The University of Akron
From the SelectedWorks of David Procházka
2018
Polyeucte, by Paul Dukas. David Procházka, The University of Akron
Available at: https://works.bepress.com/david-prochazka/1/ Paul Dukas (b. Paris, 1 October 1865 - d. Paris, 17 May 1935)
Polyeucte Overturefor orchestra ( 1891 )
Preface Paul Abraham Dukas was a French musician who worked as a critic, composer, editor, teacher, and inspector of music institutions across France. He was the middle of three children. His mother was a pianist, and his father was a banker. The familywas of Jewish descent, but seemed to focus more on thecultural life of Paris than on religious matters. Show ing some musical talent in his adolescence, Dukas' fatherencouraged him to enroll in the Conservatoire de Paris, which he did at the age of 16. It was here that Dukas began a life-long friendshipwith Claude Debussy, who was three years his senior. While Dukas was moderately successfulas a student, the crowning Prix de Rome eluded him in four successive years. In 1886 and 1887, he did not reach the finals; in 1888 he submitted the cantata Vel/eda, and in 1889 he offeredthe cantata Semele, neither of which were chosen as the winning composition. Discouraged, Dukas leftthe Conservatoire to fulfill his military service. He returnedto Paris and began a dual career as critic and composer in 1891.
With time, Dukas also became a music editor, working on modem editions of works by Rameau, Couperin, Scarlatti, and Beethoven. He returnedto the Conservatoireto teach orchestration ( 1910-1913) and composition (beginning in 1928); he also taught at the Ecole Nonnale. Between these institutions, his students included Olivier Messiaen, Maurice Durufle, and Jean Langlais. From I 910 until his death, he was also an inspector of music education forthe provincial conserva tories in France.
In the course of his long career, Dukas produced more than 400 critical essays; while many were reviews of particular works or perfonnances, he oftenaddressed more abstract, philosophical topics in his writings, which appeared in a wide variety of venues, such as the Revue hebdomadaire, Le Figaro, and the Revue musicale. As a composer, Dukas was not nearly as prolific: only a few dozen compositions have survived. His innate shyness and a strongperfectionism kept him from completing many of the projects he started,and near the end of his life he destroyed the manuscripts of numerous works in various states of completion.
This same diffidence kept Dukas fromsharing much about his personal life, even though he was a public figure in many ways. We know that he married in 1916, when he was fifty; the couple had a daughter a few years later. He died from a massive heart attack in May of 1935, having just returned home from teaching at the Ecole Normale. He had numer ous close friends,but it seems these relationships were often more intellectual than emotional in nature. His friendships highlight some of the dichotomies found in Dukas as a musician. For example, he and Debussy oftendeliberated about possible ways to expand musical expression; on the other hand, Dukas was also a longtime friend of Vincent d'lndy ( 1851-1931), who is oftenseen as a much more conservativeforce in French musical culture. Being able to sustain long term friendships with colleagues who have such divergent philosophies speaks to Dukas' to ability to be receptive to a wide range of musical styles and aesthetics, an excellent quality in a critic.
French music in the late 19111 and early 20111 centuries was greatly influenced by the music and philosophy of Richard Wagner ( 1813-1883). Many French composers and critics fell into camps, either aligning themselves with or disavow ing Wagner's musical/dramatic aesthetic. The latter oftensought to find a musical language that was more trulyFrench. Dukas came to maturity in this conflicted environment. Both as a critic and as a composer, he managed to diplomatically navigate between these two extremes,ultimately findinga compositional style that was uniquely his own.
Polyeucte is an overture, and it comes at the beginning of Dukas' career. While a student at the Conservatoire, he com posed two other overtures,both in 1883. Goetz de Berlichingen was based on Goethe's 1773 drama Gotz von Berlichin gen. This was followedby LeroiLear, which in tum was inspired by Shakespeare's play King Lear. This early practice of looking to dramatic literature for inspiration would continue throughout the composer's life. His most popular work, L 'apprentisorcier ( 1897), was based on a poem by Goethe. What may be most noteworthyabout these early overtures is the factthat, even as a teenager, Dukas was not intimidated by the idea of writing fora fullorchestra, a practice some composers shy away from so early in their development. Polyeucte was composed in 1891. afterDukas had leftthe Con servatoire and completed his military service. It was at this time that he also began writing music criticismfor La revue hebdomadaireand the Gazelle des beaux-arts.
