This brief piano piece was one of the only two compositions written by Dukas in the last two decades of his life. The composer was three years younger than his fellow student and friend Debussy who died in 1918. Two years later, a collective homage, Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy was devoted to his memory. Those who participated were Bartók, Dukas, Falla, Goosens, Malipiero, Ravel, Roussel, Satie, Schmitt and Stravinsky. Dukas' contribution is an intensely elegiac piece, full of deep resonances. Over an obstinate pulsation in the background, the extremely chromatic theme creates an anguished mood in which the repeated quotation from the "Prélude à L'après-midi d'un faune" speaks of unrelenting grief. The intensity grows and then subsides, but there is no resolution, no resignation. The anguish remains as the piece fades away. n

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