French Music for Harp

Maurice Ravel wrote his Introduction and Allegro for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet [1] in 1905, the year in which he was disqualified in the preliminary round of the important Prix de Rome competition, for which he was now entering for the fifth time. His career as a student at the Paris Conservatoire had lacked the expected distinction, in official eyes, although he clearly benefited greatly from the sympathetic attention of his composition teacher, Gabriel Fauré, which had persuaded him to return to the institution and even to continue as an auditor. L’Affaire Ravel, in fact, provoked a sufficient uproar to bring about a reform in the Conservatoire and the appointment of Fauré as the new director. By 1905, of course, Ravel held an established position among younger French composers and this he was to consolidate in the following years, rejecting the suggestion from critics that he owed so much to Debussy, although t