Ravel. Pavane pour une infante défunte. An incredibly lyrical and reflective piece, the melody at 1:13 followed by the undulating circle of 5ths cadence is personally one of my few favorite moments in the entire classical repertoire. Although the piece is seemingly dedicated to a princess who has died (we would assume recently), Ravel intended this to be more a thought back to a princess who had lived a long time ago, calling it "an evocation of a pavane that a little princess might, in former times, have danced at the Spanish court". Although this piece was originally written for piano, Ravel's orchestration - written 10 years after the original - would go on to become one of his most famous orchestrations, and is a good testament to how orchestral his piano writing was - I can still hear the sound of an oboe clearly at 1:13. I hope you enjoy this beautiful recording by SPQ, and that you've had a happy and healthy start to your March ♥

Is it time for some more impressionism? What are your favorite Debussy/Ravel works?

It's the attention to details in classical writing that I always appreciate so much - have you ever noticed that the ii chord is minor at 1:41, but major/dominant at 2:19?

Nothing better than listening to Rousseau on a sad Monday morning

Big nostalgia here. My grandmother, a piano teacher and an extreme virtuoso, used to play this for me when I was a little kid, right before I went to bed. Now, about 10 years later, she is teaching me. I dream of being able to play this piece one day. Thank you Rousseau for the beautiful interpretation.

3 years and I still haven't seen anyone write the story behind this piece. This piece was written for a Spanish princess who was married off to an Austrian prince at the age of 16. she struggled to communicate and felt incredibly alone, fell into a depressive state and eventually died at an extremely young age, at 21. The simple layering in the first part of the piece symbolises her life as a child, where everything was simple and straightforward. she lived quite happily. The melody repeats again, this time with slightly more complicated accompaniment. The melody is a metaphor for her identity. She's still the same person, but the accompaniment, her life, has gotten more complex. This is meant to symbolise her growing up, her parents telling her what is to come, and her understanding of how things will change when the day comes. The day finally comes for her to leave Spain, and marry a man she'd never met. Despite this, she's willing to try. The first struggle comes, and she doesn't even realise it until the second washes over, then the third, and so on. The layering becomes much more complicated and slowly, the accompaniment has switched to minor. The accompaniment increases in volume, almost the same as the melody. She begins to lose her sense of self, and eventually, dies. After this comes a more light-hearted section. This symbolises her life in heaven, once again meeting the people she loves, and going back to her ordinary life as a princess in spain. At least, that's what my piano teacher told me.

Nobody gonna mention the beauty of the tiles here? Absolutely gorgeous...

This piece is devilishly difficult to play well. Ravel composes it in such a way that it doesn't sound hard at all, just beautiful. But it is extraordinarily dense and very tricky to pull off. Makes performances of it that much more wonderful to listen to.

Why don't we stop requesting so many pieces and just appreciate the songs he uploads. You're incredible mate

My girlfriend used to be really suicidal and depressed, and I always told myself that if she died, I'd learn this piece for her, both because it's a beautiful piece, but also because of it's name, since one of my nicknames for her was princess. This was about a year ago, and now, she's no longer suicidal. She pulled through and she's happy now, and I am so indescribably proud of her for it. That said, whenever I listen to this piece, beautiful as it is, I can't help but get really emotional, remembering how I feared that she wouldn't be with me anymore at some point, and how I used to envision myself learning this piece if I lost her. Might just learn it anyway though, and play it to her, since despite all the things she went through, she stayed strong, and she's still here to listen to it.

Wow he is good at expressing emotion. It isn't often that I interpret what the composers are trying to say but here I can actually hear the happy sadness. It makes me sad myself and not just in general but for whoever the princess was. This definitely had to stir some emotions when it was played.

"You're not a princess, and I am not Ravel" -Arima Kousei

03:45 How to vibrato on piano

So bittersweet, this is my new favorite classical piece. It truly moved me. I don't know what it is about the piece and specifically the main theme, but it reflects on the past and conveys the mourning of the present. There’s a tension between peacefulness and the despair.

6:28 and this inspired the lamp is low, which inspired Arurian dance, where my life changed

My great grandma just died and I felt like listening to this beautiful piece. Altough you will probably never read this, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this beautiful arrangement Rousseau and I really hope that you will come back whenever you feel like it.

I first heard this song when I was in my high school orchestra and we performed it for one of our concerts. I fell in love with the piece. My grandmother loved classical music and when she got diagnosed with cancer, I was often at her apartment to help cook for her and take care of her. I played the song for her on her speaker one morning and she really enjoyed it and wound up falling asleep to it at one point (the chemo made her tired). She passed away a few weeks ago. Now whenever I hear this song, I'm brought back to all the time I spent with her in last months cooking and cleaning while she dozed on the couch. This rendition is gorgeous. Beautiful work as always, thank you for bringing me back to happier times.

