Paul Dukas

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(b Paris, 1 Oct 1865; d there, 17 May 1935). French composer. He studied with Guiraud at the Paris Conservatoire (1881-9) and became a friend of Debussy, d′Indy and Bordes. His Franckian leanings are evident in his first published work, the overture Polyeucte (1891), though Beethoven is also suggested, as again in his Symphony in C (1896). But the symphonic scherzo L′apprenti sorcier (1897) is more individual, not least in its augmented-triad and diminished-7th harmonies, which influenced Stravinsky and Debussy. The next years were devoted to the opera Ariane et Barbe-Bleue (1907), though at the same time he produced two piano works of Beethovenian range and power: the Sonata in E♭ minor and the Variations, interlude et final sur un thème de Rameau. Dukas self-criticism constricted his later output. Apart from the exotic ballet La péri (1912) he published only a few occasional works. He cultivated craftsmanship to an extreme degree and his orchestration has been widely admired and imitated. His voluminous criticism reveals an unusual breadth of sympathy and he was a conscientious editor of Beethoven, Couperin, Rameau and Scarlatti and an admired teacher at the Conservatoire.

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Dukas, Paul (b Paris, 1 Oct. 1865, d Paris, 17 May 1935). French composer. His dance poem La Péri (1911) was first choreographed by Clustine in Paris in 1912 and has since been used by many other choreographers. He also composed the symphonic poem L'Apprenti sorcier (1897) which was choreographed by Fokine in Petrograd in 1916.

Dukas, Paul (1865–1935), French composer. In a small, carefully crafted œuvre his major work, and only opera, is Ariane et Barbe‐Bleue (1907), composed to accompany a short play of the same name published in 1901 by the Belgian symbolist Maurice Maeterlinck. Intended from the start for musical elaboration, Maeterlinck's play joins Perrault's ‘Barbe‐bleue’ (‘Bluebeard’) with the myth of Ariadne. Despite being discovered and offered a vision of freedom by the eponymous heroine, Bluebeard's wives choose to continue living in the stifling opulence of their captor's castle. The story allows Dukas to conjure vivid impressions of gem‐filled rooms and subterranean darkness.

— Stephen Benson

• Period: Post-Romantic (1870-1909)
• Country: France
• Born: October 01, 1865 in Paris, France
• Died: May 17, 1935 in Paris, France
• Genres: Ballet, Chamber Music, Keyboard Music, Opera, Orchestral Music, Symphony

Biography

Paul Dukas' music, like his life, straddled the Romantic and modern periods (and encompassed a still wider range of influences), and he remained true to classical structures well into the twentieth century. Born in 1865 to the family of a cultured Parisian banker, he was the second of three children; his mother was the musician in the family, and she died when he was five. He studied the piano without displaying special aptitude in music until he was 14. While convalescing from an illness, he started composing, and from that point on, he gravitated toward music, enrolling at the Paris Conservatoire when he was 16. He studied harmony, piano, conducting, and orchestration, and at 17, he wrote his first two adult compositions, overtures to Goethe's Götz von Berlichingen and Shakespeare's King Lear. He formally studied composition with Ernest Guiraud but left the conservatory in 1888, frustrated over his inability to win any prizes for his early work and being confronted by the military draft. Following his service in the army, he returned to civilian life as a critic and composer, enjoying his first success in the latter capacity in 1892 with the premiere of his overture Polyeucte. The same year, he began the first of several attempts to compose an opera, but he was to see no success in that genre for years to come; rather, he wrote his two most well-known instrumental works: the Symphony in C (1896) and The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1897). The latter, based on Goethe's "Der Zauberlehrling," became one of the most popular orchestral works of the late Romantic era with its rich coloration, and it was quickly taken into the repertory of conductors around the world. For the next decade, he devoted himself to an opera, Ariane et Barbe-bleue, based on the work of Maurice Maeterlinck, while continuing to write criticism and completing his Sonata for piano in E flat minor (1900). Dukas completed his ballet La Péri in 1912, but his later output was blighted by an increasingly self-critical outlook, which caused him to abandon and destroy many works. Only four pieces from the last 23 years of his life ever saw the light of day. In his final decades, Dukas achieved renown as a teacher and his students included Messiaen and Duruflé. In 1940, five years after his death, Dukas and The Sorcerer's Apprentice became enshrined in American popular culture through the use of the work in the movie Fantasia. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

• Born: Oct 01, 1865 in Paris, France
• Died: May 17, 1935 in Paris, France
• Active: '40s, '70s, '90s-2000s
• Major Genres: Children's/Family, Musical
• Career Highlights: Fantasia, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Fantasia 2000
• First Major Screen Credit: Fantasia (1940)

Biography

Having studied piano, theory, and composition at the Paris Conservatory, Dukas was a decided perfectionist who allowed only a few of his many creations to be published while the rest were physically destroyed. He was twice a winner of the coveted Prix de Rome: in 1886 for a fugue, and in 1888 for his cantata Velleda, but neither of these works has been quoted in film soundtracks. In fact, only one work has appeared in excerpt for that purpose, the well-known symphonic scherzo L'apprenti sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) which has been used in four films to date. In Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940), Leopold Stokowski conducts a splendid interpretation of the work. The animators envisioned Mickey Mouse as the young and inexperienced apprentice who attempts a bit of his master's magic by enchanting a broom to lighten his work load. The broom grows arms and begins hauling buckets filled with water into the magician's domicile. However, Mickey doesn't have a clue how to undo the spell in order to make the broom stop as the place becomes inundated. His efforts only increase the number of brooms doing the hauling and the number of buckets being carried. The music builds as the water rushes to the crazed insistence of the lively theme. Finally, to some wonderful punctuated chords and cymbal crashes, the master magician comes home, senses the disaster, waves his arms, and disperses the water like Moses parting the waters. The shy, ashamed Mickey slowly picks up the buckets to get back to his work, and to a final musical stab, he swats Mickey's bottom with the broom, and he rushes outdoors. This delightful episode was repeated in Disney's Fantasia/2000 (1999) with slightly enhanced stereo sound.

An earlier, more abstract interpretation of this music appeared in Oskar Fischinger's animated short Studie Nr. 8 (Study No. 8, 1931) which uses the recording of the piece with the legendary Arturo Toscanini conducting the New York Philharmonic. It is almost impossible to describe the sheer beauty and artistry of the pure visuals.

Russ Meyer's bizarre high-camp sex comedy Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) (aka Hollywood Vixens) also weaves The Sorcerer's Apprentice among scenes of rock & roll, drugs, and sleaze. One can hardly imagine what the fastidious composer, himself a critic for the Revue Hebdomadaire and Gazette des Beaux-Arts and a valued professor of orchestration at the Paris Conservatoire, would have thought of this use of his music. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Movie Guide

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Beyond the Valley of the Dolls Buy this Movie

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