Vernon Duke (10 October [O.S. 27 September] 1903 â€" 16 January 1969)
was an American composer/songwriter, who also wrote under his original
name, Vladimir Dukelsky. 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), "April in Paris" with
lyrics by E. Y. ("Yip") Harburg (1932), and "What Is There To Say" for
the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934, also with Harburg. He wrote the words
and music for "Autumn in New York" (1934) for the revue Thumbs Up!
Vernon collaborated with lyricists such as Johnny Mercer, Ira
Gershwin, Ogden Nash and Sammy Cahn.Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dukelsky
(Russian: Ð'ладимир Ð Ð»ÐµÐºÑ Ð°Ð½Ð´Ñ€Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡
Ð"ÑƒÐºÐµÐ»ÑŒÑ ÐºÐ¸Ð¹) was born in 1903 into a noble family of mixed
Georgian-Austrian-Spanish-Russian descent, in Parafianovo, Vilna
Governorate, Russian Empire (in present-day Belarus). The 1954 Grove's
Dictionary of Music and Musicians referred to "one of his
grandparents" (Princess Tumanishvili) as having been "directly
descended from the kings of Georgia". His birthplace was a small
railroad station in Minsk Governorate. At that time his mother
"happened to be traveling by train". The Dukelskys resided in Kiev,
and Vladimir's only visit to Saint Petersburg and Moscow occurred in
the summer of 1915. The impressions of that remarkable summer were
later echoed in Dukelsky's most daring classical composition, the
Russian oratorio The End of St. Petersburg (1931â€"37). The title is a
reference to the film The End of St. Petersburg directed by Vsevolod
Pudovkin.At the age of 11, Dukelsky was admitted to the Kiev
Conservatory where he studied composition with Reinhold Glière and
musical theory with Boleslav Yavorsky. In 1919, his family escaped
from the turmoil of civil war in Russia and spent a year and a half
with other refugees in Constantinople. In 1921, they obtained American
visas and sailed steerage class on the SS King Alexander to New
York.He underwent his immigrant inspection at Ellis Island; on the
passenger list, the purser of the King Alexander recorded his name as
Vladimir Doukelsky in the French fashion. It was in 1922 in New York
that George Gershwin befriended the young immigrant; Gershwin (himself
born Jacob Gershowitz) suggested Dukelsky truncate and Americanize his
name. Dukelsky's first songs published under his nom de plume were
conceived that year, but he continued to write classical music and
Russian poetry under his given name until 1955.
was an American composer/songwriter, who also wrote under his original
name, Vladimir Dukelsky. 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), "April in Paris" with
lyrics by E. Y. ("Yip") Harburg (1932), and "What Is There To Say" for
the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934, also with Harburg. He wrote the words
and music for "Autumn in New York" (1934) for the revue Thumbs Up!
Vernon collaborated with lyricists such as Johnny Mercer, Ira
Gershwin, Ogden Nash and Sammy Cahn.Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dukelsky
(Russian: Ð'ладимир Ð Ð»ÐµÐºÑ Ð°Ð½Ð´Ñ€Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡
Ð"ÑƒÐºÐµÐ»ÑŒÑ ÐºÐ¸Ð¹) was born in 1903 into a noble family of mixed
Georgian-Austrian-Spanish-Russian descent, in Parafianovo, Vilna
Governorate, Russian Empire (in present-day Belarus). The 1954 Grove's
Dictionary of Music and Musicians referred to "one of his
grandparents" (Princess Tumanishvili) as having been "directly
descended from the kings of Georgia". His birthplace was a small
railroad station in Minsk Governorate. At that time his mother
"happened to be traveling by train". The Dukelskys resided in Kiev,
and Vladimir's only visit to Saint Petersburg and Moscow occurred in
the summer of 1915. The impressions of that remarkable summer were
later echoed in Dukelsky's most daring classical composition, the
Russian oratorio The End of St. Petersburg (1931â€"37). The title is a
reference to the film The End of St. Petersburg directed by Vsevolod
Pudovkin.At the age of 11, Dukelsky was admitted to the Kiev
Conservatory where he studied composition with Reinhold Glière and
musical theory with Boleslav Yavorsky. In 1919, his family escaped
from the turmoil of civil war in Russia and spent a year and a half
with other refugees in Constantinople. In 1921, they obtained American
visas and sailed steerage class on the SS King Alexander to New
York.He underwent his immigrant inspection at Ellis Island; on the
passenger list, the purser of the King Alexander recorded his name as
Vladimir Doukelsky in the French fashion. It was in 1922 in New York
that George Gershwin befriended the young immigrant; Gershwin (himself
born Jacob Gershowitz) suggested Dukelsky truncate and Americanize his
name. Dukelsky's first songs published under his nom de plume were
conceived that year, but he continued to write classical music and
Russian poetry under his given name until 1955.
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