The Spider's Feast Op. 17, is a 1912 "ballet-pantomime" with music by the French composer Albert Roussel

Albert Roussel

Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...

 (1869-1937) to a scenario by Gilbert de Voisins.

The ballet

The ballet depicts insect life in a garden, evoked by the flute solo at the opening and close of the work, and where insects are trapped in the spider's web, but when the spider prepares to begin its feast, it in turn is killed by a praying mantis. The funeral procession of the mayfly concludes the work. The full ballet lasts approximately half an hour.

Part One

• 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

Part Two

• Danse de l'Éphémère et des vers de fruit
• Mort de l'Éphémère
• Agonie de l'araignée
• Funérailles de Éphémère

Outside of theatrical performances, an orchestral suite has been performed in concert and recorded:

• Prélude
• Entrée des fourmis
• Danse du Papillon
• Eclosion et danse de l'Éphémère
• Funérailles de Éphémère
• La nuit tombe sur le jardin solitaire

Performance history

The work was premiered at the Théâtre des Arts

Théâtre Hébertot

Théâtre Hébertot is a theatre at 78, boulevard des Batignolles, in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, France. The theatre, completed in 1838 and opening as the Théâtre des Batignolles, was later renamed Théâtre des Arts in 1907...

 in Paris on 3 April 1913 with Mlle Sahary-Djali in the title role. It was revived at the Opéra-Comique

Opéra-Comique

The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...

 on 5 December 1922 with Mado Minty as the spider and entered the repertoire of the Paris Opéra

Palais Garnier

The 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...

 on 1 May 1939 with Suzanne Lorcia.

Typical of Roussel's earlier works, the music is impressionistic, much in the style of his countrymen Claude 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 Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel

Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...

. It is lushly orchestrated. Composed to order in only two months, the music was highly regarded for its "inventive counterpoints, bounding scherzos, gay and uneven rhythms, and personal instrumentation, both caressing and vigorous".

The symphonic fragments from the full score were first recorded in 1928 with the composer conducting (his only recording). 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...

 and 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...

 performed this orchestral suite during a broadcast concert in NBC Studio 8-H on April 7, 1946. In 1952, Rene Leibowitz

René Leibowitz

René Leibowitz was a French composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher born in Warsaw, Poland.-Career:...

 recorded the suite with the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra. 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 this same music with the Orchestre National de France

Orchestre National de France

The Orchestre national de France is a symphony orchestra run by Radio France. It has also been known as the Orchestre national de la Radiodiffusion française and Orchestre national de l'Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française .Since 1944, the orchestra has been based in the Théâtre...

 for EMI

EMI

The 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...

 in 1984. Ernest Ansermet

Ernest Ansermet

Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was a Swiss conductor.- Biography :Ansermet was born in Vevey, Switzerland. Although he was a contemporary of Wilhelm Furtwängler and Otto Klemperer, Ansermet represents in most ways a very different tradition and approach from those two musicians. Originally he was a...

 and the Suisse Romande Orchestra made the first complete recording of the ballet in 1954.

Instrumentation

The scoring includes 2 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (one doubling cor anglais), 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons; 2 horns in F (chromatiques), 2 trumpets in C; timpani, one percussion (cymbal, triangle, tambourine); celeste, harps; strings.