Emily Kilpatrick
@ekilpatrick.bsky.social
Musician, scholar, mother, expat; associate professor @ Royal Academy of Music. Books:
https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781648250545/french-art-song/
https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice-ravel
https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781648250545/french-art-song/
https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice-ravel
Claude was funny, earthy, generous, passionately devoted to Ravel, passionately knowledgeable. If this book has one aim, it is that it might make this most entrancing, most enigmatic of composers feel alive for its readers, as Claude brought him to life for me.
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Claude was funny, earthy, generous, passionately devoted to Ravel, passionately knowledgeable. If this book has one aim, it is that it might make this most entrancing, most enigmatic of composers feel alive for its readers, as Claude brought him to life for me.
As part of the renovations the door to the tiny steep staircase to the garden needed replacing, so Claude took the old one home with her, mounted it on her wall and behind it painted a trompe d’oeïl image of the descending stair. She was certain Ravel would have approved of this.
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
As part of the renovations the door to the tiny steep staircase to the garden needed replacing, so Claude took the old one home with her, mounted it on her wall and behind it painted a trompe d’oeïl image of the descending stair. She was certain Ravel would have approved of this.
And every day, I worked alongside the marvellous curator Claude Moreau. Claude changed my life. ‘Bonjour petit Maurice!’, she would call every morning as she unlocked the doors and opened the shutters (‘I have to let him know we’re here’).
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
And every day, I worked alongside the marvellous curator Claude Moreau. Claude changed my life. ‘Bonjour petit Maurice!’, she would call every morning as she unlocked the doors and opened the shutters (‘I have to let him know we’re here’).
That summer, I learned Miroirs at #Ravel's piano, I sat on his balcony and talked to people – visitors, and some older residents who could just remember calling ‘Bonjour Monsieur Ravel!’ when they saw him working in his garden.
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
That summer, I learned Miroirs at #Ravel's piano, I sat on his balcony and talked to people – visitors, and some older residents who could just remember calling ‘Bonjour Monsieur Ravel!’ when they saw him working in his garden.
And this adorable and very badly photographed postcard: 'Monsieur Ravel', it says, 'Merci mon grand ami / Gisele'. I still have my own letter from Gisele, the daughter of Ravel's house editor: she wrote of her memories of Ravel playing with her, and his love for bloody steak.
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
And this adorable and very badly photographed postcard: 'Monsieur Ravel', it says, 'Merci mon grand ami / Gisele'. I still have my own letter from Gisele, the daughter of Ravel's house editor: she wrote of her memories of Ravel playing with her, and his love for bloody steak.
The door concealing the 'cagibi', the small storeroom.
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
The door concealing the 'cagibi', the small storeroom.
This sailing ship, afloat on a papier-mache sea
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
This sailing ship, afloat on a papier-mache sea
This rather beautiful joke teacup with a hole in it.
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
This rather beautiful joke teacup with a hole in it.
I loved this tiny nightingale, which, when wound, sings with astonishing sweetness.
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
I loved this tiny nightingale, which, when wound, sings with astonishing sweetness.
So I spent the summer scrubbing #Ravel’s floors (and his toilet), putting his books back on his shelves, his knickknacks on his piano, his glasses on their stand in the music room.
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
So I spent the summer scrubbing #Ravel’s floors (and his toilet), putting his books back on his shelves, his knickknacks on his piano, his glasses on their stand in the music room.
To my lasting astonishment, a fax came back, inviting me to spend a summer assisting in the renovations and then conducting some of the tours.
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
To my lasting astonishment, a fax came back, inviting me to spend a summer assisting in the renovations and then conducting some of the tours.
I was fortunate beyond measure to spend a summer working here in 2004, having optimistically sent a fax (!) to the Fondation #Ravel asking if they had any work for a young Australian with high-school French.
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
I was fortunate beyond measure to spend a summer working here in 2004, having optimistically sent a fax (!) to the Fondation #Ravel asking if they had any work for a young Australian with high-school French.
My #Ravel biography is published today by
@reaktionbooks ! This book began here, more than twenty years ago: at Le Belvédère, Ravel’s home from 1921 until his death.
@reaktionbooks ! This book began here, more than twenty years ago: at Le Belvédère, Ravel’s home from 1921 until his death.
