Born Oct. 1, 1865 in Paris, France
Died May 17, 1935 in Paris, France
After attending the Paris Conservatory, Paul Dukas became a music critic and orchestrator. As a composer, he was a perfectionist and destroyed much more than he ever published. Among his few surviving works, the most famous was The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1897), a programmatic orchestral work widely introduced to the world in 1940 when Mickey Mouse portrayed the Sorcerer in Walt Disney’s Fantasia. Among other works are an opera, Ariadne and Bluebeard, a ballet Le Peri, and Symphony in C.
As a teacher of composition at the Ecole Normale de Musique, Paul Dukas helped shape a new generation of composers, with a roster of famous students that included Olivier Messiaen, Manuel Ponce, Carlos Chavez, Joaquin Rodrigo, and Xian Xinghai.
See Mickey Mouse in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Disney’s Fantasia. What a shame Dukas died 5 years before Mickey immortalized his imaginative symphonic poem, which is now a musical classic for children around the world. In 2010, Disney plans to release a new live version of Sorcerer’s Apprentice starring Nicholas Cage. Watch for it! (Just hope Dukas’s music will not get swept away with the broom in the live action)
Recommended CD for kids: Hear the music, along with the narrated story. Also discover the history of this ancient story, learn about percussion instruments and play puzzle games in the guide. 41 min. CD
