Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (January 7, 1899 - January 30, 1963) was a Fren… Read Full Bio ↴Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (January 7, 1899 - January 30, 1963) was a French composer and a member of the French Group Les Six.
He was a Parisian by birth and death, and always preferred the city to the country. His mother, an amateur pianist, taught him to play, and music formed a part of family life.
Poulenc was a member of Les Six, a group of young French composers, Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger and Germaine Tailleferre, who also had links with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau. He embraced the Dada movement's techniques, creating melodies that would have been appropriate for Parisian music halls. An outstanding pianist, Poulenc featured the keyboard in many of his early compositions. He also, throughout his career, borrowed from his own compositions as well as those of Mozart and Camille Saint-Saëns.
He composed music in all major genres, including art song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, ballet music and orchestral music. Among Poulenc's last series of major works is a series of works for Winds and Piano. He was particularly fond of the woodwind instruments, and planned a set of sonatas for all of them, yet only lived to complete four: the Flute Sonata (1956), and sonatas for oboe, clarinet and horn.
Poulenc's Rapsodie nègre (1917), written for baritone, piano, string quartet, flute, and clarinet, sets nonsense syllables purportedly by a black Liberian poet. The piece, dedicated to Erik Satie, kept him out of the Paris Conservatoire, composition teacher Paul Vidal saying, according to Poulenc, "Your work stinks, it's inept, infamous balls... Ah! I see you're a follower of the Igor Stravinsky and Erik Satie gang. Well, goodbye!" Stravinsky, hearing of this story, arranged to have the piece printed.
Later in his life, the loss of some close friends, coupled with a pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Rocamadour, led him to rediscovery of his faith and resulted in compositions of a more sombre, austere tone. His opera, Les Dialogues des Carmelites was written at this time.
France
He was a Parisian by birth and death, and always preferred the city to the country. His mother, an amateur pianist, taught him to play, and music formed a part of family life.
Poulenc was a member of Les Six, a group of young French composers, Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger and Germaine Tailleferre, who also had links with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau. He embraced the Dada movement's techniques, creating melodies that would have been appropriate for Parisian music halls. An outstanding pianist, Poulenc featured the keyboard in many of his early compositions. He also, throughout his career, borrowed from his own compositions as well as those of Mozart and Camille Saint-Saëns.
He composed music in all major genres, including art song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, ballet music and orchestral music. Among Poulenc's last series of major works is a series of works for Winds and Piano. He was particularly fond of the woodwind instruments, and planned a set of sonatas for all of them, yet only lived to complete four: the Flute Sonata (1956), and sonatas for oboe, clarinet and horn.
Poulenc's Rapsodie nègre (1917), written for baritone, piano, string quartet, flute, and clarinet, sets nonsense syllables purportedly by a black Liberian poet. The piece, dedicated to Erik Satie, kept him out of the Paris Conservatoire, composition teacher Paul Vidal saying, according to Poulenc, "Your work stinks, it's inept, infamous balls... Ah! I see you're a follower of the Igor Stravinsky and Erik Satie gang. Well, goodbye!" Stravinsky, hearing of this story, arranged to have the piece printed.
Later in his life, the loss of some close friends, coupled with a pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Rocamadour, led him to rediscovery of his faith and resulted in compositions of a more sombre, austere tone. His opera, Les Dialogues des Carmelites was written at this time.
France
Gloria: Gloria
Francis Poulenc Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Francis Poulenc:
8 chansons polonaises: VII. La Vistule Płynie Wisła płynie Po polskiej krainie Po polskiej krainie …
Huit chansons polonaises FP 69: Jezioro Płynie Wisła płynie Po polskiej krainie Po polskiej krainie …
Huit chansons polonaises FP 69: Wianek Płynie Wisła płynie Po polskiej krainie Po polskiej krainie …
Huit chansons polonaises FP 69: Wisła Płynie Wisła płynie Po polskiej krainie Po polskiej krainie …
Les Chemins De I'amour Les chemins qui montent à la mer ont gardé de…
Les chemins de l'amour Les chemins qui montent à la mer ont gardé de…
Les chemins de l'amour FP 106 Les chemins qui montent à la mer ont gardé de…
Les Chemins De L'amour FP. 106 Les chemins qui montent à la mer ont gardé de…
Les Chemins De L`amour Les chemins qui montent à la mer ont gardé de…
Salve Regina Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae, Vita, dulcedo et spes nos…
Salve Regina FP110 Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae, Vita, dulcedo et spes nos…
Stabat Mater: II. Cujus Animam Gementem Cujus animam gementem Contristatam ac dolentem Pertransivit,…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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Bruce Johnson
1. Gloria in excelsis Deo (G major) 0:00 2. Laudamus te (C major) 2:45
3. Domine Deus, Rex caelestis (B minor) 5:49 4. Domine Fili unigenite (G major) 9:53
5. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei (B-flat minor) 11:32 6. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris (G major) 17:50
thethikboy
Poulenc's ingenious ability to join the secular and the sacred , in this case, French cabaret and High liturgy is unmatched, except maybe for Mozart
Gail Chamberlain
Then again there is the Chichester Psalms which in my book belongs with these two greats.
warren wilson
What a serendipitous discovery today (May 30, 2020.) Never heard it before in all my 60+ years of exposure to classical music.. Great musicians! Love Poulenc.
Matthew Burden
And you are blessed to hear this outstanding rendition by the NL Radio Choir with Elsa Benoit for Gloria is rarely performed this well with near perfect tempo, balance, and execution - especially for a live audience. Then again, the Netherlands is near France. If interested the far better performance is by Choeur et Orchestre Philharmoniuqe de Radio France; now this performance approaches CURTIS material, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k3aVoY8A0I
Greg Capaldini
@Jean-Pierre Chaligné - Monsieur, I think you mean the "Stabat Mater," as Poulenc didn't write a requiem but that Marian oratorio instead to honor a deceased friend. I agree that "Un soir de neige" is a wonderful and concise specimen of his a cappella choral output, but I also adore the "Quatre petites priéres de St. Francis d'Assise." Finally, look on YouTube for a surprisingly good performance of the "Litanies a la Vierge noire de Roc Amadour" by a children's choir in the version with string orchestra conducted by Mikko Franck. Best wishes from the US.
Rick Mould
It was my privilege to perform this with a college choir and orchestra in 1970, This is a marvelous rendition. (much better than ours) You will also enjoy Poulenc's "O Magnum Mysterium" I have the recording by Robert Shaw
Jean-Pierre Chaligné
Jean-Pierre Chaligné
You are right. I knew Poulenc but I discovered his choral music at 82+...
Do you know the "Requiem"? and "Un Soir de Neige" So marvelous!
Friar
Thanks for putting things in perspective. I just discovered this after 25 years of listening to classical! Such gorgeous music!
TheMissingLink
Hearing this brings back so many memories of singing this in college. What an excellent ensemble here!