Historedia
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First Public Performance

When
27 May 1899
Where
Société Nationale de Musique concert
Part of
First public performance of Ravel's Shéhérazade overture

Ravel conducted the first public performance of his Shéhérazade overture on 27 May 1899, receiving a mixed critical reception.

The performance took place at a Société Nationale de Musique concert. Ravel conducted the work himself. The audience reaction was mixed, featuring boos alongside applause. Critics issued unflattering reviews, marking the premiere as poorly received for Ravel's earliest surviving orchestral piece.

Sources

  1. Shéhérazade (Ravel) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.