Ex. 1-11: Chanson à boire

The final piece from Ravel's Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932–33), a three-song cycle based on the story of Don Quixote with text by Paul Morand. This was Ravel's last composition.

The cycle was originally commissioned by film director G. W. Pabst for a cinema version of Don Quixote starring the singer Fyodor Chaliapin. However, as Ravel struggled with the advancing effects of Pick's disease — a neurological condition that gradually destroyed his motor skills and memory — Pabst turned to Jacques Ibert instead. Ravel completed only three of the planned four songs, he required assistance to notate the music due to his declining health.

In this drinking song, Don Quixote defiantly dismisses those who claim that wine and love bring only sorrow: "I drink to joy! Joy is the only goal I head straight for — once I've had a drink!"

The song is built on the jota, a lively dance rhythm from Aragon, Spain — Ravel's lifelong affinity for Spanish music stemmed partly from his Basque mother. The exuberant final cry "Je bois à la joie!" (I drink to joy!) proved to be the last flash of brilliance from a composer who could still hear music in his mind but could no longer write it down.

Track 11 from the album The Ravel Edition by Gérard Souzay and Dalton Baldwin (2012)
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