A French court ruled on Friday that composer Maurice Ravel wrote Boléro by himself, rejecting claims of co-authorship.

Ravel himself considered Boléro one of his least important works, but it has always been hugely popular with audiences, played out in concert halls, ice skating rinks and even on the silver screen in 2024.

In court, the six heirs of the celebrated Russian stage designer Alexandre Benois argued that Benois should have been credited as co-author, after he worked on designs and set for the original performance – a claim they began in 2018.

The court in Nanterre, outside Paris, rejected claims that Boléro was a collaborative work and ruled the work “consequently remains in the public domain”.

When Ravel first conducted the Bolero at the Paris Opera on 20 November 1928, it was an immediate success.

The composer died 10 years later, the Bolero being one of the last works he ever wrote before his illness took over.

The piece is now in the public domain, and the composer’s family earned millions until the copyright ended in 2016.

Copyright generally lasts for 70 years after the death of the composer or author. Some countries in Europe added extra years, “wartime extensions”, to make up for losses during World War II.

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