FERMO D. MARCHETTI  

Dante "Fermo" Marchetti (1876-1940), a onetime solo violinist at the Parisian Elysée Palace music-hall, was an established songwriter and composer of dance music in Paris. His most popular 'café­-concert teen' was Fascination (1904). This Modèle des valse lentes was written for instruments only, text was later added for the cabaret chanteuse Paulette d'Arty, who re-created it at the Scala in 1905. Rumour has it that Ravel was paid to write this song which, quite apart from a tune "worthy" of Ravel, has 'Valse tzigane' as its subsidiary appellation.