Albert Roussel

Albert Roussel competed in the 1900 ballooning competitions, which are not considered as Olympic medal events, but he was much better known as a musician. He was a member of a family of the Tourquennoise industrial bourgeoisie, which had several good artists. Roussel studied at Stanislas College in Paris, where he learned the works of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. Following his love of the sea, he was admitted to the Naval Academy in 1887 and then served in the Navy until 1894, after which he devoted his life to music.

Roussel studied in Paris with Eugène Gigout and enrolled in the Schola Cantorum in 1898, finishing his studies at the age of 38. He taught counterpoint and fugue between 1902-13, mentoring numerous students. As a former Naval officer, he returned to the service at age 45 during World War I. After the War, his influence on young musicians was considered of paramount importance. Among his students he counted Olympians like Jaroslav Křička and Knudåge Riisager. His music was defined by refined harmonies, rhythmic audacity, and the richness of color. He produced melodies, chamber music, various pieces for piano, two concerts (for piano and for cello), four symphonies (the third, in G minor, is considered one of his masterpieces, written to celebrate the 50th anniversary oft he Boston Symphony Orchestra) and the ballets “Le Festin de l’araignee” and “Bacchus et Ariane et Aeneas”. His opera-ballet „Padmâvati“ was inspired by his honeymoon in India. Roussel was prominent enough to be selected as a judge for he 1924 art competitions.

After his death from a heart attack, Roussel was buried in the small marine cemetery of Varengeville-sur-Mer, where his tomb bears the following inscription, “It is in front of the sea that we will end our lives and that we will go to sleep to hear his eternal murmur still in the distance … (Albert Roussel).” A portrait of him by Claude-René Martin hangs in the library-museum of the Paris Opera houses. In 1969 the French Post Office issued a postage stamp bearing Roussel’s likeness.