When we think of Paul Dukas, we generally think of one thing: “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” And when we think of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” we think of Mickey Mouse.
Dukas was an intensely self-critical artist, who wound up destroying most of his own works. Eventually he gave up composition altogether.
Instead, like Shakespeare’s Prospero, he broke his staff and drowned his book to become a respected teacher of music, taking up posts at the Paris Conservatory and the École Normale de Musique. Among his students were Carlos Chávez, Maurice Duruflé, Olivier Messiaen, Manuel Ponce and Joaquin Rodrigo.
Would that this creator of such vivid, brilliantly orchestrated works had left us more. But since all anyone knows is “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” I suppose it hardly matters.
Happy birthday, Paul Dukas (1865-1935).
Here’s a suite from his rarely-heard opera, “Ariane et Barbe-Bleue,” after the Bluebeard story, as told by Maurice Maeterlinck. The arrangement is by none other than Arturo Toscanini.
Also, look what I found! Silent film master Georges Méliès’ adaptation of Bluebeard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aj41N5ET5Y
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