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
(And yes, Tim Ashley, I wanted an index too!) reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice...
Maurice Ravel | Reaktion Books
Maurice Ravel is one of the twentieth century’s most intriguing and contradictory composers. This timely new biography – published for the 150th anniversary of his birth – describes Ravel’s journey fr...
reaktionbooks.co.uk
July 15, 2025 at 11:17 AM
(And yes, Tim Ashley, I wanted an index too!) reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice...
‘...in meticulous, elegant prose ... it packs a great deal of thought and information into a relatively short space, and often encourages us to think afresh about its subject.’
@reaktionbooks.bsky.social www.gramophone.co.uk/review/artic...
@reaktionbooks.bsky.social www.gramophone.co.uk/review/artic...
Review - Maurice Ravel (by Emily Kilpatrick)
‘This is a portrait of a man who remained aloof and apart from a musical establishment that treated him warily almost from the beginning’
www.gramophone.co.uk
July 15, 2025 at 11:17 AM
‘...in meticulous, elegant prose ... it packs a great deal of thought and information into a relatively short space, and often encourages us to think afresh about its subject.’
@reaktionbooks.bsky.social www.gramophone.co.uk/review/artic...
@reaktionbooks.bsky.social www.gramophone.co.uk/review/artic...
The book is published today, and you can find it here: reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice... @reaktionbooks.bsky.social
Maurice Ravel | Reaktion Books
Maurice Ravel is one of the twentieth century’s most intriguing and contradictory composers. This timely new biography – published for the 150th anniversary of his birth – describes Ravel’s journey fr...
reaktionbooks.co.uk
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
The book is published today, and you can find it here: reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice... @reaktionbooks.bsky.social
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.
At Le Belvédère Ravel wasn’t an icon but a presence, fallible, exasperating and comical; spoken of not just with reverence but with affection, with humour and the occasional eyeroll. www.youtube.com/watch?v=j93G...
Maurice Ravel - 3 brief silent films
YouTube video by caramelorb
www.youtube.com
July 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
At Le Belvédère Ravel wasn’t an icon but a presence, fallible, exasperating and comical; spoken of not just with reverence but with affection, with humour and the occasional eyeroll. www.youtube.com/watch?v=j93G...
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 biography of #Ravel will be published shortly by
@reaktionbooks.bsky.social, and is available for pre-order now! #Ravel150 reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice-ravel
@reaktionbooks.bsky.social, and is available for pre-order now! #Ravel150 reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice-ravel
Maurice Ravel | Reaktion Books
Maurice Ravel is one of the twentieth century’s most intriguing and contradictory composers. This timely new biography – published for the 150th anniversary of his birth – describes Ravel’s journey fr...
reaktionbooks.co.uk
March 7, 2025 at 2:12 PM
My biography of #Ravel will be published shortly by
@reaktionbooks.bsky.social, and is available for pre-order now! #Ravel150 reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice-ravel
@reaktionbooks.bsky.social, and is available for pre-order now! #Ravel150 reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/maurice-ravel
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