 Shortly before his death he had been working on a symphonic poem inspired by Shakespeare's "The Tempest", a play of which he had made a French translation in 1918 with an operatic version in mind.In the last year of his life Dukas was elected to membership of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.Though adhering to neither the progressive nor conservative factions among French musicians of the era, Dukas had the friendship and respect of both.