Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, but both composers rejected the term. After studying at France's premier music college, the Paris Conservatoire, he developed a style that incorporated elements of baroque, neoclassicism and, in his later works, jazz. Some of his piano music, such as Gaspard de la nuit (1908), requires advanced virtuoso technique. His complex orchestral work Daphnis et Chloé (1912) was commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes. In 1922 Ravel made an orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. He liked to experiment with musical form, as in Boléro (1928), his best-known work. A slow and painstaking worker, Ravel wrote fewer pieces than many of his contemporaries. He was among the first composers to use recordings to reach a wider public.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Ravel

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1871:

José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco, became Prime Minister of the Empire of Brazil, starting a four-year rule, the longest in the state's history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Paranhos,_Viscount_of_Rio_Branco

1941:

The German submarine U-47, one of the most successful U-boats of World War II, disappeared and was lost with all hands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-47_%281938%29

1985:

The charity single "We Are the World" by the supergroup United Support of Artists for Africa was released, and went on to sell more than 20 million copies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_World

2009:

Two off-duty soldiers of the British Army's 38 Engineer Regiment were shot dead by the Real IRA in Antrim town, Northern Ireland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Massereene_Barracks_shooting

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

nervous: 1. Easily agitated or alarmed; edgy, on edge. 2. Apprehensive, anxious, hesitant, worried. 3. Relating to or affecting the nerves. 4. (archaic) Having nerves; nervose. 5. (obsolete) Showing nervous strength; sinewy, vigorous. 6. (obsolete) Of a piece of writing: forceful, powerful. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nervous

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.   --John Herschel https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Herschel