This book appraises the contribution of Paul Dukas (1865-1935) to a wide variety of French musical practices. As a composer, critic, artistic collaborator and teacher, Dukas was central to the fin de siècle and early twentieth-century Paris musical scene (and more broadly to the French scene). Significantly, his compositional style mediated tradition through the modern language of his present, while his critical writings pioneered a new mode of musical discourse in the French press. Of further interest are Dukas's professional relationships with iconic figures such as Gabriel Fauré and Claude Debussy, and his role in fostering the next generation of French composers. In addition to mentoring famous names such as Olivier Messiaen and Tony Aubin, he staunchly supported his female students, notably Elsa Barraine, Claude Arrieu and Yvonne Desportes. This unique essay collection offers a panoramic perspective on a comparatively neglected French musician. Paul Dukas: Legacies of a French Musician traces two aspects of his work: Part I treats Dukas as a composer, thinker and artistic collaborator; Part II constructs his intellectual legacy as seen in his creative and pedagogic endeavours. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in fin de siècle and early twentieth-century French music, women in French music, music criticism and composition education in the Paris Conservatoire.
Helen Julia Minors is Associate Professor of Music at Kingston University, London. She is Chair of the National Association for Music in Higher Education, UK. Her research interests span French music of the fin de siècle and twentieth century, including Dukas, Debussy, Ravel and Lili Boulanger, with a particular interest in music and dance; improvisation approaches, notably utilising the signed gestural language known as Soundpainting; and her work on music and translation, which explores the transfer of sense across contemporary arts and media, including work on Benjamin Britten. Publications include: Music, Text and Translation (2013); book chapters in Bewegungen zwischen Höran und Sehen (2012), La musique francaise: esthetique et identite en mutation 1892-1992 (2012), Erik Satie: Art, Music and Literature (2013), The Routledge International Handbook of Intercultural Arts Research (2016) and Historical Interplay in French Music and Culture (2017); and articles in The Opera Quarterly (2006), Dance Research (2009), Ars Lyrica (2011), Les Cahiers de la Societe quebecoise de recherche en musique (2012), Choreologica: Journal of the European Association of Dance Historians (2013) and London Review of Education (2017).
Laura Watson is Lecturer in Music at Maynooth University. Her research interests span French art music of the fin de siècle and early twentieth century, women in twentieth-century music and the historiography of popular music. Author of the monograph Paul Dukas: Composer and Critic (2019), she has also edited Dukas's early critical writings for the Francophone Music Criticism digital repository, and chaired the international conference 'Music, Intertextuality and Inter-Art Forms in Third Republic France' at Maynooth University in 2015 in honour of Dukas's 150th anniversary. Other recent publications include articles in Twentieth-Century Music (2018), the Journal of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (2016), and the chapter 'Ireland in the Musical Imagination of Third Republic France' in France and Ireland: Notes and Narratives (2015). She is a founding member of Sounding the Feminists, a volunteer group that campaigns for gender equality in music.
