Poulenc, Francis (Jean Marcel)
Poulenc, Francis (Jean Marcel)
Poulenc, Francis (Jean Marcel) , brilliant French composer; b. Paris, Jan. 7, 1899; d. there, Jan. 30, 1963. He was born into a wealthy family of pharmaceutical manufacturers; his mother taught him music in his childhood; at 16, he began taking formal piano lessons with Ricardo Vines. A decisive turn in his development as a composer occurred when he attracted the attention of Erik Satie, the arbiter elegantiarum of the arts and social amenities in Paris. Deeply impressed by Satie’s fruitful eccentricities in the then-shocking manner of Dadaism, Poulenc joined an ostentatiously self-descriptive musical group called the Nouveaux Jeunes. In a gratuitous parallel with the Russian Five, the French critic Henri Collet dubbed the “New Youths” Le Groupe de Six, and the label stuck under the designation Les Six. The 6 musicians included, besides Poulenc: Auric, Durey, Honegger, Milhaud, and Tailleferre. Although quite different in their styles of composition and artistic inclinations, they continued collective participation in various musical events. Poulenc served in the French army (1918–21), and then began taking lessons in composition with Koechlin (1921–24). An excellent pianist, Poulenc became in 1935 an accompanist to the French baritone Pierre Bernac, for whom he wrote numerous songs. Compared with his fortuitous com-rades-in-six, Poulenc appears a classicist. He never experimented with the popular devices of “machine music,” asymmetrical rhythms, and polyharmonies as cultivated by Honegger and Milhaud. Futuristic projections had little interest for him; he was content to follow the gentle neo-Classical formation of Ravel’s piano music and songs. Among his other important artistic contacts was the ballet impresario Diaghilev, who commissioned him to write music for his Ballets Russes. Apart from his fine songs and piano pieces, Poulenc revealed himself as an inspired composer of religious music, of which his choral works Stabat Mater and Gloria are notable. He also wrote remarkable music for the organ, including a concerto that became a minor masterpiece. A master of artificial simplicity, he pleases even sophisticated listeners by his bland triadic tonalities, spiced with quickly passing diaphonous discords.
Works
DRAMATIC: Opera : Les Mamelles de Tirésias, opéra-bouffe (1944; Paris, June 3, 1947); Dialogues des Carmélites, religious opera (1953–56; Milan, Jan. 26, 1957); La Voix humaine, monodrama for Soprano (1958; Paris, Feb. 6, 1959). Ballet : La Baigneuse de Trouville and Discours de Général, 2 movements for Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel, ballet-farce (Paris, June 18, 1921; other movements by members of Les Six, except for Durey); Les Biches, with Chorus (1923; Monte Carlo, Jan. 6, 1924); Pastourelle, 9th movement of an 11-movement collective ballet, L’Eventail de Jeanne (1927; 1st perf. of orch. version, Paris, March 4, 1929; movements by Roussel, Ravel, Ibert, Milhaud et al.); Aubade, choreographic concerto for Piano and 18 Instruments (private perf., Paris, June 18, 1929; public perf., London, Dec. 19, 1929); Les Animaux modèles (1940–41; Paris, Aug. 8, 1942) ORCH.: Concert champêtre for Harpsichord or Piano and Orch. (1927–28; Paris, May 3, 1929); Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orch. (Venice, Sept. 5, 1932); 2 marches et un intermède for Chamber Orch. (Paris, 1937); Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Timpani (1938; private perf., Paris, June 21, 1939; public perf., Paris, June 10, 1941); Sinfonietta (1947; London, Oct. 24, 1948); Piano Concerto (1949; Boston, Jan. 6, 1950); Matelote provençale, movement from a collective work of 7 composers, La Guirlande de Campra (1952); Bucolique: Variations sur la nom de Marguerite Long (1954; movement from a collective work of 8 composers). CHAMBER : Sonata for 2 Clarinets (1918; rev. 1945); Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon (1922); Sonata for Horn, Trumpet, and Trombone (1922; rev. 1945); Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano (1926); Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet (1930–32; rev. 1939); Suite française for 9 Winds, Percussion, and Harpsichord (1935); Violin Sonata (1942–43; rev. 1949); Cello Sonata (1948); Flute Sonata (1956); Elegie, to the memory of Dennis Brain, for Horn and Piano (1957); Sarabande for Guitar (1960); Clarinet Sonata (1962); Oboe Sonata (1962). Piano : Sonata for