Keywords:
Dementia - art - music - neurology
Palavras-chave:
Demência - arte - música: neurologia
Maurice Ravel (1872-1937) ([Figure]) is one of the most important French impressionist-classical musicians. His compositions
are part of the eternal French artistic legacy, such as the Boléro, a musical masterpiece that celebrates 90 years since its conception and still thrills
the world. In the last years of life, Ravel was victim of a neurodegenerative disease
that imprisoned his genius in a demented brain.
Figure Maurice Ravel (1872-1937), the composer of the famous Boléro.
RAVEL'S DISEASE
The first symptoms became evident for the first time in 1927, when friends reported
Ravel had difficulties writing and speaking. According to Mme. Jourdain-Morhange,
“at the beginning of his illness, Ravel flew into a passion when he could not find
the word he sought". On a European concert tour, Marguerite Long, who was accompanying Ravel, observed
that “the maestro lost his bags, his watch, both my and his train tickets; he hid his letters
and even mine in his pockets"[1],[2]. Besides the amnesia impairment, the French neurologist Théophile Alajouanine described
in Ravel a diffuse impairment of oral and written language associated with an ideomotor
apraxia. Alajouanine first presented Ravel's case at a congress of Neurology in 1938[1],[2],[3].
In 1932, Ravel was victim of a car accident in Paris and, shortly after, his health
clearly deteriorated. Difficulties in writing increased and he was no longer capable
of writing his own music. In 1933, he confided to one of his friends: “I will never
write my Jeanne d'Arc; this opera is here, in my head, I hear it, but I will never
write it. It's over, I can no longer write my music”[2],[3]. While on holiday at Saint Jean de Luz, Ravel wanted to show Marie Gaudin how to
skim a pebble on the sea but instead he struck her on the face. Due to apraxia, Ravel
lost the ability to swim, having to be brought in from the sea by his friends. In
the words of the French writer Colette, “he did not try anymore to speak, and yet, sitting between us, he gave the impression
of someone who is at risk of disintegrating"
[2],[3],[4]. In November 1933, he made his last public appearance, performing the Boléro.
RAVEL'S DIAGNOSIS
What was the nature of the brain disease that cause Ravel's decline? The exact cause
remains speculative as an autopsy was not performed. However, there is consensus on
the diagnosis of dementia[3],[4],[5]. The Brazilian neuropathologist, Walter Edgar Maffei, was an eyewitness to Ravel's
deterioration and, during his whole life in Brazil, Maffei confirmed that Ravel had
become a demented person. The slow evolution of the condition also suggests a progressive
degenerative disease. Interestingly, Ravel's father also presented with a cognitive
deterioration in his last years of life, which may raise the question whether Ravel's
neurological disease had a hereditary component[1],[2]. Among the diagnostic possibilities, Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause
of progressive cerebral degeneration and, therefore, it is the most frequent diagnosis
of Ravel's disease as well[5]. Nevertheless, the age of onset was earlier than usually seen in Alzheimer's disease,
and Ravel did not experience memory or visuospatial troubles. Primary progressive
aphasia could be a diagnostic hypothesis although Alajouanine had not characterized
Ravel's aphasia as severe. Corticobasal degeneration has already been considered as
well, due to Ravel's dysexecutive syndrome, apraxia and aphasia[6]. Nevertheless, asymmetric extrapyramidal symptoms have never been reported to sustain
this diagnosis. Recently described, primary age-related tauopathy is another possibility
for Ravel's dementia that cannot be ruled out[7].
RAVEL'S NEUROSURGERY
In 1937, his condition drastically deteriorated so that, in hope of finding a cause
for Ravel's problem, doctors recommended neurosurgery. Professor Clovis Vincent, one
of the most eminent neurosurgeons in Europe, reluctantly agreed to perform a right-sided
craniotomy[8],[9]. However, during the procedure Prof. Vincent did not find any evidence of atrophy,
tumor or hematoma that could explain Ravel's condition[8],[9]. After the surgery, Ravel lapsed into coma and died nine days later, in December,
1937.
THE IMPACT OF DEMENTIA ON MUSIC
THE IMPACT OF DEMENTIA ON MUSIC
Some musicologists believe that Ravel's last works, especially the Boléro, are a symptom of his amusia and reflect the underlying neurological disease. The
relentless repetitions of the theme in Boléro have been pointed out as signs of the disease. According to Ravel's own words, Boléro was “sixteen minutes of music without music”. Specialists consider Boléro to be a pure form of musical obsession: the monotonal and repetitive pattern of the
composition could represent a form of frontal perseveration[1],[3],[10],[11].
Some authors have developed the theory that Ravel's illness would have affected primarily
the right hemisphere. Amaducci et al.[10] state that Ravel's last musical compositions demonstrate right hemisphere functional
characteristics and suggest a shift of the two sides of the brain in favor of the
right as result of the disease. In the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, the orchestration uses a great amount of timbre and has a particular irregular pulsating
style. A plausible explanation for this observation is that, to avoid the difficulty
of elaborating on a complex structured theme, Ravel adopted the alternative use of
different timbres, which suggests the music originated predominantly in the right
hemisphere, as rhythm is associated mainly with the left hemisphere[10],[11],[12]. Furthermore, Ravel's artistic productions were deeply linked to his childhood memories
as one can observe in Ma Mère, l'Enfant et les Sortilèges and in Ballade de la Reine morte d'aimer
[2]. It is reasonable to imagine that a dementia could have interfered with his creative
process somehow. In July 1937, Ravel admitted the impact of the disease on his creativity:
“I still have so much music in my head, I've said nothing, I still have so much to
say”. Maurice's genius surrendered to his neurological disease and his musical artistic
brain was silenced[10],[12].
Ravel's premature disablement represented an immeasurable loss to art and music. However,
Maurice Ravel's case is of great interest for the exploration of the Neurology of
a demented brain. It illustrates the intimacy that can exist between art, music, creativity,
and Neurology.
