''Deux mélodies hébraïques'' ("Two Hebrew Songs") is a composition of two traditional Hebrew melodies for voice and piano by

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

. It was written in 1914.

Structure

The first song is a setting of the

Kaddish The Kaddish (, 'holy' or 'sanctification'), also transliterated as Qaddish, is a hymn praising God that is recited during Jewish prayer services. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the lit ...

, the second is "L'énigme éternelle" ("The Eternal Enigma"). In line with the ''Five Popular Greek Melodies'', the ''Two Hebrew Melodies'' were composed from traditional songs (words and melody) in 1914. The piece consists of two songs: #Kaddisch — Slow, a long piece in Aramaic language #The Eternal Riddle — Tranquillo, a short piece in Yiddish language The average combined length of the two songs in performance is about six minutes.

History

The premier performance was on 3 June 1914 by the sponsor and dedicatee Alvina Alvi with Ravel at the piano, during a concert of the Independent Musical Society, Salle Malakoff. In their vocal and piano version, the ''Two Melodies'' were also performed on May 15 of the same year by Ninon Vallin and Marcel Chadeigne at the Société Nationale de Musique, Salle du Conservatoire. The work was published in 1915 by Durand.

Analysis

Vladimir Jankélévitch considers the melodies "magnificent". As Marie-Claire Beltrando-Patier points out, Ravel succeeds in depicting "in a few measures an atmosphere which marvelously characterizes a climate or a place". The first melody is a "fervent Kaddisch, prayer of the dead, which unrolls, in C minor, its pathetic cantilena on a G pedal" The second melody, "The Eternal Enigma" is "unhinged, anxious and a bit cynical ..limps with all its dissonances and opposes to biblical hieraticism the plebeian awkwardness of its Yiddish jargon...". In the catalog of Ravel's works compiled by Marcel Marnat, the work bears the number A 22.

References

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Discography

With piano

* ''Ravel: Complete Songs for Voice and Piano'', CD 1, by Laurent Naouri (baritone) and David Abramovitz (piano), Naxos 8.554176-77, 2003. * ''Ravel: Mélodies , CD, by Nora Gubisch'', mezzo-soprano, and Alain Altinoglu, piano, Naïve (V5304), 2012. * ''Ravel: Complete Mélodies'', CD 2, by Christian Immler (baritone) and Filippo Farinelli (piano), Brilliant Classics 94743, 2015. * ''Maurice Ravel: The Complete Works'', CD 13, by José van Dam (bass) and Dalton Baldwin (piano), Warner Classics 0190295283261, 2020.

With orchestra

* ''Maurice Ravel: The Complete Works'', CD 13, by Gérard Souzay (baritone), the Orchester de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire, André Vandernoot (dir.), Warner Classics 0190295283261, 2020. {{Maurice Ravel Song cycles by Maurice Ravel 1914 compositions Songs in Hebrew Songs in Yiddish