Maurice Ravel

L'Heure Espagnole (The Spanish Hour), M. 52

In 1907, Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) began to compose his one-act theatrical piece, L'HEURE ESPAGNOLE (The Spanish Hour), after his opera-loving father suffered a stroke. It has been suggested that this troubling event inspired him to take his first foray into opera. Maurice Étienne Legrand, under the pseudonym Franc-Nohain, penned the libretto, which was based on his 1904 play of the same name. The plot follows the wife of a clockmaker who tries to seduced several men in his absence, causing them to entrap themselves in her husband's clocks. Dedicated to Louise Cruppi, it premiered in a double billing with Jules Massenet's Thérèse on May 19, 1911 at the Opera-Comique in Paris. Instrumentation: 2+Picc.2+EH.2+BCL.2: Sarrussophone: 4.2.3.1: Timp:Perc(5-7): 2Hp:Clst: Str (4.4.3.3.3 in set): vocal soli (5 roles, ATTBB).