''Le Rouet d'Omphale'' (''The Spinning Wheel of Omphale'' or ''Omphale's Spinning Wheel''), Op. 31, is a symphonic poem for orchestra, composed by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1871. It is one of the most famous of the four symphonic poems in a mythological series by Saint-Saëns. The other three in the series are ''Danse macabre'', ''Phaëton'', and ''La jeunesse d'Hercule''. The middle section of ''Le Rouet d'Omphale'' was used as the theme music to the

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

, ''

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

''.

Analysis

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

condemns

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

to serve

Omphale In Greek mythology, Omphale (; Ancient Greek: Ὀμφάλη) was queen of the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor. Diodorus Siculus provides the first appearance of the Omphale theme in literature, though Aeschylus was aware of the episode. The Gree ...

while disguised as a woman; for 3 years he slaves (while wearing woman's dress) spinning wool for her on a

spinning wheel A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibres. It was fundamental to the cotton textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution. It laid the foundations for later machinery such as the spinning jenny and spinning f ...

References

External links

* * Compositions by Camille Saint-Saëns Symphonic poems Music based on European myths and legends Compositions for symphony orchestra 1871 compositions The Shadow Heracles {{composition-stub