Paul Dukas

Paul Abraham Dukas was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical and abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions. His best-known work is the orchestral piece The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the fame of which has eclipsed that of his other surviving works, largely due to its usage in the 1940 Disney film Fantasia. Among these are the opera Ariane et Barbe-bleue, his Symphony in C and Piano Sonata, the Variations, Interlude and Finale on a Theme by Rameau, and a ballet, La Péri.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Paul Dukas.

From the period sources

Paul Dukas, born in Paris in 1865, received his musical education at the Paris Conservatoire, studying under Dubois, Mathias, and Guiraud, according to A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (1905). Beyond his work as a composer, Dukas also contributed to the musical discourse of his time, serving as a critic for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts and the Revue hebdomadaire. His compositions include the well-known symphonic poem L’Apprenti sorcier, a symphony in three movements, and overtures to King Lear, Polyeucte, and Götz von Berlichingen. In 1904, his opera Ariadne et Barbe-bleu was noted as being “in preparation.” Dukas also engaged in editorial work, instrumenting a portion of Guiraud’s Frédégonde and editing the new edition of Rameau’s Les Indes galantes.