Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Le festin de l'araignee, ballet pantomime de Gilbert de Voisins (Ed. Durand et Cie) (1912)
I. Premiére partie: Prélude - Entrée des Fourmis - Entrée des Bousiers - Danse du Papillon - Danse de l’Araignée - Ronde des Fourmis - Combat des Mantes - Danse de l’Araignée - Eclosion et danse de l’Éphémère.
II. Deuxième partie: Danse de l’Éphémère et des vers de fruit - Mort de l’Éphémère - Agonie de l’Araignée - Funérailles de l’Éphémère. [22:34]
Orchestre National de L'O.R.T.F.
Jean Martinon
The whole output of Albert Roussel demonstrates an unusual rhythmic gift, and his music, even in the “abstract’’ compositions written for the concert hall, conjures the dance. Thus it is only logical that the choreographic element should prevail in his stage works. He wrote three great Ballets: The Spider’s Feast, recorded here (1912), Bacchus et Ariane (1930) and Aeneas (1935), and in his single full-scale Opera, Padmävati (1914-18), dance intervenes so frequently that the score was called an “Opera-Ballet’’. In the “lyrical tale’’ The Birth of the Lyre the music’s center of gravity also lies in the ballet scenes.
Through the rhythmic element asserts itself with peculiar strength in Roussel’s late works, in his new classical style, the main products of his earlier, more impressionistic phase nevertheless boast a rhythmic invention of unusual wealth, The Spider’s Feast being a particularly convincing example. It is hard to believe that Roussel, a passionate nature-lover, who shortly before had written a First Symphony inspired by the Forest (Le Poéme de la Forét), should have accepted the commission of a Ballet about insect life with great reluctance, only starting work after his wife had urged him to do so. The commission came from the director of the Paris Théâtre des Arts, Jacques Rouché, who had just produced Ravel’s Ma Mère l’Oye as a ballet with great success. In September 1912, he brought Roussel a choreographic synopsis in one act by Count Gilbert de Voisins, inspired by the Souvenirs entomologiques of the great French scientist Henri Fabre. After the initial hesitations, the score was written down in less than three months, an unusually short time for the slow worker Roussel: by the end of the year it was completed. The limitations in scoring imposed by the fact that the ballet was to be staged in a small theatre had been no obstacle to the composer, since they corresponded to the very nature of the subject. Within Roussel’s output the piece thus holds the position of an intimate, lightweight interlude between the two great works inspired by his trips to India: the Evocations (1910-11) and the Opera Padmävati. Through its harscher, darker and bolder idiom, the latter opens a new phase, underlined by the composer himself, whereas The Spider’s Feast brings Roussel’s impressionistic period to a witty and beguiling conclusion.
To Roussel, the easily and quickly written ballet rather held the significance of a nice occasional piece, but success was to contradict this. The premiere took place on April 3rd, 1913 (a few weeks before Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring !), with Gabriel Grovlez conducting. The choreography was by Leo Staats, the decoration by Maxime Dethomas. Sahary Djeli danced the part of the Spider, Ariane Hugon the Butterfly, Dimitria the Dayfly, Tomy and Georgy Footit the Praying Mantises. There were twenty-two performances instead of the planned eight, and the modest score brought its author the long-expected world fame. The ballet was frequently staged and performances of the symphonic Suite were even more numerous. For several decades it overshadowed the composer’s later, often more significant productions, which understandably caused him some anger. Now that the great symphonies and late ballets have finally received their due, the musical world may enjoy the delightful early masterwork without any reservation.
Unfortunately, the orchestral suite contains less than half of the full score, whose most significant episodes it omits. A complete performance, as recorded here, is absolutely indispensable in order to appreciate the full wealth of Roussel’s inspiration. [EPR 15540]
Art by Jan Fabre
Le festin de l'araignee, ballet pantomime de Gilbert de Voisins (Ed. Durand et Cie) (1912)
I. Premiére partie: Prélude - Entrée des Fourmis - Entrée des Bousiers - Danse du Papillon - Danse de l’Araignée - Ronde des Fourmis - Combat des Mantes - Danse de l’Araignée - Eclosion et danse de l’Éphémère.
II. Deuxième partie: Danse de l’Éphémère et des vers de fruit - Mort de l’Éphémère - Agonie de l’Araignée - Funérailles de l’Éphémère. [22:34]
Orchestre National de L'O.R.T.F.
Jean Martinon
The whole output of Albert Roussel demonstrates an unusual rhythmic gift, and his music, even in the “abstract’’ compositions written for the concert hall, conjures the dance. Thus it is only logical that the choreographic element should prevail in his stage works. He wrote three great Ballets: The Spider’s Feast, recorded here (1912), Bacchus et Ariane (1930) and Aeneas (1935), and in his single full-scale Opera, Padmävati (1914-18), dance intervenes so frequently that the score was called an “Opera-Ballet’’. In the “lyrical tale’’ The Birth of the Lyre the music’s center of gravity also lies in the ballet scenes.
Through the rhythmic element asserts itself with peculiar strength in Roussel’s late works, in his new classical style, the main products of his earlier, more impressionistic phase nevertheless boast a rhythmic invention of unusual wealth, The Spider’s Feast being a particularly convincing example. It is hard to believe that Roussel, a passionate nature-lover, who shortly before had written a First Symphony inspired by the Forest (Le Poéme de la Forét), should have accepted the commission of a Ballet about insect life with great reluctance, only starting work after his wife had urged him to do so. The commission came from the director of the Paris Théâtre des Arts, Jacques Rouché, who had just produced Ravel’s Ma Mère l’Oye as a ballet with great success. In September 1912, he brought Roussel a choreographic synopsis in one act by Count Gilbert de Voisins, inspired by the Souvenirs entomologiques of the great French scientist Henri Fabre. After the initial hesitations, the score was written down in less than three months, an unusually short time for the slow worker Roussel: by the end of the year it was completed. The limitations in scoring imposed by the fact that the ballet was to be staged in a small theatre had been no obstacle to the composer, since they corresponded to the very nature of the subject. Within Roussel’s output the piece thus holds the position of an intimate, lightweight interlude between the two great works inspired by his trips to India: the Evocations (1910-11) and the Opera Padmävati. Through its harscher, darker and bolder idiom, the latter opens a new phase, underlined by the composer himself, whereas The Spider’s Feast brings Roussel’s impressionistic period to a witty and beguiling conclusion.
To Roussel, the easily and quickly written ballet rather held the significance of a nice occasional piece, but success was to contradict this. The premiere took place on April 3rd, 1913 (a few weeks before Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring !), with Gabriel Grovlez conducting. The choreography was by Leo Staats, the decoration by Maxime Dethomas. Sahary Djeli danced the part of the Spider, Ariane Hugon the Butterfly, Dimitria the Dayfly, Tomy and Georgy Footit the Praying Mantises. There were twenty-two performances instead of the planned eight, and the modest score brought its author the long-expected world fame. The ballet was frequently staged and performances of the symphonic Suite were even more numerous. For several decades it overshadowed the composer’s later, often more significant productions, which understandably caused him some anger. Now that the great symphonies and late ballets have finally received their due, the musical world may enjoy the delightful early masterwork without any reservation.
Unfortunately, the orchestral suite contains less than half of the full score, whose most significant episodes it omits. A complete performance, as recorded here, is absolutely indispensable in order to appreciate the full wealth of Roussel’s inspiration. [EPR 15540]
Art by Jan Fabre
