L’Enfant et les sortiléges

(The Child and the Sorceries)

(1925)

This is Ravel’s second and last opera. 

A naughty child, dawdling over his homework, is reproved by his mother.  Left alone, he flies into a tantrum and assaults everything in his room, including the family cat.  Then, one after another, all the things he has maltreated come to life, tormenting him until he whimpers for his “mama”.