Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc was the leading composer of Les Six, the French group devoted to turning music away from Impressionism, formality, and intellectualism. He wrote in a direct and tuneful manner, often juxtaposing the witty and ironic with the sentimental or melancholy. He heavily favored diatonic and modal textures over chromatic writing. His music also shows many elements of pandiatonicism, introduced around 1920 by Stravinsky, whose influence can be heard in some of Poulenc's compositions, such as the religious choral work Gloria. Poulenc is regarded as one of the most important 20th century composers of religious music, and in the realm of the French art song, he is also a major voice of his time. Poulenc was also a pianist of considerable ability.
Poulenc was born in Paris on January 7, 1899, into a wealthy family of pharmaceutical magnates. The agrochemical giant Rhone-Poulenc is the present-day corporation started by his forebears. His mother was a talented amateur pianist who began giving him piano lessons at age five. Later, Poulenc studied with a niece of César Franck and then with the eminent Spanish virtuoso Ricardo Viñes, for whom he would later write music. At age eighteen, Poulenc wrote Rapsodie Nègre for baritone and chamber ensemble, which made him an overnight sensation in France. The young composer served in the military during the years 1918 to 1921, during which time he composed the popular Trois Mouvements Perpétuels (1918).
By 1920, Les Six -- Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Germaine Tailleferre (the sextet's lone female representative), Louis Durey, and Francis Poulenc -- had begun making its impression on the music world. In 1923, Poulenc wrote the ballet Les Biches, which Diaghilev staged the following year with great success, the public finding its mixture of lightness, gaiety, and occasional moments of sentimentality irresistible. Poulenc continued writing at a fairly prolific pace in the late '20s and early '30s, producing many piano compositions, songs, and other works. In 1935, he rekindled his friendship with baritone Pierre Bernac, thus launching a productive and enduring professional relationship. He also returned to the Roman Catholic Church that year when close friend Pierre-Octave Ferroud was killed in an automobile accident. Thereafter, he wrote many important works of a religious nature, the first of which were Litanies à la Vierge Noire, for soloists, chorus, and organ, and Mass in G for mixed a cappella chorus, both from 1936.
During World War II, Poulenc remained in German-occupied France, writing music of an antiwar or defiantly anti-Nazi bent, sometimes writing songs on texts by banned authors, such as Lorca. He also wrote a ballet, Les Animaux Modèles (1940-1941), Sonata for violin and piano (1942-1943; rev. 1949) dedicated to Lorca, and the masterful Figure Humaine (1943), a choral cantata which is a hymn to freedom. In the postwar years, Poulenc turned out his Sinfonietta (1947) and Piano Concerto (1949), both not entirely successful. In the period from 1953 to 1956, Poulenc produced his most ambitious work, the opera Dialogue des Carmelites, considered by many the greatest French opera of the 20th century.
Poulenc finished his last opera in 1958, La Voix Humaine, a work whose lone character talks (sings) on the phone to her deserting lover for the work's 45-minute length. Notable also in this period is his Gloria (1959), a work shorn of sanctimony and rich in communicative simplicity and fervent religiosity. Poulenc's last major work was his Sonata for Oboe and Piano in 1962, dedicated to the memory of Prokofiev, whom he had befriended in the 1920s. Poulenc died suddenly of a heart attack on January 30, 1963.
© Robert Cummings /TiVo
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Rediscovering French Operas in 21 Volumes - Vol. 16/21 : Les Mamelles de Tirésias
Opera - Released by ISIS on 5 Jan 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Satie: La belle excentrique & En habit de cheval (Mono Version)
Francis Poulenc, Jacques Février
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Poulenc: Mélodies (Mono Version)
Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
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Children's World
Classical - Released by Albany Records on 1 Sep 2016
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Voyage: Debussy, Liszt, Manen, Piazzolla, Poulenc, Scriabin, Thalberg
Classical - Released by Arabesque Recordings on 3 Mar 2009
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Recital in the West
Classical - Released by Soundset on 10 Mar 2010
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Poulenc: Chansons Gaillardes, Song Cycle for Voice and Piano, Fp 42 (Digitally Remastered)
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 28 Oct 2014
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Piano Masterpieces - Poulenc, Tchaikovsky
Hamburg Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on 23 Apr 2015
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Erik Satie - Portrait, Vol. 3
Jan Kaspersen, Ronan O’Hora, Francis Poulenc
Classical - Released by Documents 2 on 13 Dec 2014
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Concerts d'Estiu a Benifaió II
Chamber Music - Released by Àudiovisuals de Sarrià on 11 Jul 2017
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Francis Poulenc: Gloria In G Major For Soprano, Chorus And Orchestra / Concerto In G Minor For Organ, Strings And Timpani
Rosanna Carteri, Francis Poulenc, Georges Prêtre, French National Radio-Television Chorus & Orchestra
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 25 Oct 2012
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Poulenc: "Les Biches" Suite For Orchestra
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Junichi Hirokami
Classical - Released by RLPO Live on 1 Jan 2000
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Lumières sur Francis Poulenc, Vol. 1
Pop - Released by Weishaupt Music & Entertainment on 24 Jun 2017
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Rediscovering French Operas in 21 Volumes - Vol. 15/21 : Le Bal Masqué - La Voix Humaine - Le Bel Indifférent
Opera - Released by ISIS on 5 Jan 2017
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Français de notre temps, vol. 13 (Mono Version)
Literature - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
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Poulenc: Organ Concerto in G Minor
Georges Prêtre, The French National Radio Orchestra
Classical - Released by Sunday Club Records on 4 Nov 2013
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Francis Poulenc Anthology
Francis Poulenc, Pierre Bernac
Classical - Released by Sinetone PCA on 20 Mar 2017
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Poulenc: Gloria in G Major
Georges Prêtre, The French National Radio Orchestra and Chorus, Roasnna Carteri
Classical - Released by Sunday Club Records on 4 Nov 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo