Chants populaires

Five songs by Ravel (written in 1910), to folk songs and popular poems in various languages. They were written to a commission by Alexandre Olénine, and four of them were published in collection called Sept chansons populaires (1911). These four were included in a first performance in 1910, but the Chanson écossaise was omitted from the group and was not given public performance until 1975.

The texts of the songs can be found on the Lied and Art Song Texts Page:

Chanson espagnole

Chanson française

Chanson italienne

Chanson hébraïque

Chanson écossaise

Ravel made a number of other settings of folk-songs with the Cinq mélodies populaires grècques, and Tripatos, as well as the Deux mélodies hébraiques.

www.maurice-ravel.net