L'heure espagnole

L'heure espagnole is a one-act opera, described as a comédie musicale, with music by Maurice Ravel to a French libretto by Franc-Nohain, based on his play ('comédie-bouffe') of the same name first performed at the Théâtre de l'Odéon on 28 October 1904. The title can be translated literally as "The Spanish Hour", but the word "heure" more importantly means "time" – "Spanish Time", with the connotation "How They Keep Time in Spain". Ravel had been at work on the music as early as 1907.

Ravel was closely involved in every aspect of the production as it was prepared for its premiere at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. The opera was first performed at the Opéra-Comique on 19 May 1911, in a double-bill with Thérèse by Jules Massenet; after the initial nine performances it was not revived. The Paris Opéra presented it on 5 December 1921 with Fanny Heldy as Concepción, and it enjoyed more success. The opera returned to the Opéra-Comique in 1945 where it continued in the repertoire. Outside France, L’heure espagnole was first seen at Covent Garden in 1919, Chicago and New York in 1920, Brussels in 1921, followed by Basel and Rotterdam (1923), Prague (1924), Hamburg, Stockholm (1925), reaching Buenos Aires in 1932 and Cairo in 1934. The opera was performed for the first time in Canada at the 1961 Montreal Festivals.

In relation to Ravel's vocal writing in the opera, Roland-Manuel wrote "The language of the music is linked up as naturally as possible with the music of the language”. In an interview published two days before the premiere, Ravel explained his approach to his new opera. "I have written an opéra-bouffe. Apart from [Gonzalve] who sings sérénades and cavatines with deliberately exaggerated melodies, the other rôles will give, I think, the impression of being spoken." Ravel also cited Mussorgsky's The Marriage for the effect he was aiming to achieve in the word setting, and underlined the Spanish elements of the score in his use of jotas, habaneras and malagueñas. Kobbé commented that from "the delightful clock noises of the opening to the Habanera quintet of the end, L'Heure Espagnole is full of charming music", while Grove notes that the opera is one of a group of Spanish influenced works that span Ravel’s career and that in it he employed "a virtuouso use of the modern orchestra".

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