Whose Composition Is Boléro?

Maurice Ravel wrote Boléro as a ballet score commissioned by the dancer Ida Rubinstein, and it premiered at the Paris Opéra on 22 November 1928. The piece repeats essentially one melody over and over while a snare drum plays the same rhythm throughout. The music builds slowly through changes in instruments and volume to an explosive ending. Ravel described it as an experiment and called it 'a piece for orchestra without music'. It became his most famous work and one of the most performed orchestral pieces of the 20th century.