604 - Maurice Ravel Signed ‘Le Tombeau de Couperin’ Orchestral Score (1919 First Edition)

Maurice Ravel Signed ‘Le Tombeau de Couperin’ Orchestral Score (1919 First Edition) Highly influential French composer (1875-1937) who remains unsurpassed in his imaginative use of instrumental color in his operas, brilliantly scored orchestral music, and virtuosic piano pieces. First edition of the full orchestral score for Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, 56 pages, 6.25 x 9, published by A. Durand & Fils of Paris and handsomely bound in a contemporary decorative hardcover binding. Signed and inscribed on the title page in ink to Ravel’s friend, the French music critic and writer G. Jean-Aubry, “à Jean Aubry, affectueusement, Maurice Ravel, London 26/4/24.” Significantly, Ravel inscribed the score in London on April 26, 1924, the very day of the world premiere of his Tzigane, performed at Aeolian Hall by violinist Jelly d’Arányi and pianist Henri Gil-Marchex. The title page identifies the work as a “Suite d’Orchestre” comprising the Prélude, Forlane, Menuet, and Rigaudon. The first page of music bears the 1919 copyright date and plate number D. & F. 10,898. In very good to fine condition, with light wear to the binding and toning to the pages; an opening flyleaf is detached but present. Ravel began Le Tombeau de Couperin in 1914 and completed the six-movement piano suite in 1917, dedicating each movement to the memory of friends who had died during the First World War. Marguerite Long gave its first performance in Paris on April 11, 1919. In June of that year, Ravel orchestrated four of the six movements, the Prélude, Forlane, Menuet, and Rigaudon, creating the orchestral suite represented by the offered score. The orchestral version premiered in Paris on February 28, 1920, with the Orchestre Pasdeloup under Rhené-Baton. The date and recipient of Ravel's inscription give this first-edition score an additional connection to his career. G. Jean-Aubry was a French music critic and writer, a friend of Ravel, and an advocate for contemporary music who lived in London from 1919 to 1930 while editing The Chesterian. Ravel inscribed the score to him in London on April 26, 1924, the same day an all-Ravel concert at Aeolian Hall presented the world premiere of Tzigane, performed by its dedicatee, Hungarian violinist Jelly d'Arányi, with Henri Gil-Marchex at the piano.