Ravel in Los Angeles

After a hectic concert schedule in San Francisco, Ravel’s time in Los Angeles was more relaxed (just one performance) and he made full use of his opportunities to see the sights of the film capital. On 6 February 1928 he visited United Artists studios, and was photographed there with John Barrymore. The next day he was at the Hollywood Bowl in the company of Douglas Fairbanks, who, he was delighted to find, spoke French.* He declined an opportunity to dine with Charlie Chaplin on the grounds that the latter knew less French than Ravel did English and they would both have had a tedious time. On the afternoon of 8 February he was to visit MGM studios. Ravel wrote to his brother enthusiastically of all this as well as the climate and landscape:

“Cette fois c’est l’été: 35^o. Un soleil splendide; une grande ville toute en fleurs. Des fleurs qui chez nous poussent en serre; de grands palmiers qui sont chez eux… Promenade à Hollywood, la ville du cinéma. Stars divers: Douglas Fairbanks qui heureusement parle français. Le voyage de San Francisco à Los Angeles très agréable, presque toujours sur la terrasse d’arrière; forêts d’eucalyptus, grands arbres que l’on peut prendre pour des chênes et qui sont des houx. Montagnes variées, rocailleuses ou d’un vert éclatant. C’est embêtant de penser qu je vais retrouver le froid… Demain … dans l’après-midi j’irai voir la fabrique de lions pour le cinéma.” (Chalupt [1956] p.226-227.)

His concert took place in the ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel (where he was staying) on 8 February, before a large and fashionable audience: “The spectators were so numerous that they wound up by sitting on the cornices and standing on each other. Virtually all the musical notables of the Southland were present, and the tribute to Mr. Ravel was fervent and appropriate.” (Patterson Greene, in Los Angeles Examiner, 9 February 1928, section 2, p.4**).

The occasion began with Ravel’s lecture on contemporary French music, read in English, before proceeding with a mixture of his piano works, songs, and chamber pieces. The performances were generally well-received despite the vagaries of Ravel’s own piano-playing, which included his usual habit of taking the final movement of the Sonate pour violon et piano at an uncomfortably fast pace for the violinist. But the applause was insistent and the “Blues” received an encore. (Isabel Morse Jones, in Los Angeles Times, 9 February 1928, section 2, p.1**).

On the following day Ravel took the train again for a two-day journey northwards to Seattle, reflecting on some tumultuous experiences: “Je vois des villes magnifiques, des pays enchanteurs, mais les triomphes sont fatigants. A Los Angeles, J’ai lâché les gens; d’ailleurs je crevais de faim.” (Orenstein [1989] letter 295).

(* Photographs from Ravel’s Hollywood visit can be found in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library at Yale University: MSS 54, E. Robert Schmitz Papers, Series III, Folder13/11.)

(** as quoted in Dunfee [1980] pp.108-110.)