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FRANCIS POULENC

7th January 1899 --- 30th January 1963

Francis Poulenc(born 1899, Paris, France--died 1963, Paris), composer who made an important contribution to French music in the
decades after World War I and whose songs are considered among the best composed during the 20th century.

Poulenc was  largely  self-taught.  His first  compositions --Rapsodie  Nègre (1917),  Trois Mouvements  Perpétuels,  for piano,  and
Sonata for Piano Duet (1918)  and his settings of Guillaume Apollinaire's poem  Le Bestiaire and Jean Cocteau's  Cocardes (1919)--
were witty  pieces with streaks of  impudent parody.  Humour  remained an important  characteristic  of his music,  as in  this quite
Surrealistic comic opera Les Mamelles de Tirésias (1947, The Breasts of Tiresias), based on a farce by Apollinaire.

In 1920 the critic  Henri Collet grouped Poulenc  with five other young French composers,  calling them "Les Six".  The others were
Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric, Germaine Tailleferre, and Louis Durey; although they reacted in the  same way to
the emotionalism of 19th-century Romantic music and the Impressionism of Claude Debussy,they were in fact united by friendship
more than by  aesthetic ideals.  Poulenc studied with the composer and teacher Charles Koechlin from 1921 to 1924.  His ballet Les
Biches (English title The Houseparty)  was produced by Sergey Diaghilev in 1924. He composed his song cycles Poèmes de Ronsard
and Chansons  gaillardes in 1924 and 1926.  There followed more than 100 songs,  chiefly on poems by Apollinaire (e.g,"Banalités"
1940), and Paul Éluard (e.g., "Tel jour, telle nuit," 1937).

In 1934 Poulenc appeared as piano accompanist to the  baritone Pierre Bernac  in the first of many recitals  over several years,  an
experience  that  deepened  his  understanding  of the song as  an art form.  His songs,  which  range from  parody  to tragedy,  are
admired for  their lyricism  and for their  sensitive integration  of vocal line  and accompaniment.  His Concert champêtre  for piano
(or harpsichord) and orchestra (1928) was written at the suggestion of harpsichordist Wanda Landowska. Like many of his famous
keyboard works, it mingles the light, urbane character of 18th-century French keyboard music with 20th-century harmonies.

During the 1930s Poulenc wrote many religious works, including Litanies à la Vierge Noire de Rocomadour (1936), Mass in G Major
(1937),  and Stabat Mater  (1951).  He participated in the French resistance  movement during  World War II.  Figure humaine was
performed in 1945 a cantata based on poems by Éluard, voiced the spirit of the resistance and was secretly printed during the Nazi
occupation. His opera Les dialogues des Carmélites (1953-56, libretto by Georges Bernanos)  is considered one of the finest operas
of  the  20th century.  Other widely  performed  works by Poulenc  were  the Sextet for  piano and  wind quintet  (1930-32),  Organ
Concerto (1938), and Oboe Sonata (1962).

Copyright 1994-1998 Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated on June 2025
By Steven Ritchie

And now for the Music

NEW (4689)"Mouvements Perpetuels". Sequenced by Robert.C.Kuhmann.

Thanks to Lyndon Meyer for the music below.

(3283)"Five Impromptus, No.1, Tres agite". Sequenced by Lyndon Meyer.

(3282)"Five Impromptus, No.2, Allegro vivace". Sequenced by Lyndon Meyer.

(3281)"Five Impromptus, No.3, Tres modere". Sequenced by Lyndon Meyer.

(3280)"Five Impromptus, No.4, Violent". Sequenced by Lyndon Meyer.

(3279)"Five Impromptus, No.5, Andante". Sequenced by Lyndon Meyer.

Thanks to Bart Bracke for the music below. Email (bartbracke30@hotmail.com)

(2533)"From Chansons villegeoiges, le retour du sergeant". Sequenced by Bart Bracke.

Thanks to Terence Bloem for the music below. Email (newmusic@mtubatuba.co.za)

(2020)"Hymne, 2nd Mov of his Trois Pieces". Sequenced by Terence Bloem.

(553)"Pastorale Trois Pièces I". Sequenced by Richard Summers

(552)"Les Soirées de Nazelles II, Le coeur sur la main". Sequenced by Richard Summers

(554)"Très modéré, Mouvments Perpétuels II". Sequenced by Richard Summers

(555)"Alerte, Mouvments Perpétuels III". Sequenced by Richard Summers

(556)"Toccata, Trois Pièces III". Sequenced by Richard Summers

(1822)"Les Soirées de Nazelles I, Le comble de la distinction". Sequenced by Richard Summers

(1820)"Gloria". Sequenced by Michael Petri

(1823)"Organ Concerto". Sequenced by Ralph van Zetten, modified to GM by Dr.David Siu

(1824)"Motets pour un temps de p'nitence, No.1 Timor et tremor". Sequenced by Dr.David Siu

(1825)"Motets pour un temps de p'nitence, No.2 Vinea mea electa". Sequenced by Dr.David Siu

(1826)"Motets pour un temps de p'nitence, No.3 Tenebrae factae sunt". Sequenced by Dr.David Siu

(1827)"Motets pour un temps de p'nitence, No.4 Tristis est anima mea". Sequenced by Dr.David Siu

Thanks to Edward Gold for the music below. Email (egld@asan.com)

(773)"Suite Francaise". Sequenced by Edward Gold

Thanks to Welton Barker for the music below.

(436)"Caprice en ut majeur (d'apres la Finale du Bal Masque)". Sequenced by Welton Barker

(1821)"Flute Sonata". Sequencer Unknown

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