Göteborgs Konserthus Classical Curiosity: The Sorcerer’s Apprentices

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A political rebel, a percussionist and a forerunner in electronic music. They were all women and students of the composer Paul Dukas. Tonight’s lecture on classical music is about the pioneers in a famous photo from 1929. 

Tonight’s lecturer is Magdalena Fronczak, former producer at the Gothenburg Symphony and a prominent active writer and blogger with focus on female composers in history. 

The composer Paul Dukas, today best known for the orchestral piece “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, came towards the end of his life to become a valued teacher of composition at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1929, a photo was taken of the master and his students. Still young and unshaven, in the crowd we find later celebrities such as Olivier Messiaen and Maurice Duruflé. 

The evening’s lecture will focus on the three women in the picture: the political rebel Elsa Barraine, pictured with her arms crossed, the prolific percussion pioneer Yvonne Desportes, the only one dressed in white, and, seated at the piano, Claude Arrieu, pioneer of early electronic music. 

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