Ravel, Maurice
Ravel, Maurice (1875–1937),French composer. Along with several other influential artists working in Paris in the early years of the 20th century, Ravel in his early works exhibits an attraction to the exotic. Of a projected opera inspired by The Arabian Nights , only the overture, Shéhérazade (1898), was written. The lush orchestral song cycle Shéhérazade (1903), in which no reference is made to the eponymous heroine, sets three orientally inspired poems from a collection of the same name by Tristan Klingsor. Ravel's interest in fairy tales was part of a general fascination he had with the remembered world of childhood. Ma Mère l'Oye ( Mother Goose , 1908–10), originally written as a set of five piano duets for children, was inspired by characters from Charles Perrault, Mme