SAINT-SAËNS
(Camille Saint-Saëns: born in Paris, October 9, 1835; still living there)
"OMPHALE'S SPINNING-WHEEL," SYMPHONIC POEM No. 1: Op. 31
Le Rouet d'Omphale, composed in 1871, was first a piano piece; it was afterwards made over for orchestra and performed in Paris at a Concert Populaire on April 14, 1872.
The following note, in French, prefaces the score:
"The subject of this symphonic poem is feminine seductiveness, the triumphant contest of weakness against strength. The spinning-wheel is merely a pretext; it is chosen simply for the sake of its rhythmical suggestion and from the viewpoint of the general form of the piece."
The note conveys the further slightly ironical information that "those who are interested in the study of details will see on page 19 (letter J) [of the score] Hercules groaning in the bonds which he cannot break [a laboring phrase in the 'cellos and double-basses, repeated with cumulative expression], and on page 32 (letter L) Omphale mocking the hero's futile efforts [a theme sung by the oboe]."
The music has been interpreted as falling naturally into the three following sections: "(1) The power of feminine allurement. Triumphant struggle of weakness against strength; in fact, Omphale's fascination of Hercules. (2) Hercules in bondage; or, as the author has it, 'Hercules groaning under the bonds which he cannot break.' (3) Omphale deriding the vain efforts of the hero."