Petit Boléro

French pianist Jean-Henri Ravina was a child prodigy who came to public attention when he performed in a concert at the age of eight. The violinist Pierre Rode heard him and encouraged Ravina to go to Paris, where at the age of thirteen he became a student at the Conservatoire. After completing his own studies, Ravina was eventually to teach there, too; he gave up that position, however, to focus on his career as a virtuoso performer and composer. Concert tours to Russia and Spain secured the reputation of this pianist, who was awarded the Légion d’honneur in 1861. Ravina wrote almost exclusively for the piano: Études, Préludes, a piano concerto, a Rêverie for the left hand alone, compositions for piano duet – including transcriptions of all Beethoven’s Symphonies – and piano pieces for three and as many as six players. The stylistic influence of Rode and Chopin is evident here. Ravina’s Petit Boléro op. 62 reflects the nineteenth-century predilection for exoticism and for music from other cultures – in this case from neighbouring Spain. Ernst W. Ritter, who published numerous arrangements with Schott, also arranged this composition for violin and piano: it is a dashing, lively piece of music! Edition based on plate nos. 02372 (piano part) and 02371 (violin part), first published in 1887 as plate no. 24483.