Hymne au soleil

Undiscouraged by missing the Prix de Rome twice in 1886 and 1887, Paul Dukas tried again in 1888. The text for the first-round exercise in choral composition was taken this time from Le Paria, a five-act tragedy with choruses by Casimir Delavigne, first presented in Paris in 1821. Delavigne was regarded as one of the first French emulators of Byron, at a time when Berlioz too was showing great interest in the English poet’s work with its new strains of Romanticism. Unfortunately, the few lines chosen for the competition of 1888 are somewhat lacking in poetic depth. Dukas’s setting of L’Hymne au soleil is very similar in style to La Fête des myrtes, his 1887 contribution. There are fine passages for the orchestra alone and the vocal parts are often very attractive (broad legato intervals, solos for complete vocal sections). The overlapping of melodic phrases offers interesting dynamics and a continuous musical line (without necessarily any trace of Wagnerism). The brief tenor solo, central to the piece as in Pensée des morts of 1886, is delicately accompanied by the harp and winds. A gradual crescendo brings us back to the full chorus for the return of the sun, appearing at its zenith as the score ends. This piece took Dukas through to the second round of the competition (he came third), but La Fête des myrtes of 1887 is just as fine a piece and just as deserving of recompense. In 1888 the jury was possibly reassured by the apparent absence of Wagnerian influences.