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Ravel

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) applied for the Prix de Rome five times and was rejected on each occasion, the final rejection causing such a public scandal that the director of the Paris Conservatoire was forced to resign. His subsequent career rendered the jury's judgment faintly absurd: Bolero, La Valse, and his orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition are among the most performed orchestral works of the twentieth century. In his final years a degenerative brain condition slowly stripped him of his musical abilities; he could still recognise music but was unable to write it down. He died following brain surgery in December 1937.

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