Roussel

Roussel, Albert, 1869-1937, French composer, studied with Vincent D'Indy. His early works show the influence of impressionism. With the symphonic poem Pour une fěte de printemps (1920) and his Second Symphony (1919-21) he achieved a highly personal style marked by subtlety of melodic inflection, sharp dissonance, and contrapuntal agility. He wrote operas, ballets, four symphonies, chamber and vocal works, and music for piano. Best known are the suites from his ballets The Spider's Feast (1913) and Bacchus and Ariadne (1931).

Roussel, Raymond, 1877-1933, French writer. Roussel was an eccentric whose beautifully written work employed hallucinatory imagery while eschewing emotion and the expression of personality. At first generally unappreciated, Roussel's writing—most notably, Impressions d'Afrique (1910) and How I Write Certain of My Books (1935, tr. 1971)—is now recognized as anticipating both surrealism and the nouveau roman [new novel] (see French literature).

Chérencé-le-Roussel is a village and commune in the Manche département of north-western France.

See also

• Communes of the Manche department