Polyeuctus, who died in the year 259, was an early Christian saint. According to tradition, he was a Roman or Armenian militaryofficer who convertedto Christianity and defiedan edict requiring everyoneto worship Roman idols. Ultimately, he destroyed numerous idolatrous statues in the public market; forthis he was tortured and then beheaded. He became a martyrfor the Christianfaith, and as early as 525, had a church dedicated to him at Constantinople. The French dramatist Pierre Corneille wrote a play about the saint in 1642, titled Polyeuctemartyr. Corneille's play was in tum adapted into an opera by Charles Gounod in 1878, which was titled Polyeucte. The score of Dukas• overture reads Polyeucte: ouver ture pour la tragedie de Corneille, but one has to wonder whether the young Dukas might have been more inspired by Gounod's adaptation, at least initially.
Corneille and Gounod, in their dramatizations, put great emphasis on Polyeuctus' spiritual struggle. This exploration of the crisis of faith becomes a recurringtheme in the music of Dukas, from the early cantata Vel/eda ( 1888) to the later opera Ariane et Barbe-bleue (completed in 1907). Such a theme is very challenging to express in instrumental music, but that is a task Dukas set for himself in choosing this storyas the subject forhis overture.
The overture is through-composed, with an overall layout of slow-fast-slow-fast-slow. The harmonic language is very redolent of Wagner, featuring extended chains of unresolved diminished and augmented hannonies. Again like Wagner, long melodies are eschewed in favor of a handful of short leitmotifs which Dukas uses throughout all five sec tions. He juxtaposes and manipulates the leitmotifs in a variety of ways to build the musical development of the work. The overture is scored for two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, harp, and strings. It is in his orchestrations that Dukas generates the most interest. There is great attention to the unique timbres of different instruments. Dukas frequently varies the sound by alternating between unison versus solo woodwind instruments, muted versus unmuted brass, and divisi versus unison strings. For example, at rehearsal Jetter R, the strings are divided into thirteenseparate voices for over twenty measures. Also note the final measures, where every instrument in the orchestra is playing, not fortissimo as might be expected from a grand orchestra, but pianississimo (ppp). Imagine a composer instructing an entire orchestra-including all the brass-to play so quietly!
Throughout his career, Dukas was known as an excellent orchestrator. Less than ten years aftercomposing Poplyeucte (in 1891 ), he wrote his most famous work: l 'apprentisorcier (The Sorcerer'sApprentice, in 1897). While other works by Dukas were well received when first performed, it is l 'apprenti sorcier which most people know upon hearing the opening bars. The phenomenal, sustained popularity of this single work has certainlyovershadowed the rest of Dukas' slim output. On the other hand, the popularity of L 'apprenti sorcier has also brought us numerous recordings of lesser known works such as Polyeucte. Record labels are fond of issuing albums featuring works by a single composer. Since l 'apprenti sorcier only lasts about eleven minutes, other orchestral works by Dukas are frequently added to fill out the album, including our Polyeucte. In many recent recordings, Polyeucte is performed at a lumbering tempo, which serves to highlight the dearthof melodic and rhythmic interest in the overture. One recording from Ediciones Singulares, issued in 2015, stands out from the others. The overtureis performed by the Brussels Philharmonic,conducted by HerveNiquet (Ediciones Singulares: ES 1021). In this particular recording, the work is performed at a noticeably quicker pace, which creates an energy and tension lacking in many other recordings.
For those seeking more extensive information about Paul Dukas, there are not a great many options. There is no full length biographyof Paul Dukas in English. The most detailed information is found in a 1980 dissertationby Everett Ver non Boyd.' Though the dissertation focuses on three of Dukas' later orchestral works, it also draws together a substantial amount of biographical information. French readerswill find interest in Georges Favre's l 'wuvrede Paul Dukas (I 969).2 It includes a shortbiography, followed by discussions of eight of Dukas' compositions. Here, Polyeucte receives a very thoughtful analysis (p. 29-32).
David Prochazka The Universityof Akron December 20/7
' Everett Vernon Boyd, Jr., "Paul Dukas and the Impressionist Mileau: Stylistic Assimilation in Three Orchestral Works" (PhD Diss., University of Rochester, May 1980) = Georges Favre, L 'a:uvres de Paul Dukas(Paris: Durand & C", 1969)
For performance material please contact Durand, Paris. ��@@;>�
POLYEUCTE
OUVERTURE POUR LA TRAGEDIE DE CORNEILLE
PAR PAUL DUKA-S
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mph Miinchen 2018