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
My #Ravel biography is published today by
@reaktionbooks ! This book began here, more than twenty years ago: at Le Belvédère, Ravel’s home from 1921 until his death.
@reaktionbooks ! This book began here, more than twenty years ago: at Le Belvédère, Ravel’s home from 1921 until his death.
I wrote a book! It's the story of the most entrancing of French composers, and it's published on Monday. I am informed by my nine-year-old that it is a 'very small book'. This means that it is also portable and inexpensive and is therefore perfect summer reading. Get to it (link follows...)!
June 27, 2025 at 11:40 AM
I wrote a book! It's the story of the most entrancing of French composers, and it's published on Monday. I am informed by my nine-year-old that it is a 'very small book'. This means that it is also portable and inexpensive and is therefore perfect summer reading. Get to it (link follows...)!
62. Late in life Ravel reflected, ‘My object . . . is technical perfection. I can strive unceasingly towards this end, as I am certain that I will never attain it. The important thing is to get closer all the time.’ #Ravel150
March 7, 2025 at 12:51 PM
62. Late in life Ravel reflected, ‘My object . . . is technical perfection. I can strive unceasingly towards this end, as I am certain that I will never attain it. The important thing is to get closer all the time.’ #Ravel150
60. Ravel’s friends loved him dearly: he ‘was the surest, most faithful and most profoundly affectionate of friends’, Roland-Manuel wrote. #Ravel150
March 7, 2025 at 12:51 PM
60. Ravel’s friends loved him dearly: he ‘was the surest, most faithful and most profoundly affectionate of friends’, Roland-Manuel wrote. #Ravel150
58. Ravel was a punishing and sometimes infuriating collaborator, but a generous one; a demanding friend, but intensely loyal; an exacting teacher, who laid down boundaries to watch his students discover how to breach them. #Ravel150
March 7, 2025 at 12:51 PM
58. Ravel was a punishing and sometimes infuriating collaborator, but a generous one; a demanding friend, but intensely loyal; an exacting teacher, who laid down boundaries to watch his students discover how to breach them. #Ravel150
55. In his mid-50s Ravel was crippled by a rare form of early onset dementia. Weeping after a performance of Daphnis, he told a friend, ‘I’ll never write like that again, but it was good, all the same, it was good’. #Ravel150
March 7, 2025 at 12:51 PM
55. In his mid-50s Ravel was crippled by a rare form of early onset dementia. Weeping after a performance of Daphnis, he told a friend, ‘I’ll never write like that again, but it was good, all the same, it was good’. #Ravel150
51. When Ravel toured America in 1928, his hosts were startled to discover that he had brought with him twenty pairs of pyjamas and fifty-seven ties. #Ravel150
March 7, 2025 at 12:51 PM
51. When Ravel toured America in 1928, his hosts were startled to discover that he had brought with him twenty pairs of pyjamas and fifty-seven ties. #Ravel150
49. He was proud of his ‘faux Monticello’ painting; when his friend teased him ‘Ravel, it’s disgraceful of you to hang that horror on the wall!’ he responded indignantly, ‘But I know it’s fake and it amuses me’. #Ravel150
March 7, 2025 at 12:51 PM
49. He was proud of his ‘faux Monticello’ painting; when his friend teased him ‘Ravel, it’s disgraceful of you to hang that horror on the wall!’ he responded indignantly, ‘But I know it’s fake and it amuses me’. #Ravel150
48. Ravel loved to offer extravagant cocktails, which took forever to concoct in a special cupboard halfway down the winding kitchen stairs. #Ravel150
March 7, 2025 at 12:51 PM
48. Ravel loved to offer extravagant cocktails, which took forever to concoct in a special cupboard halfway down the winding kitchen stairs. #Ravel150
46. In 1921 #Ravel moved into Le Belvédère in #Montfort-l’Amaury. Years of renovations followed: ‘You’ll see I’m not hiding the attractions!’ he wrote of the pile of radiators in the garden and the brackish water. #Ravel150
March 7, 2025 at 12:51 PM
46. In 1921 #Ravel moved into Le Belvédère in #Montfort-l’Amaury. Years of renovations followed: ‘You’ll see I’m not hiding the attractions!’ he wrote of the pile of radiators in the garden and the brackish water. #Ravel150