Bidspirit auction | RAVEL MAURICE: (1875-1937)

RAVEL MAURICE: (1875-1937) - RAVEL MAURICE: (1875-1937) French Composer. A very good A.L.S., ` Maurice Ravel ´, signed twice, signing also to the verso ` Conducteur Ravel automobile déplacé ´, one page, 12mo, being a French card-letter, Paris, 16th March 1917, to Roland Levy, brigadier, in French. At the time of the present letter, war-time, Ravel had joined the Thirteenth Artillery Regiment as a lorry driver, and for this reason he annotates as sender to the verso, `Conducteur´ (” Driver”). Ravel refers in a funny way to his correspondent´s harem, stating ` Heureux que vous soyez satisfait du gardien de votre Harem . Je tâcherai - si j´ose moi-même ainsi parler - de me maintenir à la hauteur de ma nouvelle situation. Vous savez que cette attraction sensationelle - un Harem présenté, en toute liberrté... - devait figurer à l´unique concert de la SMI, dans une salle des quartiers de l´Europe, bien entendu. Maintenant que nous donnons 3 séances, je ne sais à laquelle on doit placer ce... numéro... ne vous en faites pas pour le turban de la sultane...´ (Translation: ” Glad that you're satisfied with the guardian of your Harem . I'll try - if I dare say so myself - to live up to my new situation. You know that this sensational amusement - a Harem presented, in complete freedom... - was to be featured at the only concert of the SMI, in a hall in the European quarters, of course. Now that we're giving 3 performances, I don't know where we should place this... number... don't worry about the Sultana's turban...”) Further Ravel refers to a burial and to his own health, saying in part ` Je regrette de ne m´être pas trouvé au cortège de Suzanne ... Ce jour-là, et ceux qui l´ont précédé, j´étais couché. Je le suis encore, nonobstant que j´en ai marre...´ (Translation: ” I regret not having been at Susanna's funeral procession... That day, and those that preceded it, I was in bed. I still am, despite the fact that I'm fed up with it...”) Small overall age wear, with few very small professional repairs, otherwise G