French composer, organist and opera director Marcel Samuel Rousseau (1882-1955) studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won the Prix de Rome in 1905. He is best remembered for his operas, however his other compositions have not gone amiss, Pastoral Variations on an Old Noel being no exception.

Rosseau was highly influenced by Gabriel Fauré and he was an expert in chromatic harmony, often seeking to evoke a strong sense of the dramatic in his works. These features are prominent in Pastoral Variations on an Old Noel, which beings with a calm theme before developing into eight contrasting variations and a conclusion. For all intermediate to advanced harpists, Rousseau's Pastoral Variations on an Old Noel is an essential alternative addition to the repertoire.