Piano Works in Dialogue with Tradition

Abstract

Dukas published only one symphony but solidified his reputation as a symphonic thinker over the next decade with L’Apprenti sorcier, the Piano Sonata in E♭ minor (1899–1900) and Ariane. While symphonic ideology coloured responses to the opera problematically (an issue addressed in Chapter 5), it proved quite apt for a four-movement sonata of approximately forty-five minutes’ duration. But as a piano work the sonata is more obviously grouped with two others for that instrument: Variations, interlude et finale sur un thème de J-Ph. Rameau (composed 1899–1902) and Prélude élégiaque sur le nom de Haydn (1909). All three overtly engage with keyboard history by responding to Baroque, Classical, Romantic or contemporary styles. The sonata and Variations reflect Dukas’s immersion in fin-de-siècle Parisian piano culture, which we glimpse through his writings on concert programming, individual performers and interpretive styles. Other columns enlighten readers on efforts to recuperate French Baroque tradition for the twentieth century. Jacques Durand played a role by spearheading the complete edition of Rameau’s oeuvre, to which Dukas contributed four ballets (1901) and selections from the opera Les Indes galantes (1902) shortly before Durand published his Variations. Although a relationship therefore exists between that score and the Rameau project, the composer’s Revue hebdomadaire critiques reveal that the motivation for the Variations (and sonata) predates his editorial role and lies in a broader set of aesthetic concerns.