La valse

Ravel had sketched a Viennese waltz piece before the First World War under the title Wien. He returned to it in 1919 on a commission from Diaghilev and finished it early in 1920; when he played it through on the piano, Diaghilev refused it, saying it was not a ballet but a portrait of a ballet. The two men never worked together again. La valse was heard instead as a concert piece in Paris on 12 December 1920 under Camille Chevillard. Its score opens in fog and ends by tearing the waltz apart.