Ravel - Pavane for a Dead Princess (Pavane pour une infante défunte)

Ravel - Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess)
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Hope you enjoy this performance of Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte by SPQ.

Outro: Debussy - Reflets dans l'eau

Hello, I'm Rousseau, I make piano covers of classical and pop songs with a reactive visualizer. New videos every second Monday!
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[Rousseau]

Ravel. Pavane pour une infante défunte. An incredibly lyrical and reflective piece, the melody at 1:13 followed by the undulating circle of 5ths cadence is personally one of my few favorite moments in the entire classical repertoire. Although the piece is seemingly dedicated to a princess who has died (we would assume recently), Ravel intended this to be more a thought back to a princess who had lived a long time ago, calling it "an evocation of a pavane that a little princess might, in former times, have danced at the Spanish court". Although this piece was originally written for piano, Ravel's orchestration - written 10 years after the original - would go on to become one of his most famous orchestrations, and is a good testament to how orchestral his piano writing was - I can still hear the sound of an oboe clearly at 1:13. I hope you enjoy this beautiful recording by SPQ, and that you've had a happy and healthy start to your March ♥

[dominationyt]

Nothing better than listening to Rousseau on a sad Monday morning

[lucasj]

Big nostalgia here. My grandmother, a piano teacher and an extreme virtuoso, used to play this for me when I was a little kid, right before I went to bed. Now, about 10 years later, she is teaching me. I dream of being able to play this piece one day. Thank you Rousseau for the beautiful interpretation.

[Rousseau]

Is it time for some more impressionism? What are your favorite Debussy/Ravel works?

[airsoftmaestro]

Why don't we stop requesting so many pieces and just appreciate the songs he uploads. You're incredible mate

[superhuffpuff]

3 years and I still haven't seen anyone write the story behind this piece.

This piece was written for a Spanish princess who was married off to an Austrian prince at the age of 16. she struggled to communicate and felt incredibly alone, fell into a depressive state and eventually died at an extremely young age, at 21.

The simple layering in the first part of the piece symbolises her life as a child, where everything was simple and straightforward. she lived quite happily.

The melody repeats again, this time with slightly more complicated accompaniment. The melody is a metaphor for her identity. She's still the same person, but the accompaniment, her life, has gotten more complex. This is meant to symbolise her growing up, her parents telling her what is to come, and her understanding of how things will change when the day comes.

The day finally comes for her to leave Spain, and marry a man she'd never met. Despite this, she's willing to try. The first struggle comes, and she doesn't even realise it until the second washes over, then the third, and so on. The layering becomes much more complicated and slowly, the accompaniment has switched to minor. The accompaniment increases in volume, almost the same as the melody. She begins to lose her sense of self, and eventually, dies.

After this comes a more light-hearted section. This symbolises her life in heaven, once again meeting the people she loves, and going back to her ordinary life as a princess in spain.

At least, that's what my piano teacher told me.

[Rousseau]

It's the attention to details in classical writing that I always appreciate so much - have you ever noticed that the ii chord is minor at 1:41, but major/dominant at 2:19?

[thatguymork]

Nobody gonna mention the beauty of the tiles here? Absolutely gorgeous...

[jacks]

This piece is devilishly difficult to play well. Ravel composes it in such a way that it doesn't sound hard at all, just beautiful. But it is extraordinarily dense and very tricky to pull off. Makes performances of it that much more wonderful to listen to.

[jericobongosia]

"You're not a princess, and I am not Ravel"
-Arima Kousei

[spacetaco]

Wow he is good at expressing emotion. It isn't often that I interpret what the composers are trying to say but here I can actually hear the happy sadness.
It makes me sad myself and not just in general but for whoever the princess was. This definitely had to stir some emotions when it was played.

[ViktorVonfuling]

My girlfriend used to be really suicidal and depressed, and I always told myself that if she died, I'd learn this piece for her, both because it's a beautiful piece, but also because of it's name, since one of my nicknames for her was princess.

This was about a year ago, and now, she's no longer suicidal. She pulled through and she's happy now, and I am so indescribably proud of her for it. That said, whenever I listen to this piece, beautiful as it is, I can't help but get really emotional, remembering how I feared that she wouldn't be with me anymore at some point, and how I used to envision myself learning this piece if I lost her.

Might just learn it anyway though, and play it to her, since despite all the things she went through, she stayed strong, and she's still here to listen to it.

[Alexa]

I first heard this song when I was in my high school orchestra and we performed it for one of our concerts. I fell in love with the piece. My grandmother loved classical music and when she got diagnosed with cancer, I was often at her apartment to help cook for her and take care of her. I played the song for her on her speaker one morning and she really enjoyed it and wound up falling asleep to it at one point (the chemo made her tired). She passed away a few weeks ago. Now whenever I hear this song, I'm brought back to all the time I spent with her in last months cooking and cleaning while she dozed on the couch.

This rendition is gorgeous. Beautiful work as always, thank you for bringing me back to happier times.

[tommyvercetti]

My great grandma just died and I felt like listening to this beautiful piece. Altough you will probably never read this, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this beautiful arrangement Rousseau and I really hope that you will come back whenever you feel like it.

[aadimalaviya]

So bittersweet, this is my new favorite classical piece. It truly moved me. I don't know what it is about the piece and specifically the main theme, but it reflects on the past and conveys the mourning of the present. There’s a tension between peacefulness and the despair.

[YoloAnonymous]

The funny part about this, earlier today during school, I was like "You know what would be fun to learn to play on the piano, Pavane for a dead princess" then I go check my phone to look up a music sheet and as I turn on my phone I get a notification about you uploading this piece and I'm like "What a coincidence"

[Yumyqoia]

6:28 and this inspired the lamp is low, which inspired Arurian dance, where my life changed

[wolfgangamadeusmozart]

I was addicted to classical music 2 years ago, you have just started this channel. You had like 20 K, and after a while I didn't enjoyed classical music like I used to. You had like 100-120 K. Now I came back here just to see you have 2.6 million subscribers.Congratulations friend!

[SoleaGalilei]

To me this piece is about tears... from delicate pianissimo teardrops, to forte sobs, to the unseen weeping that we hold inside. Beautiful performance. Maurice would be proud.

[TheMysterySchl]

This is the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.