Darius Milhaud (1892 – 1976)

Milhaud met Ravel first in 1913. In his autobiography, Milhaud recalled his initial attitude to Ravel’s music after hearing a performance of L’Heure espagnole: “Cette musique me séduisit par sa subtile élégance, mais je regrettai de ne pas retrouver chez Ravel un sensibilité aussi profonde que celle de Debussy. Je fus donc hostile à la musique de Ravel à partir de ce moment-là; depuis, j’ai toujours conservé cette attitude bien qu’injustifiée parfois, je l’avoue.” (Milhaud, [1973], p.29).

In 1927, Ravel defended Milhaud’s opera, Les Malheurs d’Orphée, against the criticism of Pierre Lalo; (Orenstein, [1989], p.354). This led to an improvement in relations between the two men. In his lecture on contemporary music (in America in 1928), Ravel described Milhaud as “probably the most important of our young French composers”, and goes on to give an admiring analysis of his technique and artistic character; (Ravel [1928]).