TITLE: Fanfare from La Peri (1912)

COMPOSER: Paul Dukas (1865-1935)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Dukas was considered to be a modern French composer, who represented a movement against artistic formalism during his lifetime. He grew up in a very poor family. Dukas often played his neighbor's piano, since his parents could not afford an instrument or provide lessons for him. Despite the odds, Dukas entered the Paris Conservatory in 1882, where he became totally submerged in music composition. He was dedicated to daily practice and hard work. He was forced to give up the Conservatory for a time in order to serve in the French military, a duty of all young French men. He took advantage of the spare time he had in the military and began to write music and study scores of classic composers. He composed his opera, Ariadne and Bluebeard, and his ballet ,La Peri, shortly after his return from military duty.

MOVEMENTS: One

PERFORMANCE TIME: 1' 00"

INSTRUMENTATION: 11 Instruments

• 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, 1 Tuba

EDITIONS: Available for Purchase and Rental

• Theodore Presser Co., Presser Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

COMPOSITION SKETCH AND MUSICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Dukas was forty-seven years of age when he composed his ballet, La Peri. It was his last major work to compose prior to his death. He burned all of his works of the last twenty-three years of his life just hours before his death because he did not feel that they maintained the same standard as his earlier works. Dukas called La Peri a symphonic poem for dancing. "Peri" is originally a Persian word meaning elf or genie. The fanfare precedes the dance proper in the manner of an overture. The work requires triple tonguing in all of the brass parts. The work uses brass instruments exclusively and the work has become a very popular work in the wind band repertoire of the twentieth century.

SELECTED RECORDINGS:

RELATED WEBSITES:

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