Impressionism · Composers linked to impressionism
1869 – 1937
Tourcoing, France → Royan, France
Life
Albert Roussel was born in Tourcoing on April 5, 1869 and began his adult life as an officer of the French Navy. The trips to the Far East left a lasting footprint, and at the age of 25 he left the naval career to engage in music, studying with Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum, where he later became a professor of Satie, Varèse and Martinő.
His first works, like the Evocations or ballet Le festin de l'araignéethey are very close to impressionism, while their mature music gains rhythmic strength and neoclassical clarity, as in their third and fourth symphonies or in Bacchus et Ariane. He died in Royan on August 23, 1937.
Featured works
- Evocationsfor soloists, chorus and orchestra (1911)
- Le festin de l'araignée, ballet (1913)
- Padmâvatī, opera-ballet (1923)
- Suite in fa (1926)
- Bacchus et Ariane, ballet (1930)
- Symphony No. 3 in the lower sun (1930)
- Symphony No. 4 at the major (1934)
