On March 8, 9 and 10, the Houston Symphony presents a delectable all-French program featuring mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, Debussy’s La mer and other French musical masterpieces. In this post, discover Roussel’s Suite from Le Festin d’araignée (The Spider’s Feast), a gem of impressionist ballet. Get tickets and more information here.
One of the leading French composers of the early 20th century, Albert Roussel led a career that is usually divided in two: before World War I he composed in a more impressionistic style, while after the war he adopted a highly personal interpretation of neoclassicism. With its atmospheric orchestration and evocative effects, his ballet Le festin de l’araignée (The Spider’s Feast) represents the culmination of his first period. Composed for the Théâtre des Arts in Paris, this divertissement delighted Parisian ballet lovers at its premiere in 1913, and the suite of highlights Roussel extracted from the score remains one of his most frequently performed orchestral works.
Set in a garden at twilight, the ballet presented dancers fancifully costumed as different species of insects. The plot, such as it is, is delicate as spider’s silk: the titular arachnid manages to catch a butterfly in her web, but just as she is about to eat it, she is killed herself by a pair of praying mantises. The real interest of the ballet is in the spectacle of the many different insects who dance through the garden—particularly the mayfly (the prima ballerina role)—and the exquisite music Roussel wrote for them.
The suite begins with a prelude, which sets the scene with a gentle flute solo:
The music becomes faster at the entrance of the busy ants, who discover a flower petal and carry it back to their mound (an event marked by a ponderous march). The fluttering music that follows accompanies the dance of the butterfly. During a slightly slower waltz for a staccato bassoon, the spider invites her to dance closer to the web; she is caught and perishes with a moment of silence in the orchestra.
Next, the mayfly hatches, beginning its brief but beautiful existence. She slowly emerges from sustained, low strings and strange, gestural noises from the other instruments, then embarks on her dance with music from the celeste and a solo violin. Her dance whirls faster and faster, until she expires with a harp glissando. The other insects mourn her with a funeral procession marked by plodding, pizzicato lower strings. The suite ends with the return of the opening flute solo as night falls on the garden. —Calvin Dotsey
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Don’t miss Roussel’s Suite from Le Festin d’araignée (The Spider’s Feast) March 8, 9 and 10, 2019! Get tickets and more information at houstonsymphony.org
