Francis Poulenc
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Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (IPA: [fʀɑ̃sis ʒɑ̃ maʀsɛl pulɛ̃k]) (January 7, 1899 - January 30, 1963) was a French composer and a member of the French Group Les Six. He composed music in all major genres, including art song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, ballet music and orchestral music. Critic Claude Rostand, in a July 1950 Paris-Presse article, described Poulenc as "half bad boy, half monk" ("le moine et le voyou"), a tag that was to be attached to his name throughout his career.[1]
Francis Poulenc was born in Paris. His mother, an amateur pianist, taught him to play, and music formed a part of family life.
An outstanding pianist[citation needed], the keyboard dominated much of his early compositions. He also, throughout his career, borrowed from his own compositions as well as those of Mozart and Saint-Saëns. Later in his life, the loss of some close friends, coupled with a pilrimage 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, Dialogues of the Carmelites was written at this time.
Poulenc was a member of Les Six, a group of young French composers, Milhaud, Auric, Durey, Honegger and 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.
Among Poulenc's last series of major works is a series of works for wind instruments 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 died of heart failure in Paris 1963.
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[edit] Works
An early work, 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 Satie, kept him out of the Conservatoire de Paris, composition teacher Paul Vidal saying, according to Poulenc[citation needed], "Your work stinks, it's inept, infamous balls ... Ah! I see you're a follower of the Stravinsky and Erik Satie gang. Well, goodbye!" Stravinsky, hearing of this story, arranged to have the piece printed.
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His works of chamber music include:
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Other works include:
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[edit] Personal life
Poulenc "adored women, but loved men"[2]. His first serious relationship was with painter Richard Chanlaire to whom he dedicated his Concert champêtre: "You have changed my life, you are the sunshine of my thirty years, a reason for living and working."[1] He also once said, "You know that I am as sincere in my faith, without any messianic screamings, as I am in my Parisian sexuality."[3]
Poulenc also had a number of relationships with women. He fathered a daughter, Marie-Ange, although he never formally admitted that he was indeed her father. He was also a very close friend to the singer Pierre Bernac for whom he wrote many songs; some sources[citation needed] have hinted that this long friendship had sexual undertones; however, the now-published correspondence between the two men strongly suggests that this was not the case.
Poulenc was profoundly affected by the death of friends.[citation needed] First came the death of the young woman he had hoped to make his wife, Raymonde Linossier, the soul-mate of his early years. Then, in 1923 he was "unable to do anything" for two days after the death from typhoid fever of his twenty year old friend, novelist Raymond Radiguet. However, two weeks later he had moved on, joking to Diaghilev at the rehearsals he was unable to leave, about helping a dancer "warm up".[1] He was also affected by the death of painter Christian Bérard, who was decapitated in a car accident in the early 30's and by the death of composer and critic Pierre-Octave Ferroud also in a car accident in 1936. These losses, coupled with a pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Rocamadour, led him to rediscover his Catholic faith, which was to inspire him for the rest of his life.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Ivry, Benjamin (1996). Francis Poulenc, 20th-Century Composers series. Phaidon Press Limited. ISBN 0-7148-3503-X.
- ^ In the words of his muse Denise Duval
- ^ Aldrich, Robert and Wotherspoon, Gary (Eds.) (2001). Who's Who in Contemporary Gay & Lesbian History: From World War II to the Present Day. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-22974-X.
