Albert Roussel (1869–1937) was a contemporary of Maurice Ravel who wrote extensively for the ballet. His music is marked by the influence of Debussy and Ravel. He was interested in exotic topics, lavish orchestral colors, complex harmonies, and strong rhythms, all while keeping a classical sense of form. In addition to numerous ballets, he wrote four symphonies, some wonderful songs, and a significant body of chamber music. Bacchus and Ariadne was premiered at the Paris Opéra in 1931, as a two-act ballet. The second suite is equivalent to the second act of the ballet.

The myth of Bacchus (i. e., Dionysus, god of ecstasy and of the grape) and Ariadne has captivated numerous artists since Homer, Hesiod and Ovid: the Italian painter Titian (16th century), the Russian playwright Chekhov, Nietzsche, and Richard Strauss (Ariadne auf Naxos). Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos of Crete. She helped the great hero Theseus escape from the deadly labyrinth which had been built by her father. She eloped with Theseus to the island of Naxos, where Theseus promptly abandoned her. The second act of the ballet opens with Ariadne still asleep. She stirs, looks for Theseus, realizes he has abandoned her, climbs to the top of the island throws herself off, in despair. Fortunately, Bacchus, king of wine and all Earthly things, arrives at the same instant, and catches her. He rapidly makes her forget Theseus. He is funny, congenial and rotund, just the opposite of Theseus. They kiss. The island becomes enchanted. They dance with increasing abandon. In the end, Ariadne is carried off in a chariot by Bacchus and a throng of well-wishers. She ascends to Mount Olympia and becomes a goddess.

It was Pierre Monteux, 25 years his senior, who in 1933 offered Charles Munch his first repertoire niche as conductor: the Bacchus and Ariadne suites. Bacchus and Ariadne, descending so obviously from Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé, demanded similar treatment as a pair of concert suites: excising the extraneous theater-specific bars and leaving as much as possible exactly as in the ballet. That much had been clear since the 1931 premiere conducted
by Philippe Gaubert, its only performance to date. Monteux moved forward with the idea and secured the composer’s participation in refashioning the score, then offered Munch one of the two suites to perfect and premiere. Hence it was Munch who gave the first performance of Suite No. 1 in April 1933; Monteux then introduced Suite No. 2 the next season, in February 1934. According to Dutilleux, the result owed “some of its success to Munch’s cuts. It was Munch who gave the suite its shape by making cuts that Roussel, I’m sure, never envisaged.” Munch, who had “an inborn sense of proportion,” went on to suggest similar cuts to many composers, not least of whom was Dutilleux himself. He conducted Bacchus and Ariadne Suite No. 2 (and the Berlioz Symphonie fantastique) in Raleigh the night before his death.

Prelude: Ariadne’s sleep — Ariadne’s awakening — She falls into the arms of Bacchus, who has appeared suddenly behind the summit — Dance of Bacchus alone — The Kiss — Dionysian spell — The Bacchic procession forms — Dance of Ariadne alone — Dance of Ariande and Bacchus — Bacchanal — Ariadne’s Coronation

For piccolo, flutes I-II, oboes I-II, English horn, clarinets I-II, bass clarinet, bassoons I-II, contrabassoon; horns I-IV, trumpets I-IV, trombones I-III, tuba; timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbal, triangle, tambourine; celesta, harps I-II; strings with violin solo.

Composed 1930 at Roussel’s home on the Normandy coast near Varengeville-sur-Mer.

The full ballet first performed May 22, 1931, at the Paris Opéra, Philippe Gaubert, conducting. The suites extracted by the composer at the suggestion of Pierre Monteux and with the assistance of Charles Munch and first performed in Paris, April 2, 1933 (Suite No. 1, Munch conducting), and February 1934 (Suite No. 2, Monteux conducting).

Published by Durand & Cie., Paris, 1931. Suite No. 2 dedicated to Hélène Jourdan-Morhange (1892–1961), a violinist in Ravel’s circle.

Duration: about 20 minutes.

—D. Kern Holoman