Ravel was born in the French Basque region that borders Spain, and his mother was Basque. Ravel grew up listening to his mother sing Basque songs, and he had a lifelong love for Spanish music. Consider many of his works with Spanish themes, often based on Spanish dance rhythms: The Spanish Hour (opera), Rapsodie espagnole, Boléro,  Don Quichotte, Alborada del gracioso, Habañera, etc. Ravel’s father was of Swiss origin, and he was an engineer. The precision and incredible attention to detail in his scores has been attributed to his Swiss ancestry on his father’s side.

  3.      What was Ravel’s main instrument?