Some people succeed in unbelievable ways. Roussel was orphaned at the age of eight and went to live with his grandfather. He built on the music he had learned from his mother, entertaining himself by reading through the family music collection and playing his favorite songs on the piano. Three years later, Roussel's grandfather died, and his aunt adopted him. Her husband arranged for young Albert to take regular piano lessons. Summer vacations at a Belgian seaside resort added a second love to his life -- the sea. He studied to be a naval cadet  , but still made time to study music. In the French Navy, while he served on a warship based at Cherbourg, he and two friends found the time to play the music of Beethoven and other composes  . Roussel also began composing. At the Church of the Trinity in Cherbourg on Christmas Day 1892, he had his first performance as a composer. That success encouraged Roussel to write a wedding march, and one of his fellow offices offered to show it to a well-known conductor  , Edouard Colonne. When Roussel's friend returned with the manuscript  , he reported that Colonne had advised Roussel to give up his naval career and devote his life to music. Not long afterwards, at the age of 25, Roussel did just that. He applied characters that he had developed in the navy to his composing and became a major force in twentieth century French music. As for Eduoard Colonne's inspiring advice that Roussel devote his life to music, Roussel's navy friend later admitted that he had made it up and that he had never even shown Roussel's manuscript to the conductor. What   _   did played the most important part in Roussel's final success.
his mother the husband of his aunt his navy friend Edouard Colonne