Music Library News
October 30, 2007
Ravel Letters & Manuscript Acquired
Two recent acquisitions add to the Music Library's holdings of primary materials relating to Maurice Ravel's life and music. In September, the library purchased a set of 28 letters written by Ravel to lyric soprano Marcelle Gerar (1891-1970), for whom Ravel occasionally served as accompanist and to whom he dedicated the 1924 song Ronsard à son âme. Additionally, earlier this month the library acquired a manuscript written around 1892 during Ravel's first period of study at the Paris Conservatory. Consisting of various three-voice counterpoint exercises, the manuscript is a valuable document of the methods by which Ravel learned and refined his early skills as a composer.
These acquisitions, which complement other Ravel manuscripts in the Music Library's collection, were purchased with support of the Constance Heilman Brakke Endowed Fund, the James A. and Sally Ann Hagan Endowed Fund, and the Christine S. Lewis Music Library Fund.
