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Maurice Ravel’s L’Heure espagnole, M. 52, is a one-act “comédie musicale” with a French libretto by Franc-Nohain, based on his own 1904 play. Ravel began work on the music in 1907, and the opera received its premiere at the Opéra-Comique, Salle Favart in Paris, on 19 May 1911. The opera features transparent textures that allow the vocal lines to shine and the clock-work sound effects to emerge clearly. Ravel employs Spanish dance rhythms (jota, habanera, malagueña) with deft orchestration, balancing wit and elegance in equal measure.

The drama unfolds in a single 55-minute span in an 18th-century Spanish clockmaker’s shop. When Torquemada the clockmaker leaves town, his wife Concepción attempts liaisons with three suitors—Gonzalve, a poet; Don Inigo, a banker; and Ramiro, a muleteer—each hiding in a different clock mechanism, only to become trapped and exposed as the clocks strike.

Musically, the opera exemplifies Ravel’s neoclassical precision: arias and ensembles are fashioned with Mozartian clarity, while rhythmic vitality and harmonic color reflect his modernist voice. The result is a lighthearted farce that seamlessly integrates spoken-style recitative, witty ensembles, and dance-inspired interludes into a cohesive, impeccably crafted miniature opera.