Music for Brass

Program Note

La Péri is a one-act ballet composed in 1912 by Paul Abraham Dukas (1865–1935). It begins with the powerful Fanfare, which has no thematic link to the remainder of the ballet. The Fanfare serves as a “call-to-order,” in complete contrast to the music that is to follow. Dukas was a notoriously self-critical composer; only seven major and five minor compositions survive to this day, due to his penchant for destroying works he deemed to be unworthy. La Péri very nearly suffered the same fate, but friends and colleagues persuaded him to preserve it. The Fanfare ranks as Dukas’ second-most frequently performed work, surpassed only by The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

A student of Théodore Dubois at the Paris Conservatoire, Dukas’ first surviving work of note was his Symphony (1896). He followed this with his best-known work, L’apprenti sorcier (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), based on Goethe’s poem “Der Zauberlehrling,” and famously featured in Disney’s Fantasia. His last complete work was La Peri, at the age of 47, after which he retired from composing and began a dual career as a composition teacher and music critic. Among his students were Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo and French composer Olivier Messiaen.

This version reflects edits made with ease of performance in mind. Drawing from the original piano score, clarifications regarding articulations and dynamics have been made. Trumpet parts have been written from C to B-flat, the Trombone I part has been changed to bass clef from tenor, and the added Euphonium helps cover some of the high-register Tuba material. The original intent of the music, however, has not been destroyed, and all notes and rhythms remain exactly as Dukas wrote them in 1912.