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Vernon Duke | |
|---|---|
 Duke in 1937 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dukelsky |
| Born | (1903-10-10)10 October 1903 Pskov Governorate,Russian Empire |
| Died | 16 January 1969(1969-01-16) (aged 65) Santa Monica, California, United States |
| Genres | Broadwaymusicals,Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter,composer |
Vernon Duke (10 October [O.S. 27 September] 1903 – 16 January 1969)[1] was a Russian-born Americancomposer andsongwriter who also wrote under his birth name,Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for "Taking a Chance on Love," with lyrics byTed Fetter andJohn Latouche (1940), "I Can't Get Started," with lyrics byIra Gershwin (1936), "April in Paris," with lyrics byE. Y. ("Yip") Harburg (1932), and "What Is There To Say," for theZiegfeld Follies of 1934, also with Harburg. He wrote the words and music for "Autumn in New York" (1934) for the revueThumbs Up! In his book,American Popular Song, The Great Innovators 1900-1950, composerAlec Wilder praises this song, writing, “The verse may be the most ambitious I’ve ever seen." Duke also collaborated with lyricistsJohnny Mercer,Ogden Nash, andSammy Cahn.[2]
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dukelsky (Russian: Владимир Александрович Дукельский) was born in 1903 into aBelarusian[3] noble family in the village of Parfyanovka,Pskov Governorate,Russian Empire.[4][1][5] His family was of thesmall gentry class; the 1954Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians referred to his paternal grandmother, née PrincessTumanishvili, as having been "directly descended from thekings of Georgia". According to Duke, his mother also had someAustrian andSpanish ancestry. TheJewish Standard lists him amongJewish musicians, for reasons unknown;[6] Composer Jack Gottlieb denies this claim.[7]
The Dukelskys resided inKiev, and Vladimir's only visit toSaint Petersburg andMoscow occurred in the summer of 1915. The impressions of that summer were later echoed in Dukelsky'soratorioThe End of St. Petersburg (1931–37).[citation needed] The title is a reference to the filmThe End of St. Petersburg, directed byVsevolod Pudovkin.
At the age of eleven, Dukelsky was admitted to theKiev Conservatory,[1] where he studiedcomposition withReinhold Glière andmusical theory withBoleslav Yavorsky. In 1919, his family escaped from the turmoil ofcivil war in Russia and spent a year and a half with other refugees inConstantinople. In 1921, they obtained American visas and sailed steerage class on the SSKing Alexander toNew York.
He underwent his immigration inspection atEllis Island. On the passenger list, thepurser of theKing Alexander recorded his name asVladimir Doukelsky, in theFrench fashion. In 1922 in New York,George Gershwin befriended the young immigrant. Gershwin (born Jacob Gershwine) suggested that Dukelsky truncate and Americanize his surname, taking Vernon as his given name. Dukelsky's first songs published under hispen name were conceived that year, but he continued to write classical music and Russianpoetry under his birth name until 1955.[1]
In 1924, Dukelsky returned to Europe. InParis, he received acommission fromSerge Diaghilev to compose aballet.[1] Dukelsky's first theatrical production,Zephyr and Flora, was staged in the 1925 season ofBallets Russes, withchoreography byLéonide Massine andscenography byGeorges Braque, to great critical acclaim. In a review of musical novelties of the season,Sergei Prokofiev described it as full of "superior melodies, very well designed, harmonically beautiful and not too 'modernist'."[citation needed] Prokofiev was as impressed with the young talent as Diaghilev was, and soon the composers became close friends. They frequently saw each other until Prokofiev returned to theSoviet Union in 1938; they continued to correspond until 1946. Dukelsky's First Symphony was premiered bySerge Koussevitzky and his orchestra in 1928 in Paris on the same bill as excerpts from Prokofiev'sThe Fiery Angel. Some of Dukelsky's and Prokofiev's compositions of the 1930s bear evidence of their musical dialogue.[citation needed]
In the late 1920s, Dukelsky divided his time between Paris, where his more classical works were performed, andLondon, where he composed numbers for musical comedies under his pen name Vernon Duke.[1] In 1929, he returned to the United States with the intention of settling in the country permanently.[1] He composed and published much serious music, but devoted greater efforts to establishing himself onBroadway. Duke's songs "April in Paris" (1932), "Autumn in New York" (1934), "I Like the Likes of You" (1934), "Water Under the Bridge" (1934), and "I Can't Get Started" (1936) were 1930s hits.[1]
The support and devotion of Serge Koussevitzky, who published Dukelsky'schamber music and conducted his orchestral scores, helped him develop his classical works. Dukelsky'sconcerto forpiano, orchestra, andsopranoobbligato, titledDédicaces (1935–1937), was premièred by Koussevitzky and theBoston Symphony Orchestra in January 1939 in New York. His oratorio,The End of St. Petersburg, was premiered a year earlier bySchola Cantorum and theNew York Philharmonic underHugh Ross. In 1937, the composer was asked to complete Gershwin's last score, asoundtrack to aTechnicolor extravaganzaThe Goldwyn Follies, to which he contributed twoparody ballets choreographed byGeorge Balanchine, and the song "Spring Again". In 1939, Dukelsky became an American citizen and took Vernon Duke as his legal name. Duke's greatest success came a year later, with the Broadway musicalCabin in the Sky (1940), choreographed byGeorge Balanchine and performed by anall-black cast at theMartin Beck Theater in New York.[1]
Between 1942 and 1944, he served in theUS Coast Guard. While in service, he discoveredSid Caesar, asaxophone player in the Coast Guard Band, and wrote a touring show for the Coast Guard calledTars & Spars. He also conceived some of his finest music in the classical tradition, including a Cello Concerto (commissioned byGregor Piatigorsky) and a Violin Concerto.
His Third Symphony (1946) was dedicated to the memory of Koussevitzky's wife, Natalie. Over the years, Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky, Dukelsky's devoted supporters, had become his surrogate family. When Dukelsky's mother died, in 1942, the composer took the conductor's refusal to commission the work with great bitterness. The dedication was revoked and the relationship soured.
In 1946, Duke left the United States for France, where he continued his double career of being a classical composer and a songwriter (now setting to music the texts of French lyricists).[1] By 1948, the composer was back in America. He moved from New York toCalifornia, where he spent his last decades writing songs, film and theater scores, chamber music, poetry in Russian and polemical articles and memoirs in English.[1] On October 30, 1957, he married singer Kay McCracken. His final appearance on Broadway came less than two weeks later with the two songs and incidental music he wrote for theHelen Hayes show,Jean Anouilh'sTime Remembered (1940) (French title:Léocadia) which ran for 247 performances. He continued to try to mount Broadway musicals during the last decade of his life, including two shows that closed during tryouts, and one that was never produced.
As a classical composer, Dukelsky used the same musical language as his modernist contemporariesSergei Prokofiev,Arthur Lourié, and, to a lesser extent,Igor Stravinsky. His harmonies, however, were highly original. As a songwriter and author of theatrical and film music, his work was close tothat of George Gershwin andHarold Arlen, but he developed an idiosyncratic voice of his own.
Duke died inSanta Monica, California on 16 January 1969,[1] during surgery forlung cancer. His numerous papers—musical and literary manuscripts and correspondence in English, French, and Russian—are stored in the Musical Division of theLibrary of Congress.
