Ravel had long been passionate about the dance rhythms of Johann Strauss. When La Valse was first conceived, in the years 1906–8, the plan was for a symphonic poem called Wien, a grand waltz as a “homage to the memory of the great Strauss – not Richard, the other, Johann.” By 1914 he was still naming it as a piece he wanted to finish. But the war intervened; Ravel served as a lorry driver and was sent to the front during the long battle of Verdun, and there is no doubt that his war experiences, the suffering and brutality he witnessed, turned his mind so that afterwards, the Viennese waltz culture no longer represented the light-hearted, carefree, joyous dance that it had earlier. By the time Ravel managed to complete the piece, in 1920, it had turned into a sinister, savage, nightmarish caricature, so it is hardly surprising that Diaghilev, who had commissioned it for his Ballets Russes, turned it down, saying, “Ravel, it's a masterpiece, but it isn't a ballet. It's a portrait of a ballet, a painting of a ballet.” So instead, Ravel called it a ‘choreographic poem’, and it was first performed, as a purely orchestral piece, in January 1920. But it is terrifyingly impressive, original and effective, and has remained one of Ravel's most popular works.

sources

A  Autograph score, on loan by the Robert Owen Lehman Foundation to the Morgan Library, New York

V  Transcription for piano solo by Ravel himself, published by Durand in 1920

V2  Transcription for 2 pianos by Ravel himself, published by Durand in 1920

E,P  First edition score and parts, published by Durand in 1921