La Fête des myrtes

Paul Dukas made his first trip to Bayreuth in 1886, while a candidate for the Prix de Rome competition. He returned full of enthusiasm and infected with the virus of Wagnerism which, at the time, was being avoided like the plague by the Institut de France. According to the composer, it was his fulsome remarks about Wagner that led to his failure a second time in the concours d’essai of 1887, after coming away empty-handed in 1886. A year after Pensée des morts (the set text in 1886), the Académie des Beaux-Arts set a less melancholy text entitled La Fête des myrtes, a poem by Charles Toubin. The chorus by Gustave Charpentier—who was the winner that year—composed on the same subject has only recently come to light. Very similar in length to the score by Dukas, it shunned the possibility of using interventions by soloists, even though they were frequently employed in this examination, since they allowed composers to vary vocal colour and demonstrate to the competition judges that they could treat voices individually before the major cantata exercise. Unlike Charpentier, Dukas drew a tenor soloist then a mezzo-soprano soloist from the chorus. The effect is both justified in literary terms and relevant musically, since it allows—even requires—an orchestral lull, which gives the listener a rest from the opening turbulence and fanfares. For modern-day audiences, a comparison of Charpentier’s musical offering with the one by Dukas raises doubts about the objectivity of the Académie’s judgement. Dukas’ chorus is undoubtedly better written and more varied. Which lends substance to the idea that he was passed over more because of the threat of a Wagnerism, which had to be stamped out, than because of any alleged compositional  blunders. Even though there is not a whiff of Wagnerism about Dukas’ chorus…