Albert Roussel
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. He spent seven years as a midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
. His early works were strongly influenced by the impressionism
Impressionist music
Impressionism in music was a tendency in European classical music, mainly in France, which appeared in the late nineteenth century and continued into the middle of the twentieth century. Similarly to its precursor in the visual arts, musical impressionism focuses on a suggestion and an atmosphere...
of Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
and Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, while he later turned toward neoclassicism
Neoclassicism (music)
Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...
.
Biography
Tourcoing
Tourcoing is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Nord.Tourcoing is situated near the cities of Lille and Roubaix and the Belgian border.-Main sights:...
(Nord), Roussel's earliest interest was not in music but mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
. He spent time in the French Navy, and in 1889 and 1890 he served on the crew of the frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
Iphigénie and spent several years in Cochinchina
Cochinchina
Cochinchina is a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam whose principal city is Saigon. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1954. The later state of South Vietnam was created in 1954 by combining Cochinchina with southern Annam. In Vietnamese, the region is called Nam Bộ...
. These travels affected him artistically, as many of his musical works would reflect his interest in far-off, exotic places.
After resigning from the Navy in 1894, he began to study harmony in Roubaix first with Julien Koszul (grandfather of composer Henri Dutilleux
Henri Dutilleux
Henri Dutilleux is one of the most important French composers of the second half of the 20th century, producing work in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Albert Roussel, but in a style distinctly his own...
), who encouraged him to pursue his formation in Paris with Eugène Gigout
Eugène Gigout
Eugène Gigout was a French organist and a composer of European late-romantic music for organ.-Biography:Gigout was born in Nancy, and died in Paris....
, then continued his studies until 1908 at the Schola Cantorum de Paris where one of his teachers was Vincent d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...
. While studying, he also taught. His students included Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
and Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he served as an ambulance driver on the Western Front
Western Front
Western Front was a term used during the First and Second World Wars to describe the contested armed frontier between lands controlled by Germany to the east and the Allies to the west...
. Following the war, he bought a summer house in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
and devoted most of his time there to composition.
Starting in 1923, another of Roussel's students was Bohuslav Martinů
Bohuslav Martinu
Bohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...
, who dedicated his Serenade for Chamber Orchestra (1930) to Roussel.
His sixtieth birthday was marked by a series of 3 concerts of his works in Paris that included as well the performance of a collection of piano pieces, Homage a Albert Roussel written by several composers, including Ibert
Jacques Ibert
Jacques François Antoine Ibert was a French composer. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I.Ibert pursued a successful composing career,...
, Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
, and Honegger
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...
.
Roussel died in the village (commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
) of Royan
Royan
Royan is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department, along the Atlantic Ocean, in southwestern France.A seaside resort, Royan is in the heart of an urban area estimated at 38,638 inhabitants, which makes it the fourth-largest conurbation in the department, after La Rochelle, Rochefort and Saintes...
(Charente-Maritime
Charente-Maritime
Charente-Maritime is a department on the west coast of France named after the Charente River.- History :Previously a part of Saintonge, Charente-Inférieure was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
), in western France, in 1937.
Compositions
Roussel was by temperament a classicistClassicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
. While his early work was strongly influenced by impressionism
Impressionist music
Impressionism in music was a tendency in European classical music, mainly in France, which appeared in the late nineteenth century and continued into the middle of the twentieth century. Similarly to its precursor in the visual arts, musical impressionism focuses on a suggestion and an atmosphere...
, he eventually found a personal style which was more formal in design, with a strong rhythmic drive, and with a more distinct affinity for functional tonality than found in the work of his more famous contemporaries Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
, Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
, and Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
.
Roussel's training at the Schola Cantorum, with its emphasis on rigorous academic models such as Palestrina and Bach, left its mark on his mature style, which is characterized by contrapuntal textures. Roussel's orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
is rather heavy compared to the subtle and nuanced style of other French composers like Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
or Claude Debussy. While Roussel did not fully share the stylistic and orchestral aesthetic of so-called "French" music, he was never a mere copyist of Teutonic models. Roussel's manner could hardly be called heavy when compared with the sound of the German romantic
Romantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....
orchestral tradition represented by Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
and Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
.
