Exactly one hundred years after Gluck's Alceste was written, the young Saint-Saëns chose a theme from the ballet music of this work and transformed it into a piano piece in the form of variations and a fugue. It can be said to be a work that lies between an original composition and a transcription. The difficult fugue section may be omitted. Published by Durand.Debussy. There is also a four-hand version by Debussy.