Ravel's "Russian" period: Octatonicism in his early works, 1893-1908

The octatonic scale has provided composers an important alternative to comm on diatonic practice since the middle of the nineteenth century. Scholars h ave traced a direct line of transmission with respect to octatonic writing passing from Liszt, through Rimsky-Korsakov, to Stravinsky. But octatonicis m also figures prominently in the music of Maurice Ravel, and several works from the first fifteen years of his career implicate Ravel directly in the octatonic legacy, simultaneously bearing the influence of nineteenth-centu ry chromatic harmony as practiced by Liszt and Rimsky-Korsakov and anticipa ting methods of octatonic partitioning heretofore considered specifically S travinskian innovations.