Page "Maurice Ravel" Paragraph 20

By 1905, factions formed for each composer and the two groups began feuding in public.

Disputes arose as to questions of chronology about their respective works and who influenced whom.

The public tension caused personal estrangement.

As Ravel said, “ It is probably better after all for us to be on frigid terms for illogical reasons .” Ravel stoically absorbed superficial comparisons with Debussy promulgated by biased critics, including Pierre Lalo, an anti-Ravel critic who stated, “ Where M. Debussy is all sensitivity, M. Ravel is all insensitivity, borrowing without hesitation not only technique but the sensitivity of other people .” During 1913, in a remarkable coincidence, both Ravel and Debussy independently produced and published musical settings for poems by Stéphane Mallarmé, again provoking comparisons of their work and their perceived influence on each other, which continued even after Debussy ’ s death five years later.