Roussel was also interested in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and wrote a piano-vocal composition entitled Jazz dans la nuit, which was similar in its inspiration to other jazz-inspired works such as the second movement of Ravel's Violin Sonata, or Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
's La Création du Monde.
Roussel's most important works were the ballets Le festin de l'araignée
The Spider's Feast
The Spider's Feast , Op. 17, is a 1912 "ballet-pantomime" with music by the French composer Albert Roussel to a scenario by Gilbert de Voisins.-The ballet:...
, Bacchus et Ariane
Bacchus and Ariadne (ballet)
Bacchus and Ariadne opus 43 is a ballet score by the French composer Albert Roussel written in 1930.-Ballet:Its composition roughly coincides with that of Roussel's third symphony and describes the abduction of Ariadne by Dionysus...
, and Aeneas and the four symphonies
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
, of which the Third in G minor, and the Fourth in A major, are highly regarded and epitomize his mature neoclassical style. His other works include numerous ballets, orchestral suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
s, a piano concerto
Piano concerto
A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...
, a concertino
Concertino (composition)
A concertino is a short concerto freer in form. It normally takes the form of a one-movement musical composition for solo instrument and orchestra, though some concertinos are written in several movements played without a pause....
for cello and orchestra, a psalm setting for chorus and orchestra, incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
for the theatre, and much chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, solo piano music, and songs.
Critical reception
In 1929, one critic described Roussel's search for his own voice:Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
included the suite from the ballet Le festin de l'araignée in one of his broadcast concerts with the NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
. Rene Leibowitz
René Leibowitz
René Leibowitz was a French composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher born in Warsaw, Poland.-Career:...
recorded that suite in 1952 with the Paris Philharmonic, and Georges Prêtre
Georges Prêtre
- Biography :He was born in Waziers , and attended the Douai Conservatory and then studied harmony under Maurice Duruflé and conducting under André Cluytens among others at the Conservatoire de Paris. Amongst his early musical interests were jazz and trumpet. After graduating, he conducted in a...
recorded it with the Orchestre National de France for EMI in 1984.
One brief assessment of his career says:
One 21st-century critic, in the course of discussing the Third Symphony, wrote:
Stage
- Le marchand de sable qui passe (The Sandman), incidental music for a verse play by Jean-Aubry, Le HavreLe HavreLe Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
, 16 December 1908, Op. 13 - Le festin de l'araignéeThe Spider's FeastThe Spider's Feast , Op. 17, is a 1912 "ballet-pantomime" with music by the French composer Albert Roussel to a scenario by Gilbert de Voisins.-The ballet:...
, ballet in one act. f.p. 3 April 1913, Op. 17 - PadmâvatîPadmavati-Mythology:* Alamelu, aka Padmāvatī, Hindu goddess and consort of Sri Venkateshwara of Tirupati* Another name for the Hindu serpent goddess Manasa* Padmavati , Jain goddess-Given name:...
, opera in 2 acts (1913–18, Louis Laloy, after T.-M. Pavie). f.p. Paris OpéraPalais GarnierThe Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
, 1 June 1923, Op. 18 - La naissance de la lyreLa naissance de la lyreLa naissance de la lyre is an opera in one act by the French composer Albert Roussel. The libretto, by Théodore Reinach, is based on the satyr play Ichneutae by Sophocles...
, opera in 1 act, Paris OpéraPalais GarnierThe Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
, 1 July 1925, Op. 24 - Sarabande (1927; for the children's ballet L'éventail de JeanneL'Éventail de JeanneL'éventail de Jeanne is a children's ballet choreographed in 1927 by Alice Bourgat and Yvonne Franck.The music is a collaborative work by ten French composers, each of whom contributed a stylised dance in classic form:...
, to which ten French composers each contributed a dance) - Bacchus and Ariadne (ballet)Bacchus and Ariadne (ballet)Bacchus and Ariadne opus 43 is a ballet score by the French composer Albert Roussel written in 1930.-Ballet:Its composition roughly coincides with that of Roussel's third symphony and describes the abduction of Ariadne by Dionysus...
