In 1977, he wrote a piano piece called Melancholy to commemorate the death of Glenn Stiefel, the young son of a close friend. In it, he limited himself to using one chord, the first inversion, and one rhythmic pattern. The music began in G minor and resolved to G major. Ten years later, he orchestrated Melancholy for string orchestra and gave it the name Elegy . As the piece progresses, the pattern fragments, moving through all the voices.
Occasional dissonance suggests the dissonance of premature death.
Ultimately, the haunting melody resolves into the harmony of hope. Long ago, the eminent critic Edward Downes told New York Philharmonic audiences, A minor miracle, inexplicably and irresistibly exciting on first hearing, Ravel s Bolero remains a brilliant and effective and unquenchably popular work. It s still a minor miracle today. Ravel wrote Bolero for a ballet that was first performed in 1928. It was met with a bombshell of popularity which baffled the composer for the rest of his life.