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Maurice Ravel -The Swiss Watchmaker

Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875, in the small fishing village of Ciboure in the Basque region, near the Franco-Spanish border.  His father, Pierre-Joseph, was a Frenchman of Swiss descent. Pierre-Joseph, a distinguished engineer, met and fell in love with his future wife, a young and beautiful Basque, Marie Delouart, at the time she worked on the Spanish railways.  A few months after Maurice's birth, the family moved from Ciboure to Paris. The parents of Maurice Ravel, Pierre-Joseph Ravel and Marie Delouart. Maurice had a happy childhood. The parents encouraged their two children - Edouard was born in 1878 - to follow their vocation. Maurice's inclination was music. He started music lessons at the age of seven.  Unlike the parents of other composers, Pierre-Joseph viewed positively the prospect of a musical career and sent Maurice to the France's most important musical college, the Conservatoire de Paris in 1889. In the same year, the Paris Exhibition brought toget

Carl Maria von Weber - Euryanthe: Overture

Giueseppe Verdi - Aida

Gioachino Rossini - L'italiana in Algeri

Gioachino Rossini - Semiramide

Carl Maria von Weber - Oberon Overture

Bedřich Smetana - Libuše Overture

Gioachino Rossini - La Danza (Tarantella Napoletana)

Bedřich Smetana - The Bartered Bride

Georges Bizet - Carmen Suite No. 2

Beethoven - Fidelio Overture, Op. 72b

Georges Bizet - Carmen Suite No. 1

Hector Berlioz - Les Francs-juges ("The Free Judges" or "The Judges of the Secret Court"), op. 3

Gershwin - Porgy and Bess