Dukas Paul Dukas

Paul Abraham Dukas (French: [dykas]; 1 October 1865 – 17 May 1935) was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man, of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, and he abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions. His best known work is the orchestral piece The Sorcerer's Apprentice (L'apprenti sorcier), the fame of which has eclipsed that of his other surviving works. Among these are the opera Ariane et Barbe-bleue, a symphony, two substantial works for solo piano, and a ballet, La Péri.

At a time when French musicians were divided into conservative and progressive factions, Dukas adhered to neither but retained the admiration of both. His compositions were influenced by composers including Beethoven, Berlioz, Franck, d'Indy and Debussy.

In tandem with his composing career, Dukas worked as a music critic, contributing regular reviews to at least five French journals. Later in his life he was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatoire de Paris and the École Normale de Musique; his pupils included Maurice Duruflé, Olivier Messiaen, Manuel Ponce, and Joaquín Rodrigo.

List of works

Published by the composer

• Polyeucte, overture for orchestra (1891)
• Symphony in C (1895–96)
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice, for orchestra (1897)
• Piano Sonata in E-flat minor (1899–1900)
• Variations, Interlude and Finale on a Theme by Rameau, for piano (c.1899–1902)
• Ariane et Barbe-bleue, opera (1899–1907)
• Villanelle, for horn and piano (1906)
• Prélude élégiaque sur le nom de Haydn, for piano (1909)
• Vocalise-étude (alla gitana), for voice and piano (1909)
• La Péri, ballet (poème dansé) (1911; later supplemented with Fanfare pour précéder La Péri (1912))
• La plainte, au loin, du faune..., for piano (1920)
• Amours, sonnet for voice and piano (1924)
• Allegro, for piano (1925)
• Modéré, for piano (?) (1933; published posthumously in 1936)

Early unpublished works

• Air de Clytemnestre, for voice and small orchestra (1882)
• Goetz de Berlichingen, overture for orchestra (1883)
• Le roi Lear, for orchestra (1883)
• Chanson de Barberine, for soprano and orchestra (1884)
• La fête des Myrthes, for choir and orchestra (1884)
• L'ondine et le pêcheur, for soprano and orchestra (1884)
• Endymion, cantata for three solo voices and orchestra (1885)
• Introduction au poème "Les Caresses", for piano (1885)
• La vision de Saül, cantata for three solo voices and orchestra (1886)
• La fleur, for choir and orchestra (1887)
• Fugue (1888)
• Hymne au soleil, for choir and orchestra (1888)
• Velléda, cantata for three solo voices and orchestra (1888)
• Sémélé, cantata for three solo voices and orchestra (1889)

Destroyed and projected works

• Horn et Riemenhild, opera (1892)
• L'arbre de science, opera (1899)
• Le fil de parque, symphonic poem (c.1908)
• Le nouveau monde, opera (c.1908–1910)
• Le sang de Méduse, ballet (1912)
• Symphony No. 2 (after 1912)
• Violin Sonata (after 1912)
• La tempête, opera (c.1918)
• Variations choréographiques, ballet (1930)
• An untitled orchestral work for Boston Symphonic Orchestra (1932)