Normal Ravel: let me blow your mind This Ravel: let me encompass you in sadness

Please play *"Danse macabre"* by Camille Saint-Saëns

I was addicted to classical music 2 years ago, you have just started this channel. You had like 20 K, and after a while I didn't enjoyed classical music like I used to. You had like 100-120 K. Now I came back here just to see you have 2.6 million subscribers.Congratulations friend!

This song makes me think of those days when your home alone. It’s raining outside and all you can hear is the drops of water on your roof and you sit looking out the window throughout your quiet house and you don’t hear a sound but this song playing in the background. It is sad, but calming in a way that makes me happy.

The funny part about this, earlier today during school, I was like "You know what would be fun to learn to play on the piano, Pavane for a dead princess" then I go check my phone to look up a music sheet and as I turn on my phone I get a notification about you uploading this piece and I'm like "What a coincidence"

To me this piece is about tears... from delicate pianissimo teardrops, to forte sobs, to the unseen weeping that we hold inside. Beautiful performance. Maurice would be proud.

"you keep saying you're fine but you're not really fine" meme intensifies.

You have no idea how many time have I been waiting for this piece to be played by you... Thanks!

This is the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.

3:20 - 3:38, years later = The lamp is low, ++ years later = aruarian dance. Evolution of music is insane

Came across this video by accident. I played this with my orchestra last fall. Our conductor liked to pick a calmer song compared to the other 10-18 pagers (last December, we played both Nutcracker suites, plus a mashup of Canon and various Christmas songs.) He passed in April, so even if it’s a little bittersweet, it was nice to come across this.

I absolutely love this piece … the piano version is lovely and gives me such joy. Greetings from Querétaro, México.

My father plays this song all day long, and it’s just beautiful thank you rousseau again

Me : "Ok Google, bring me real sadness." Google :

_"You are locked away from my reach below the ground or above the sky._ _I cannot truly Love you. For our Love is an impossible Love"_

One of my all time Ravel favourites! It's pretty emotional...

omg, what a coincidence, I just discovered this piece a few days ago and fell in love, just before Rousseau posts it!!

You got fingers like a angel playing that piano and it makes me think how well you do it and thank you for putting this on KZfaq I really appreciate it and blessed be to you and your beautiful fingers peace out

Ravel is my favourite composer. Thank you for sharing this piece. Beautiful as always

Thank you so much for modernizing and making classical music accessible to a much wider audience. As a young enthusiast of the genre it pains me to see how neglected classical music is within my generation. I really hope one day classical music will become "cool" again. These works are some of the greatest artistic achievements in the history of mankind (in my humble opinion) and deserve so much more attention!

Thank you Rousseau to making my Monday’s tons better. Your plays are remarkable and display the true form of the sheet music’s message. Thank you.

I don’t think anyone would have expected this piece to be so challenging to play until they try it

I'm getting sick of those simply piano ads.

One of my favorite pieces from my favorite composer. Thank you for this.

5:48 is my favorite part, well played Rousseau. Well done friend.

prelude 24 by Chopin - the storm

Thank youu for posting this!!! This is one of my favourite pieces I've heard so far, and I love it!

Absolutely incredible... I love the way you fuel your music with emotion, it's so much better than a typical classical musician. You can *feel* what the music was meant to express, and you're one of the few musicians I've found who can properly do this to a powerful degree of precision. Very beautiful work, as per usual ❤

I LOVE this piece, it’s soooo special ❤️❤️❤️ thank you for uploading it!

I was deeply moved to learn recently that this favorite masterpiece of mine was played at the funeral of the French great author Proust in a church as his favorite piece . There is something extraordinary in this splendid performance From Tokyo of the Land of the Rising Sun 🇯🇵

One day, i want to play this piece in my school at night. The melodies ringing through the corridors, the moonlight is shining, everything is just...calming and peaceful.

Makes me think about my life.... very beautiful!

I love the points at: 3:16, 6:25; it's like it reaches a point of tension--and then breaks...

Sounds like something out of this World. Thank you.

Let's talk about Ravel, cause he wrote a piece called "Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte" (Pavane For a Dead Princess), it is a slow and quiet piece, a theoretical piece of music Ravel wrote that a princess could have danced to in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Ravel is 20th century) implying that the "dead" in "Pavane For a Dead Princess" is only meant as a way to say it was meant to sound as though it was from a long time ago. And if you were wondering, a Pavane is a stately court dance, music having the slow duple rhythm, a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century. It just means the song is written for a 16th-century princess to present herself with. Now, Ravel. He wrote a very melancholy piece and yet was adamant that it was not a funerary piece, Ravel was at pains to point out that it 'Is not a funeral lament for a dead child, but rather an evocation of the pavane that might have been danced by such a little princess as painted by Velázquez'. all of the confusion could have been avoided if he had chosen his world properly.

