DUKAS, PAUL (ItiO5-1935), French composer, born in Paris Oct. I, 1865, studied under Matthias, Dubois and Guiraud. His cantata Velleda gained for him a second Grand Prix de Rome. The symphonic poem, L'Apprenti Sorcier, produced at the Societe Nationale de Musique in 1897, was an immediate success. His next important work was the music which he wrote for Maeter linck's Ariane et Barbe Bleue, a lyrical story in 3 acts. This was played at the Opera Comique in 1907 and subsequently at many of the principal opera-houses in Europe. A "poeme danse," The Peri, in which the orchestration is extraordinarily rich, was pro duced in Paris in 1912 with the Russian dancer Mademoiselle Trouhanova. Dukas is a master of instrumentation, equally effec tive in bold colour effects and in the delicate passages which he touches in with so sure a hand. His works for piano include a sonata in E flat minor and "Variations, Interlude and Final on a theme of Rameau," while his appreciation of the great harpsi chord composers has led him to edit a number of the works of Rameau, Couperin and Scarlatti. He is also a critic and a writer on music, holds the position of inspector of music at the Beaux Arts, is on the Conseil Superieur of the Conservatoire and is an officer of the Legion d'Honneur.
See O. Sere, Musiciens francais d'aujourd'hui (1911-12) ; G. Sama zeuilh, Un musicien f rancais, Paul Dukas (1913) ; V. d'Indy, Emmanuel Chabrier et Paul Dukas (192o) ; A. Coeuroy, La musique f rancaise moderne (1922).