BIOGRAPHY

Paul Dukas was born in Paris, France on October 1, 1865. He was a student at the Paris Conservatory where he studied piano, harmony, and composition. He won the Prix de Rome for a counterpoint and fugue in 1886 and again in 1888 with the cantata, Velleda.

He was the music critic for the Revue Hebdomadaire and Gazette des Beaux-Arts and at the same time, he was a professor of orchestration at the Conservatoire. His strong critical sense led him to destroy a number of his compositions and only allow a relatively small number of works to be published. He remained influential and respected as a teacher.

By far the best known composition by Dukas is the symphonic scherzo L’Apprenti Sorcier. The music was recently popularized by Walt Disney, when he included a pictorial version of it in Fantasia with Mickey Mouse as the naughty apprentice.