, ballet in two acts. f.p. Paris OpéraPalais GarnierThe Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
, 22 May 1931, Op. 43 - Le testament de la tante CarolineLe testament de la tante CarolineLe testament de la tante Caroline is an opéra bouffe or operetta by composer Albert Roussel and librettist Nino . The original production was in the Czech language and in three acts, but the work was later revised into a one act operetta in the French language...
, opera in 3 acts, 14 November 1936 - Aeneas, ballet for chorus and orchestra, Op. 54
- Prelude to Act 2 of Le quatorze juillet by Romain RollandRomain RollandRomain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.-Biography:...
, Paris, 14 July 1936 - Elpénor, radio score, 1947, Op. 59
Orchestral
- Résurrection, Prelude for orchestra Op. 4
- Evocations pour orchestra, Op. 15
- Sinfonietta for String Orchestra, Op. 52
- Suite for Orchestra in F major, Op. 33
- Symphony No. 1 in D minor (The Poem of the Forest), Op. 7
- Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 23
- Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 42 (1929-30), commissioned by the Boston SymphonyBoston Symphony OrchestraThe Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
for its 50th anniversary - Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 53
Chamber/Instrumental
- Andante and Scherzo, for flute and piano, Op. 51
- Elpenor for flute and string quartet, Op. 59
- Divertissement for piano and wind quintet, Op. 6
- Joueurs de Flûte, flute and piano, Op. 27Joueurs de Flûte, flute and piano, Op. 27Joueurs de Flûte, flute and piano, Op. 27 is a piece by the French composer Albert Roussel.It exists of the following four movements:*1. Pan *2. Tityre*3. Krishna*4...
- Piano Trio in E-flat, Op. 2
- Serenade for flute, string trio, and harp, Op. 30
- Sonatine for Piano, Op. 16
- String Quartet, Op. 45
- String Trio, Op. 58
- Suite for Piano in F-sharp minor, Op. 14
- Trio for Flute, Viola, and Cello, Op. 40
- Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 11
- Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 28
- Segovia, for guitar, Op. 29
- Impromptu for harp
Recordings
- Symphonies 1-4 - Orchestre National de France/Charles DutoitCharles DutoitCharles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music...
(apex - erato) - Symphony No. 3 and Ariadne et Bacchus - Royal Scottish National OrchestraRoyal Scottish National OrchestraThe Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotland's national symphony orchestra. Based in Glasgow, the 89-member professional orchestra also regularly performs in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, and abroad. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company has performed full-time since 1950,...
/Stéphane DenèveStéphane DenèveStéphane Denève is a French conductor. Born in Tourcoing, France, and a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, Denève has worked as conducting assistant to Sir Georg Solti with the Orchestre de Paris, Georges Prêtre at the Opéra National de Paris, and Seiji Ozawa at the Saito Kinen Festival...
(Naxos RecordsNaxos RecordsNaxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
) - Symphony No. 3 - New York PhilharmonicNew York PhilharmonicThe New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
/Leonard BernsteinLeonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
(Sony Classical) - Symphony No. 4 - Philharmonia OrchestraPhilharmonia OrchestraThe Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
/Herbert von KarajanHerbert von KarajanHerbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
(EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
) - Symphony No. 2/Aeneas/ Bacchus /Spider's Feast - ORTF/Jean MartinonJean MartinonJean Martinon was a French conductor and composer.-Biography:Martinon was born in Lyon, where he began his education, going on to the Conservatoire de Paris to study under Albert Roussel for composition, under Charles Munch and Roger Désormière for conducting, under Vincent d'Indy for harmony,...
(Erato); - Padmavati (opera) - London Symphony Orchestra/Jean Martinon (BBC)
- Padmavati - Marilyn HorneMarilyn HorneMarilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
, Nicolai GeddaNicolai GeddaNicolai Gedda is a Swedish operatic tenor. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely recorded tenor in history...
/ Michel PlassonMichel PlassonMichel Plasson is a French conductor.Plasson was a student of Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1962, he was a prize-winner at the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors. He studied briefly in the United States, including time with Charles Münch...
conducting (EMI)