Paul Dukas was a French composer, music critic, and teacher. He was born in Paris on October 1, 1865, into a family of three children. He studied piano from childhood and began composing at 14. At the Paris Conservatoire, he studied with Théodore Dubois and Ernest Guiraud. He received the Rome Prize in 1888.
After leaving the Conservatoire, Dukas completed military service, returned to composition, and resumed his studies in music theory. His career gained momentum in 1892, when his overture Polyeucte was performed in Paris; his first critical articles appeared around the same time. His best-known works from the 1890s include the Symphony in C major, premiered on January 3, 1897, under Paul Vidal, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, inspired by Goethe’s ballad. He was known for his original orchestration and distinctive style, but judged his own music harshly and destroyed manuscripts, leaving some works from this period lost.
Dukas later wrote the opera Ariane and Bluebeard, based on a work by Maurice Maeterlinck and first performed in 1907, and the ballet La Péri, created for dancer Natalia Trouhanova and first staged in 1912. The opera showed the influence of Claude Debussy, while differing from Pelléas et Mélisande in its emphasis on orchestral effects and visual presentation.
From the early 1920s, Dukas focused on teaching and music criticism and wrote no further large-scale works; he also destroyed his existing sketches. He worked on music education in the French provinces and became professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire in 1928. His students included Olivier Messiaen, Joaquín Rodrigo, and Maurice Duruflé. Dukas died in Paris on May 17, 1935, and was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery.