Maurice Ravel was considered an Impressionist composer. He was a French pianist, conductor and orchestrator. He was born in March 1875 and died in December 1937. He was one of the first composers to recognize the potential of recording to bring classical music to a wider public audience. During World War I, when he was 40 years old, he served as a lorry driver for munitions. As a result, he wrote very little music during this time. Jazz was popular in French cafes after the war and he liked many elements of this type of music. His most famous composition is Bolero. He also orchestrated original musical pieces written by other musicians. One of the pieces that he orchestrated was Pictures At An Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. Click on the link for each of these pieces of music to listen to while you are working on your Art Project!
