Sergei Rachmaninoff and Maurice Ravel were two major composers who achieved artistic success before World War I. However, their perspective toward the war were completely different. As a result, they had a very different life under the war. Rachmaninoff was very worried about the increasing tension both between European countries, and communist and Russian government, especially after Russia’s failure in the war against Japan. So he decided to hide in his family’s house at Urals for a short time(1) and eventually left Russia few years later without return(2). On the other hand, Ravel was very eager about saving his country, so he applied to be a soldier in the French army. Although he was rejected by the army for being a soldier for some health …show more content…
In 1914, when the conflict in Europe started, Ravel applied to be a soldier in the French army. However, both his height and weight were not enough for the requirement to be a soldier(6). For this reason, Ravel started to seek other opportunities to help the country in the war, especially in the army. At first, he helped the French soldiers who were injured to get necessary help. Then he became a driver who transported important troops in the war(7) from late 1914 until 1916(6). During this time, he needed to drive the track on the road that had bad condition and in the night when illumination is not available to hide himself from the enemy. After he left the army at 1916, which because of some health issues(7), he started to compose a piece to honor the French army’s achievement and to memorialize the soldiers who died for the country. This piece is “ Le tombeau de Couperin”(10). Ravel used the style of Baroque suite to compose this piece since he wanted to memorialize the old style as well. This set of pieces have six individual movements, each of movements were dedicated to a friend of Ravel who died in the war(10). Since this piece is a memorial piece after the war, it has often been criticized to be too light and optimistic. While Ravel respond, “ The dead are sad enough, in their eternal silence.” (10). This shows the optimism of Ravel. Ravel, as a famous composer at that time who was famous