Lyons-La-Forêt, Le Frêne

After gaining his discharge from the army in the spring of 1917, Ravel stayed at the Paris home of M. and Mme. Dreyfus, at 1 rue de Chazelles, 17e, in Paris, and then in June he went to their country house of Le Frêne at Lyons-La-Forêt, near Rouen; here he remained until November 1917, completing Le tombeau de Couperin. He was to return here from time to time, notably from May to September in 1922, when he was orchestrating Tableaux d'une exposition.

Paris, St.Cloud, 7 avenue Léonie

When in Paris, he and his brother stayed with M. and Mme. Bonnard at a villa in St.Cloud in the south-west of the city. Letters and autographs show that he resided here between June and November 1918, and again from May to September 1919. While staying here, he produced one of the rare works from this period, Frontispice, in June 1918.

Mégève

Under doctor's orders, and possibly suffering from suspected tuberculosis, Ravel spent the first months of 1919 at the Alpine resort of Mégève in Haute Savoie. He was there probably from the end of November 1918 (see Orenstein [1989] p.167, letter 147) until the beginning of April 1919 (Orenstein [1989] p.171-172, letters 153-154), staying at the Hôtel du Mont Blanc. He found it impossible to work at this period, but his letters indicate that he was at least thinking about Colette's libretto for L'enfant et les sortilèges. He returned to St. Cloud in Paris for the summer.

Lapras

In the following winter, from December 1919 until mid-April 1920, Ravel again spent an extended period in isolation far from Paris. He stayed at the country home of André Ferdinand Hérold, a writer and an old friend, in Lapras, near Lamastre, in Ardèche. He spent much of his time completely alone and it was while here that he was able to resume some sort of normal pattern of work. After making an orchestration of the Deux mélodies hébraiques, he set about completing the score of La valse. He returned briefly to Paris during April and May.

Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais: La Bijeannette

In May 1920, Ravel went to stay with the family of Pierre Haour at their country house of La Bijeannette at Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais, in Eure et Loire, south-west of Paris. During this period he was working on the Sonate pour violon et violoncelle. While he was there, Pierre Haour became seriously ill; Ravel departed anxiously at the end of August, and his friend died in September. After a further visit to Lyons-La-Forêt, and a return to Paris, Ravel installed himself at his new home of Le Belvédère at the beginning of 1921.

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