Maurice Ravel composed the Tombeau de Couperin in 1917.
Ravel described it as an homage “directed less in fact to Couperin himself than to French music of the 18th century.”
Disregarding the philosopher (and would-be composer) Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s 1753 pronouncement that “there is neither rhythm nor melody in French music,” Ravel combined both rhythmic and melodic forms and cadences of Couperin’s time with those of his own.
The work conveys a sense of the present as a perennially open dialogue with the past.
Here is pianist Yeol Eum Son, who plays this music for you:
