((Boosey & Hawkes Voice). 16 songs from stage and screen, ...)
(Boosey & Hawkes Voice). 16 songs from stage and screen, including: April in Paris * Autumn in New York * I Like the Likes of You * Paris in New York * Sweet Bye and Bye * and more. Includes a composer biography.
Vernon Duke was a Russian-born American composer. He also wrote under his original name, Vladimir Dukelsky.
Background
Vernon Duke was born Vladimir Alexandrovich Dukelsky on October 10, 1903, in Parfianovka, near Pskov, in northern Russia, the son of Alexander Dukelsky, a civil engineer, and Anna Kopylov, whose family had become successful in the sugar business. In 1913, after Alexander Dukelsky died, the family moved to Kiev. In December 1919, because of increased revolutionary activity in Kiev, the Dukelsky family left for Odessa. When the fighting reached Odessa late in 1920, the family made a daring escape from the city and sailed to Constantinople.
Education
Duke studied music with Reinhold Gliere at the Kiev Conservatory.
Career
In Constantinople Duke earned an income playing piano in restaurants, cabarets, and movie theaters, and organized concerts and recitals of serious music. In Constantinople he discovered American popular music, including works by George Gershwin, and began composing melodies in the new American idiom. He also met Pavel Tchelitchew, Nicolas Slonimsky, and Boris Kochno, who later became his artistic colleagues.
In the autumn of 1921, Duke sailed with his mother and brother to New York City. There he played piano in restaurants and conducted and composed for vaudeville and burlesque. The singers Eva Gautier and Nina Koshetz encouraged him to compose serious music and performed his art songs.
During his first years in America, Duke met both George Gershwin and Artur Rubinstein. Gershwin suggested he adopt the name Vernon Duke for his popular-music persona. Rubinstein encouraged Duke to go to Paris, the Mecca for all young composers of serious music, and so, in 1924, Duke sailed for France. Shortly after his arrival in Paris, Duke renewed his acquaintance with Tchelitchew and Kochno. Upon hearing Duke's Piano Concerto, Kochno arranged a meeting between Duke and Serge Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. Diaghilev asked Duke to compose a new ballet to showcase the dancer Serge Lifar. The result was Zephire et Flore (1925), first performed in Monte Carlo with choreography by Leonide Massine, sets by Georges Braque, and costumes by Coco Chanel. Performances followed in Paris, London, and Berlin.
Although there were tentative plans for a second ballet, Duke never seemed completely comfortable in his role as a Diaghilev protege. During this European sojourn, Duke traveled with the ballet company. He played one of the four pianos at the London premiere of Stravinsky's Les noces, the other three pianists at this notable performance being Francis Poulenc, Georges Auric, and Vittorio Rieti.
In 1925 Slonimsky introduced Duke to the conductor Serge Koussevitzky in Paris. Koussevitzky conducted Duke's Sonata for Piano and Orchestra and Symphony no. 1 in Paris shortly thereafter. The latter work was performed in 1929 by the Boston Symphony under Koussevitzky, and the next year Duke's Symphony no. 2 was performed in Boston. Koussevitzky remained a champion of Duke's serious music for many years. Duke also enjoyed some success during this period on the London popular stage; he wrote songs for Katja the Dancer (1925), Yvonne (1925), and The Yellow Mask (1928).
Duke used his Russian name on his serious works and his American pseudonym on his popular songs. After returning to New York in 1929, Duke wrote film music for the Paramount studios in Astoria, Queens, and composed songs for the musical theater. His first notable song was "I'm Only Human After All, " for the Garrick Gaieties (1930), with Ira Gershwin and E. Y. Harburg collaborating on the lyrics. Duke contributed songs to Three's a Crowd (1930) and Shoot the Works (1931), but his first complete score was for Walk a Little Faster (1932), a revue that starred Beatrice Lillie and included what would become his most famous song, "April in Paris. " He supplied most of the music for the 1934 and 1936 editions of the Ziegfeld Follies. Important songs from these shows include "I Like the Likes of You, " "What Is There to Say?" "Suddenly, " "I Can't Get Started, " "Words Without Music, " and "That Moment of Moments. " "Autumn in New York, " for which Duke wrote both words and music, appeared in Thumbs Up (1934). His other New York theatrical projects from this period were The Show Is On (1936), A Vagabond Hero (closed in tryouts, 1939), Keep Off the Grass (1940), and It Happens on Ice (1940).
Upon the death of George Gershwin in 1937, Duke completed the film score for The Goldwyn Follies, to which he contributed two ballets, both choreographed by George Balanchine, and the song "Spring Again. "
In 1940 Duke's most important musical, Cabin in the Sky, opened in New York with Ethel Waters, Todd Duncan, Rex Ingram, Dooley Wilson, and Katherine Dunham in the all-black cast. Lynn Root wrote the book, and John Latouche, the lyrics; Balanchine choreographed and directed. Its notable songs include "Cabin in the Sky" and "Taking a Chance on Love. " Duke also wrote scores for Banjo Eyes (1941); The Lady Comes Across (1942); Jackpot (1944); and Sadie Thompson (1944), an unsuccessful musical version of the play Rain; Two's Company (1952), with lyrics by Ogden Nash and starring Bette Davis; and The Littlest Review (1956), which included an important Duke song, "Born Too Late. " In addition, Duke wrote both music and lyrics for the first American production of Jean Anouilh's play Time Remembered (1957); the highly acclaimed production starred Helen Hayes, Susan Strasberg, and Richard Burton. Duke musicals that closed during pre-Broadway tryouts were Dancing in the Streets (1943), Sweet Bye and Bye (1946), The Pink Jungle (1959), and Zenda (1963). In 1952 he supplied ballet music for the film She's Working Her Way Through College. Duke songs were also used in the 1952 film April in Paris.
In 1936 Duke became an American citizen, and during World War II he served three years in the United States Coast Guard. His musical revue for the Coast Guard, Tars and Spars (1944), was one of several collaborations with the lyricist Howard Dietz.
Duke continued composing serious music for the concert stage and ballets. Most successful was Le bal des blanchisseuses (1946), a ballet produced by Kochno in Paris and starring Roland Petit.
Throughout his life Duke supported the music of young composers and in 1948 founded the Society for Forgotten Music. With the publication of his autobiography in 1955, Duke announced that he would no longer use his Russian name on any composition. While Duke's serious music now generates little interest and his theatrical career lacked notable successes, his songs for revues and musicals stand as important achievements. His best songs reflect strong musicianship, a distinctive style, and innovative and often complex melodies.
Duke composed two additional ballets in his later years and in 1958 he finally saw the premiere of his opera, Demoiselle paysanne, written thirty years earlier. Duke published a volume of music criticism as well as essays on the music scene. He also translated American song lyrics into Russian.
Achievements
Vernon Duke was noted for his sophisticated melodies for films, Broadway musicals, and revues. He is best known for "Taking a Chance on Love" with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche (1940), "I Can't Get Started" with lyrics by Ira Gershwin (1936), and "April in Paris" with lyrics by E. Y. ("Yip") Harburg (1932).
