La Péri is a 1912 ballet in one act by French composer Paul Dukas, originally choreographed by Ivan Clustine and first performed in Paris. The storyline is based around Iskender (the Persian name for Alexander the Great) and his search for immortality, his encounter with a mythological Peri and his search for the Flower of Immortality.
La Péri is a 1912 ballet in one act by French composer Paul Dukas, originally choreographed by Ivan Clustine and first performed in Paris. The storyline is based around Iskender (the Persian name for Alexander the Great) and his search for immortality, his encounter with a mythological Peri and his search for the Flower of Immortality. Originally Dukas had been commissioned by Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, with the principal dancer’s role of Iskender being taken by Nijinsky, however that production was cancelled. The original music to was written in 1911 by Paul Dukas as dance poem in one scene and was his last published work. Although not as well-known as his famous symphonic poem The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the ballet score has been considered to be one of his most mature and skilled pieces. Its style can be best described as a mixture of Romantic tonal harmony, with a touch of Impressionism and is distinctly French. The ballet itself is preceded by this brilliant fanfare that originally uses the orchestra's full brass section and which is often performed separately. The ballet was performed in the UK in 1931 by Ballet Rambert at the Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate, to choreography by Frederick Ashton and costume design by William Chappell. Ashton himself danced the role of Iskender.
Paul Abraham Dukas (October 1865 – May 1935) was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, having abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions. His best-known work is the orchestral piece The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the fame of which has eclipsed that of many of his other surviving works. At a time when French musicians were divided into conservative and progressive factions, Dukas adhered to neither but retained the admiration of both. His compositions were influenced by composers including Beethoven, Berlioz, Franck, d'Indy and Debussy. In tandem with his composing career, Dukas worked as a music critic, contributing regular reviews to at least five French journals. Later in his life he was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatoire de Paris; his pupils included Maurice Duruflé, Olivier Messiaen, Manuel Ponce, and Joaquín Rodrigo.