I love Ravel so much, I'm happy to see more of his works on this channel

Petition for Rousseau to play Liszt Spanish Rhapsody❤️😩🙏🏻

This absolute masterpiece is so achingly delicate and beautiful, it can be difficult, at times, to listen to all the way through. Despite the fact that the title refers to an 'infant princess,' how powerful and moving would it have been had 'Pavane' been played at Princess Diana's funeral.

It breaks my heart but it feels so good. Thank you Rousseau for such beautiful music.

I play this piece almost every day; I just love how lyrical and yearning it is, and I was actually probably playing it at the time you uploaded! Thank you; we need more Ravel~

This sounds like a really peaceful dreamworks song

What a wonderful composition. Brilliant choice of colours

Surprised yet glad to see this piece, one of my personal favorites, played by you. Thanks

Yes!!! More Ravel and Debussy!!!

Ravel’s music is the most elegant 😍

This is absolutely going to be the next slower piece I learn. It is incredibly beautiful. Thank you for the lovely interpretation, this is fantastic and inspirational as always. 🌹

I love this song so much!! THank you so much for playing it!!

When heaven rains music I let myself wander The streets of my mind Without an umbrella I let myself be drenched Skin to bone With joy

Omg this is one of favorite classical pieces. It sounds great on guitar too!!!

Been listening for years now, keep up the inspiring and talented work you do for us! Always worth the time to listen to your renditions of these amazing pieces. Well done my friend.

Just wonderful, very pleasant to hear ...(I'm from Brazil and I love to hear your melodies, they always comfort me.)

Such a beautiful piece You always make my day and I listen to one of your pieces every night before I go to bed Continue playing beautifully

I've been waiting so long for this song, it's a beautiful song

In Some Place In The Huge World Your Music Represent The Best Friend For Someone .. It Represent The Only And Everything precious To Him Thanks A Lot Bro

What a beautiful piece. Ravel really had an odd way of composition but incredible at the same time. Well done!

This is sad... and I mean it is really really sad. This reminds me of my dead great grandmother. She was the one who would put up music for our family during thanksgiving and Christmas parties. I don’t remember her playing classical music, but something about this piece reminds me of her.

This one hits different

Lovely, lovely, lovely. This was the piece for my first horn solo, back in the day. Mesmerizing.

Thank you Rousseau , I've been waiting for this. ♥

this gives me chills. Keep it up the great work :)

1:07 Rousseau pulls out a tenth :)

My favourite clasical piece! Thank you!

Love this piece so much thank you Rosseau ❤

"This is a pavane for a dead princess, not a dead pavane for a princess" -Ravel, after some guy played it too slow 😊

Thank you for playing the piece I suggested. It really means a lot that you look at the comments for suggestions! :)

Oh my god! This iis literally one of my favourites! I'm thrilled that you did it!

I love this beautiful piece of music. My favorite from master Ravel.

Happy belated 2year anniversary on youtube rousseau, wish you all the best, and also lets not forget Chopins birthday that was yesterday too

OOOOOOOOH ROSSEAU'S BACK!!! MY MONDAYS ARE COMPLETE AGAIN!!!😍 😍 😍

I've been listening to this channel for almost 3 years and this piece always had a special place for me. I have really bad anxiety and now im listening to this before a vaccine shot to calm myself down so i just want to thank you for making this video

One of my favorites, been waiting a long time for this Thank you

Rousseau: Uploads video after a longtime. ME: *half asleep* "what a perfect time at night to listen this piece" :)

I didn't even recognize the english translation of the title

This is so relaxing to hear, especially on a rainy day. Thanks Rouseeau :)

Thank you Rousseau!

Such an underrated piece but it’s one of my favorites! My friend arranged a version of it for string orchestra. We didn’t get to perform it but it was beautiful to read!

Arround 5:00 it sounds quite like Debussy Rêverie ^^ Nice feeling :)

It's certainly a beautiful and nostalgic piece. For me, it's the perfect medium between beauty, but also not without it's fire. With a lot of Debussy, I find that it is often so relaxing to my ear, that I quickly get quite bored with it, and it all begins to simply become a blur, but with this piece, the melody is clear, and it's just so beautiful to listen to. It brings me back to a time that I'm not sure ever existed, and I think that was Ravel's intention. Thank you.

So beautiful. Such nice chords. I can listen to this over and over again.

I'd love it if you did coffee cold by galt McDermott next. It's absolutely late night rainstorm music and there are no great piano versions. If anybody could do it, it'd be you

I really like to listen to this piece during studying. 😃😃

This piece makes me shiver every time … thanks a lot !

I decided to search your channel after listening once a couple months ago looking for this song. On the off chance i look you up again, here it is. Fantastically played!