Piano, 4-Hands (1918); 3 mouvements perpétuels (1918); Valse (1919); Suite in C (1920); 6 impromptus (1920); Promenades (1921); Napoli, suite of 3 pieces (1921–25); 2 novelettes (1928); 3 pièces (1928); Pièce brève sur la nom d’Albert Roussel (1929); 8 nocturnes (1929–38); 15 improvisations (1932–59); Villageoises (1933); Feuillets d’album (1933); LesSoirées de Nazelles (1930–36); Mélancolie (1940); Intermezzo (1943); L’Embarquement pour Cythère for 2 Pianos (1951); Thème varié (1951); Sonata for 2 Pianos (1952–53); Elégie for 2 Pianos (1959); Novelette sur un thème de Manuel de Falla (1959). VOCAL: Choral : Chanson à boire for Men’s Chorus (1922); 7 chansons for Chorus (1936); Litanies à la vièrge noire for Women’s Chorus and Organ (1936); Mass in G for Chorus (1937; Paris, May 1938); Sécheresses (Dryness), cantata for Chorus and Orch., after Edward James (1937; Paris, 1938); 4 motets pour un temps de penitence for Chorus (1938–39); Exultate Deo for Chorus (1941); Salve regina for Chorus (1941); Figure humaine, cantata for Double Chorus (1943); Un Soir de neige, chamber cantata for 6 Voices (1944); 2 books of traditional French songs, arr. for Chorus (1945); 4 petites prières de Saint François d’Assise for Men’s Chorus (1948); Stabat Mater for Soprano, Chorus, and Orch. (1950; Strasbourg, June 13, 1951); 4 motets pour le temps de Noël for Chorus (1951–52); Ave verum corpus for Women’s Chorus (1952); Laudes de Saint Antoine de Padoue for Men’s Chorus (1957–59); Gloria for Soprano, Chorus, and Orch. (1959; Boston, Jan. 20, 1961); 7 répons des ténèbres for Boy Soprano, Boy’s and Men’s Chorus, and Orch. (1961; N.Y., April 11, 1963). Voice and Instruments : Rapsodie nègre for Baritone, String Quartet, Flute, Clarinet, and Piano (Paris, Dec. 11, 1917; rev. 1933); Le Bestiaire for Mezzo-soprano, String Quartet, Flute, Clarinet, and Bassoon, after Apollinaire (1918–19); Cocardes for Voice, Violin, Cornet, Trombone, Bass Drum, and Triangle, after Cocteau (1919); Le Bal masque for Voice, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Violin, Cello, Percussion, and Piano, after Max Jacob (1932); La Dame de Monte Carlo, monologue for Soprano and Orch. (Paris, Dec. 5, 1961). Voice and Piano : Histoire de Babar le petit éléphant for Narrator and Piano (1940–45; orchestrated by Jean Francaix, 1962). Song Cycles : Le Bestiaire (1919; arrangement); Cocardes (1919; arrangement); Poèmes de Ronsard (1924–25; later orchestrated); Chansons gaillardes (1925–26); Airs chantés (1927–28); 8 chansons polonaises (1934); 4 chansons pour enfants (1934); 5 poèmes, after Eluard (1935); Tel jour, telle nuit (1936–37); 3 poèmes, after de Vilmorin (1937); 2 poèmes, after Apollinaire (1938); Miroirs brulants (1938–39); Fiançailles pour rire (1939); Banalités (1940); Chansons villageoises (1942; orchestrated 1943); Métamorphoses (1943); 3 chansons, after Garcia Lorca (1947); Calligrammes (1948); La Fraicheur et le feu (1950); Parisiana (1954); Le Travail du peintre (1956); 2 mélodies (1956); La Courte Paille (1960). Songs : Toréador (1918; rev. 1932); Vocalise (1927); Epitaphe (1930); A sa guitare, after Ronsard (1935); Montparnasse (1941–45); Hyde Park (1945); Paul et Virginie (1946); Le Disparu (1947); Mazurka (1949); Rosemonde (1954); Dernier poème (1956); Une Chanson de porcerginie (1958); others.
Writings
Emmanuel Chabrier (Paris, 1961); Moi et mes amis (Paris, 1963; Eng. tr., London, 1978 as My Friends and Myself); Journal de mes mélodies (Paris, 1964); S. Buckland, tr. and ed., Francis Poulenc: Selected Correspondence, 1915–1963: Echo and Source (1991).
Bibliography
C. Rostand, F. P.: Entretiens avec Claude Rostand (Paris, 1954); H. Hell, P., musicien français (Paris, 1958); J. Roy, F. P. (Paris, 1964); P. Bernac, F. P.: The Man and His Songs (London, 1977); K. Daniel, F. P.: His Artistic Development and Musical Style (N.Y., 1982); F. Bloch, F. P. (Paris, 1984); M. Rosenthal, Satie, Ravel, P.: An Intimate Memoir (Madras and N.Y., 1987); G. Keck, F. P.: A Bio-Bibliography (Westport, Conn., 1990); H. Ehrler, Untersuchungen zur Klaviermusik von F. P., Arthur Honegger und Darius Milhaud (Tutzing, 1990); W. Meilers, F. P. (Oxford, 1994); J. Roy, Le groupe des six: P., Milhaud, Honegger, Auric, Tailleferre, Durey (Paris, 1994); C. Schmidt, The Music of F. P. (1899–1963): A Catalogue (Oxford, 1995); S. Buckland and M. Chimènes, eds., F. P.: Music, Art and Literature (Brookfield, Vt, 1999).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire