125 Moments: 007 Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall on January 20 and 21, 1928, conducting a program of his works, including Sheherazade (with mezzo-soprano Lisa Roma), Daphnis and Chloe Suite no. 2, Le tombeau de Couperin, La valse and his orchestration of Debussy’s Sarabande and Dance.

According to the review in the Chicago Tribune, “the audience cheered M. Ravel again and again, and at the end of the program the Orchestra, incited thereto by the audience and by the music it had been playing, gave him a prolonged and enthusiastic fanfare.”

However, the real news of his appearance actually involved his shoes, as recounted in Madeleine Goss’s 1940 book Bolero: The Life of Maurice Ravel. “Just as Ravel was dressing for the concert he discovered that his evening shoes had been left in one of the trunks at the station. This was a major calamity. Wear his day shoes? Jamais de la vie! Maurice Ravel must be correctly — impeccably — dressed or he would not appear in public.

“In desperation, Mme Roma . . . dashed down in a taxi — rummaged through the trunks — back to the auditorium — the evening was saved.”

Chicago Symphony Orchestra: 125 Moments was created to celebrate the ensemble’s 125th season in 2015-16 and gathered significant events, illustrated with imagery and artifacts from the collections of the Rosenthal Archives.

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