Ravel - Gaspard de la Nuit, No. 1, "Ondine" Sheet Music + Audio

Maurice Ravel - "Ondine," from Gaspard de la nuit, 1908-1909.

Performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Gaspard de la nuit is a three-"poem" suite, each work based on a poem by Aloysius Bertrand. This piece, "Ondine," depicts a water fairy wooing an observer, trying to seduce him into the watery depths of her kingdom. The shimmering opening reflects light ripples upon a calm body of water, and gradually builds into a torrent of notes.

"Listen! Listen! It is me, Ondine, spirit of the water, brushing with these drops of water the resonant diamond panes of your window lighted by the gloomy rays of the moon; and here in a silk dress, is the lady of the manor, gazing from her balcony at the beautiful starry night and the lovely sleeping lake."
"Each wave is a water sprite who swims in the current; each current is a path, winding toward my palace, and my palace is fluidly built, at the bottom of the lake, in the triangle formed by fire, earth, and air."
"Listen! Listen! My father is beating the croaking water with a green alder branch, and my sisters caress, with their arms of foam, the cool islands of grass, of water lilies, and gladiolas or tease the decrepit willow, who is fishing with a line of leaves."
Her song murmured, she begged me to receive her ring on my finger, to be her husband, and to visit her palace with her, to be the king of the lakes.
And when I answered that I loved a mortal woman, sullen and vexed, she cried a few tears, burst out laughing, and vanished in a sudden shower that streamed white down my blue windowpanes.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ondine
• Maurice
• Ravel
• Gaspard
• de
• la
• nuit
• jean
• yves
• thibaudet
• sheet
• music
• audio
• classical
• piano

[tomatosoupmusic1]

I love Ravel's fluidity! makes you think its water in musical form

[MILFMaster3000]

@musicnerd30 This is no place for a snowman.

[drakenve]

Siempre hay algun idiota envidioso que en todos los videos de musica hermosa, dice "no me gusta".... porque que hay gente tan marica en este planeta!!... por lo menos hay algun voto negativo!!... que le dan de comer a esa gente?... estupidina?

Maximo Maurice!!... fuiste lo maximo de aqui a Neptuno, por esta composicion tan increiblemente oceánica!... te respeto y te admiro hasta el fin del tiempo!

[XavierMacX]

@darkthunderz13 Islamey is not as hard as this. While close.... not as difficult. Ondine requires a lot... but you're correct in saying Scarbo is harder. Although, technically, they're both from the same piece. So let's just agree that La Gaspard de la Nuit is in the top ten hardest solo piano pieces (because it is!). :) (Also included would be Stravisnky's Three Movements from Petrouchka, the Hammerklavier Sonata, Art of the Fugue, etc.)

[abmsghost1]

@darkthunderz13 Thanks for your reply.I am a professional pianist,teaching and working with Japanese pianists for the past 15 years.Many of them appeared,some of them with succes,in major international competitions.Anyway thank you for your concerns.Btw...check the Godowsky-Chopin etudes and his Strauss Paraphrases.Have fun.

[darkthunderz13]

@abmsghost1 Ondine is not the hardest piano piece in the world. The third movement from this suite, Scarbo, is far harder than this one, so check it out if you want to see something stunningly difficult. Also, check out Balakirev's Islamey. Scarbo and Islamey are genereally considered to be the hardest piano pieces, and there are many others far more challenging than Ondine

[abmsghost1]

@JuyoNi Well ,just put it on then.:) Only the first page is enough.:)And ..why should I "trust"you?

[JuyoNi]

@abmsghost1 You know I have never put any of my recitals up and I just played it, I might just do that :) I love it very much. But it is not the most difficult piece there is, trust me, there are several pieces that are by contemporary composers... they beat the difficulty on ondine and jeux d'eau anytime. Mostly only because they don't make any sense, but still, music is music :)

[abmsghost1]

@JuyoNi Ondine is not the hardest?I would like to hear you play it.:)

[JuyoNi]

@bendzsy91 Ondine is not the hardest... technically and artistically difficult indeed, but its no harder than jeux d'eau. I think the hardest piece goes to Liszt's Totentantz or maybe a the Etude Tableaux by Rachmaninoff, I think Alborada del Gracioso can be considered more difficult than this piece. Just my humble opinion :)