MAURICE RAVEL’S “Boléro” is a strange piece of music, consisting of two melodies repeated nine times each. Originally the score to a ballet, it is catchy and keeps running in the listener’s head long ...

Writing to a friend shortly after finishing the work, Ravel described it as having “no form in the true sense of the word, no development, and hardly any modulation”. And to the Swiss composer Arthur ...

A French court ruled on Friday that composer Maurice Ravel wrote Boléro by himself, rejecting claims of co-authorship. Ravel himself considered Boléro one of his least important works, but it has ...