Dupin, Paul
Dupin, Paul
Dupin, Paul, French composer; b. Roubaix, Aug. 14, 1865; d. Paris, March 6, 1949. He worked in a factory, then was a menial clerk, but turned to music against all odds. He took some lessons with Emile Durand and then proceeded to compose with fanatic compulsion; somehow he managed to have more than 200 works actually publ. Of these, the most original were about 500 canons for 3–12 voices, and 40 string quartets titled Poemes. He wrote much other chamber music, some pretty piano pieces with fanciful titles, such as Esquisse fugueés and Dent elks, and even a grand opera, Marcelle, which he later hopefully renamed Lyszelle for exotic effect. He was much admired in Paris for his determination to succeed, but his works were rarely performed.
Bibliography
P. Ladmirault, Les Choeurs en canon de P. D.: Notice biographique et analytique (Paris, 1925).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire