Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess) | Maurice Ravel

Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess) by Maurice Ravel - gentle, relaxing classical piano music for studying, focus, reading and sleep. Full playlist:    • Classical Music for Studying and Relaxation   CHAPTERS 0:00 Ravel Pavane for a Dead Princess - Solo Piano 1:15 Calm Piano Music for Reading and Studying 2:30 Soft French Classical Piano for Concentration 3:45 Peaceful Instrumental Music for Sleep ABOUT THIS PIECE Maurice Ravel wrote the Pavane pour une infante défunte for solo piano in 1899, while he was still a student in Gabriel Fauré's composition class at the Paris Conservatoire, and dedicated it to his patron, the Princesse de Polignac. The pavane is a slow, stately processional dance of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and Ravel described the piece as an evocation of the kind of pavane a little princess might once have danced at the Spanish court - not a lament for any particular person. He said he chose the title simply because he liked the sound of the words. The piece is built around a calm, singing melody that returns between contrasting episodes, and its unhurried pace and soft dynamics make it one of the gentlest works in the piano repertoire. It became popular almost at once, and in 1910 Ravel made the orchestral version that is also frequently performed. This video presents the original solo piano version. ABOUT THE COMPOSER Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was a French composer, born in Ciboure in the Basque region of south-western France and raised in Paris. Often grouped with Claude Debussy as a leading figure of French musical Impressionism, he was celebrated for the precision of his craftsmanship and as one of the finest orchestrators who ever lived. His best-known works include Boléro, the ballet Daphnis et Chloé, La valse, the Piano Concerto in G major, and his orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. MUSIC CREDIT Thérèse Dussaut (piano), recorded in Seattle in 1976 and released on the LP "Ravel: Masterworks and a New Discovery". Via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed CC BY-SA 2.0. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... This video is shared under the same license (CC BY-SA 2.0). IMAGE CREDIT Portrait of Maurice Ravel, published in 1925, photographer unknown, from the collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (File:Maurice_Ravel_1925.jpg), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain. Subscribe for calm classical music every day:    / @classicalmusicsounds   #classicalmusic #ravel #pavane #pianomusic #studymusic #relaxingmusic #sleepmusic #focusmusic