Dukas (Anderson): Alla Gitana for alto saxophone and piano

Code: JP4070ISMN: 979-0-3019-0301-8Paul Abraham Dukas (1865 - 1935) was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. Born in Paris, he was the second son in a Jewish family of three children. His father was a banker and his mother, who died when he was just 5 years old, was a pianist. Dukas entered the Paris Conservatory at the end of 1881 when he was only 16 years of age. Among his fellow students at that time was Claude Debussy with whom he formed a close friendship. Dukas won several prizes, including second place in the Conservatory's most prestigious award, the Prix de Rome, for his cantata Velleda in 1888. He left the Conservatory in 1889, disappointed at his failure to win the top prize. Dukas worked as a music critic, contributing regularly to several French journals. He was intensely self-critical and abandoned or destroyed many of his compositions. His best known work is the orchestral piece The Sorcerer Apprentice (L'apprenti sorcier),