L’heure espagnol

Maurice Ravel's only operatic composition "L'heure espagnole" was created between 1907-1909 to a libretto by Franc-Nohain and shows the composer at the height of his impressionist period. The one-hour chamber opera combines French elegance with Spanish color and demonstrates Ravel's masterful art of orchestration within an intimate framework. The work is regarded as a perfect synthesis of Ravel's predilection for exotic tone colors and his affinity for the French opéra comique tradition.

The sophisticated score is characterized by transparent, chamber-musical orchestration that gives each instrument a soloistic character. Ravel largely dispenses with grand ensemble scenes and instead favors a through-composed structure shaped by motivic development. The rhythmically distinctive dance interludes and the subtle harmonic language that oscillates between impressionism and neoclassical tendencies are characteristic features.

The work is said to have received a reserved reception at its 1911 premiere at the Opéra-Comique, but later established itself as a model example of French operatic art of the early 20th century. The virtuosic vocal parts and the piquant plot about a clockmaker and his unfaithful wife reflect the esprit français of the Belle Époque.