh-râ, Ça-oh-râ,

01:15:04.999 --> 01:15:15.999
Ça-oh-râ, Cas-ka-ra, harakiri,
Sessue Hayakawa, Hâ! Hâ! Hâ!

01:15:15.999 --> 01:15:29.999
Ça-oh-râ, Ça-oh-râ hâ, Ça-oh-râ,
Ça-oh-râ toujours l'air chinoâ.

01:16:01.099 --> 01:16:13.199
Ça-oh-râ hâ, Ça-oh-râ
toujours l'air chinoâ.

01:16:13.199 --> 01:16:14.999
I box you!

01:16:14.999 --> 01:16:16.999
Ping, pong, ping!

01:16:16.999 --> 01:16:18.999
I box you!

01:16:18.999 --> 01:16:19.999
Ping, pong, ping!

01:16:20.999 --> 01:16:26.099
Ping, pong, ping, pong, ping.
Ah! Kek-ta fouhtuh d'mon Kaoua?

01:16:27.969 --> 01:16:31.893
This piece of work
was booed by the public,

01:16:31.894 --> 01:16:37.623
first of all because jazz music was
part of "L'enfant et les sortilèges."

01:16:37.624 --> 01:16:41.208
You know, the wonderful fox trot
between the teapot and the cup of tea.

01:16:41.209 --> 01:16:45.999
People didn't accept at this time
that a reference to jazz music

01:16:45.999 --> 01:16:50.999
could be made into a kind of
serious piece of work.

01:16:51.099 --> 01:16:56.999
Besides, the duet of the two cats,
"meow meow meow," in music also--

01:16:56.999 --> 01:16:59.999
I don't know why--
shocked the people.

01:19:22.489 --> 01:19:26.999
December 31st 1927,
bateau Île de France.

01:19:26.999 --> 01:19:30.223
Happy New Year, dear friends.

01:19:30.224 --> 01:19:35.019
We are stomping joyously in a
dancehall which is barely level.

01:19:35.329 --> 01:19:38.563
Jazz, paper streamers, balloons,

01:19:38.564 --> 01:19:44.999
champagne, a Russian quartet,
drunk Americans, all the local color...

01:20:05.989 --> 01:20:09.808
To Edouard Ravel--
My dear little brother,

01:20:09.809 --> 01:20:14.548
as soon as I settled into my hotel in
New York the telephone didn't stop ringing.

01:20:14.549 --> 01:20:18.043
Teams of journalists relieving
one another every hour,

01:20:18.044 --> 01:20:25.299
invitations to which my manager
replies for me, receptions, rehearsals.

01:21:06.379 --> 01:21:08.999
In the evening, relaxation.

01:21:10.339 --> 01:21:14.143
Dancehalls, gigantic movie houses.

01:21:14.144 --> 01:21:16.933
Broadway after dark is delightful.

01:21:16.934 --> 01:21:19.999
I admit that I like jazz
much more than grand opera.

01:21:47.959 --> 01:21:52.999
Now it's like summer, 95 degrees,
with flowers which grow

01:21:52.999 --> 01:21:54.999
only in greenhouses in France.

01:21:54.999 --> 01:21:59.098
To Hollywood, various stars--

01:21:59.099 --> 01:22:01.999
Douglas Fairbanks,
who fortunately speaks French.

01:22:01.999 --> 01:22:08.878
Then on to Seattle, Vancouver,
Minneapolis, San Francisco,

01:22:08.879 --> 01:22:10.999
back to New York for three days,
the Grand Canyon, Buffalo,

01:22:10.999 --> 01:22:13.299
and then to Niagara Falls.

01:22:14.849 --> 01:22:19.199
I've never felt better than
during this whirlwind tour.

01:22:27.019 --> 01:22:32.263
We finally arrived in New York
near the day of the concert.

01:22:32.264 --> 01:22:37.423
There were several other people
on the concert stage beside Ravel.

01:22:37.424 --> 01:22:39.133
There was a singer,

01:22:39.134 --> 01:22:46.169
and Joseph Szigeti the violinist was
to play his Sonata with Ravel.

01:22:46.169 --> 01:22:52.138
And just before they went onstage
Ravel turned to me and said,

01:22:52.139 --> 01:22:54.999
"Would you please turn my pages?"

01:22:54.999 --> 01:22:59.339
And we went on the stage,
great applause of course,

01:22:59.339 --> 01:23:03.999
and they began to play.

01:23:04.099 --> 01:23:07.318
The first movement was simply glorious,

01:23:07.319 --> 01:23:10.663
and so was the second,
it was out of this world.

01:23:10.664 --> 01:23:15.793
Ravel played extremely well
and Szigeti was wonderful.

01:23:15.794 --> 01:23:23.368
Now the first movement has a short theme
which is important in the last movement,

01:23:23.369 --> 01:23:25.299
and it goes something like this--

01:23:25.299 --> 01:23:28.078
(singing) Yum, tum, tum,
puhpuhpuhpuh pum,

01:23:28.079 --> 01:23:29.099
puh puh puh puh pum.

01:23:42.949 --> 01:23:50.323
It was marked to be played (singing)
dyump, dyump, dyump, puhpuhpuhpuh pum.

01:23:50.324 --> 01:23:57.099
You can imagine my horror
when Ravel began (sings notes).

01:24:00.999 --> 01:24:03.748
I almost stopped breathing, you know,

01:24:03.749 --> 01:24:07.999
and I was sure Szigeti would tap him
on the shoulder with his bow and say,

01:24:07.999 --> 01:24:09.499
"Do it again."

01:24:09.499 --> 01:24:14.999
But he didn't, he plunged into the theme
playing at a speed that was utterly inhuman.

01:24:48.319 --> 01:24:54.478
Not far from the finish,
I heard this terrible squawk.

01:24:54.479 --> 01:24:56.818
I knew what it was right away.

01:24:56.819 --> 01:25:02.698
He got the violin bow in
between two or three strings.

01:25:02.699 --> 01:25:06.013
And he tried to pull them out
and they wouldn't yield.

01:25:06.014 --> 01:25:08.638
So he couldn't do it,
and he was struggling with it,

01:25:08.639 --> 01:25:12.298
and the fiddle making
the most awful howls.

01:25:12.299 --> 01:25:17.263
Finally he got the bow out of the
strings and finished the piece.

01:25:17.264 --> 01:25:23.248
And as we got into the artist's room,
Szigeti said to me,

01:25:23.249 --> 01:25:26.199
"He never did this at rehearsal!"

01:25:26.234 --> 01:25:29.999
"He never did this at rehearsal!"

01:27:41.059 --> 01:27:49.059
To be able to hear Ravel playing the
piano I think is something very important,

01:27:51.194 --> 01:27:56.109
so it's marvelous to
have such a good one.

01:28:15.529 --> 01:28:22.689
Sometimes it's a little bit uneven
in technique, but we don't mind.

01:29:08.309 --> 01:29:11.878
Well it just happened that suddenly

01:29:11.879 --> 01:29:18.238
he couldn't write anymore clearly,
and couldn't write music of course.

01:29:18.239 --> 01:29:24.778
And little by little the
physical fitness left him.

01:29:24.779 --> 01:29:31.723
He would take a knife by the wrong side
knowing that it was the wrong side,

01:29:31.724 --> 01:29:37.348
seeing that he made the wrong
gesture but he couldn't prevent it.