Francis Poulenc

“His music is so frank that he immediately reaches his goal,” contemporaries said about the work of the French composer Francis Poulenc, who is better known in the history of music, as a member of the famous association “Six”. The youngest of his participants with direct and original talent, possessing incredible charm, kindness, sincerity and a subtle sense of humor, he gained such respect and authority that many of the creative personalities were looking for friendship with him. The multifaceted work of the composer, which absorbed all the best not only from classical but also modern music, combined with the enchanting power of natural melodic gift, ensured the success of Francis Poulenc's music for long times, not only in France, but throughout the world.

Read a brief biography of Francis Poulenc and many interesting facts about the composer on our page.

Short biography of Poulenc

Francis Jean Marcel - this name was given to a boy born in the very center of Paris on January 7, 1899 in the family of a rich French manufacturer Emile Poulenc. The child grew up in an atmosphere of great veneration of art. His mother, whose name was Jeannie, was an excellent master of piano and tried to instil in her children the taste and love of music. The houses often performed works of great classics: Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert and Grieg. In addition, a significant influence on the formation of the future composer had a theater, which little Francis began to attend from the age of seven. The boy received rather vivid impressions from the performances in Opera Comic.

Francis began his musical education at the age of eight, and since playing the piano gave him great pleasure, he spent every free minute of his instrument. The young musician preferred to read the new works from the sheet, but soon he had a desire to try to write something himself. According to the biography of Poulenc, in 1910, the Francis family, due to flooding, was forced to temporarily leave Paris and move to Fontainebleau. There, the young musician in the insatiable thirst for knowledge of new works acquired on the occasion of the "Winter Way" by F. Schubert - the vocal cycle, which played a key role in the decision of Francis to become a musician.

However, the young man’s desires did not coincide with the intentions of his father, who identified the young man in one of the best lyceums in Paris to obtain a bachelor’s degree. The boy with great difficulty mastered the training, because he did not show much interest in subjects taught at the school, but he spent every free minute at the piano and at the age of 16 he finally set himself the goal: to devote his whole life to music. Initially, Poulenc was very lucky: the outstanding pianist-virtuoso Ricardo Vinyes agreed with him, who had a great influence on the development of the future composer. The teacher developed not only mastery in his pupil, but also helped in his compositional undertakings, and also introduced Eric Sati and Georges Orik, who later became very close friends of Francis.

Scorched youth and the beginning of the creative path

In the summer of 1914, the First World War began. The front constantly had to replenish with new forces, seventeen-year-old Poulenc, who was mobilized in 1916, did not escape the military fate. At first he remained in Paris, then he was seconded in the vicinity of Vincennes, to an anti-aircraft compound, which was later transferred to the island of Saint-Martin. Even here Francis, not forgetting about his favorite activity, found an old piano that helped him compose Continuous Movements, a sonata in four hands, and a little later, Three Pastorals.

Around the same time, the appearance of the Negro Rhapsody, a piece for baritone, which was first successfully performed at the end of 1917, dates to the beginning. And the next day after the premiere, the entire musical Paris spoke of a newly emerging talented young composer. From the summer of 1919 until the autumn of 1921, Poulenc served in the Ministry of Aviation, which was located in the capital. While in Paris, he actively participated in concerts in which the works of young composers, supported by E. Sote, sounded, which became unusually popular in the cultural environment of that time. After one of these concerts, the birth of the famous “Sixes” was proclaimed, which included Darius Millau, Arthur Onegger, Germain Tyfer, Louis Durey, Georges Aurik and Francis Poulenc. This association began to be perceived as an independent aesthetic community, representing a new fashionable trend. All the while, actively composing Poulenc, by 1920, was the author of a three-color suite and five impromptu, and in 1921 he wrote ten piano pieces entitled “Walks” and the comedy-buff “Incomprehensible gendarme”.

At the same time, after demobilization from the army, Francis decides to seriously engage in improving theoretical knowledge in the field of harmony and counterpoint for which he turns to the best songwriter Charles Köcklen in Paris, whose lessons greatly helped in polishing the composer's skill in Poulenc.

In 1923, the composer receives an order from the theater figure S.P. Dyagilev for the troupe "Russian Seasons" to write the ballet "Lani", whose music already clearly traced the creative personality and style of Poulenc. The premiere of the performance was successfully held in Monte Carlo in early January 1924, and almost six months later in Paris. Approximately to the same creative period of the composer belong "Songs" to poems of the French poet of the XVI century Pierre de Ronsard, "Happy Songs" to poems by anonymous authors of the XVII century, "Trio for Piano, Oboe and Bassoon", "Pastoral", "Two Piano Novellettes "," Harpsichord "and" Rural "concerts, written for the famous harpsichordist Wanda Landovsky". A little later from the pen of Poulenc, the ballet "The Morning Star" and the secular cantata "The Ball Masquerade" come out from the pen of Poulenc on the order of the poetess Anna De Noy.

War again

In the mid-1930s, when the fascist threat hung over Europe, in France the anti-fascist fighters created the Popular Front, and the progressive artistic intelligentsia united into an organization called the Popular Musical Federation. Francis Poulenc did not join any of the parties, however, the works of the composer of this period such as "Drought", Concerto for Organ "," Litany to the Black Rocamadour Notre-Dame "and" Mass "are filled with special drama. It began in autumn 1939, England and France, in response to the attack of Hitler's troops on Poland, declared war on Germany. For this reason, Francis Poulenc was again drafted into the army, where he served until June 1940, until an armistice was proclaimed, under which the Germans occupied the whole of France. before the autumn, he stayed with his cousins ​​in Bordeaux, working there on new works: a cello sonata and a series of children's piano pieces "The Story of Babar's Elephant". In October, he returned to his country house in the town of Noisay and took up the one-piece ballet "Exemplary Animals" The plot of which was based on the story of Jean La Fontaine, which premiered in August 1942 at the Theater of the Paris National Opera.

In the summer of 1943, after making a pilgrimage to the shrines of the medieval town of Rocamadour, Poulenc settled in the city of Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, where he got the idea to write a protest to the occupational regime, the cantata Human Face, then illegally publish it, thereby presenting it to the French gift for the day of liberation from the German invaders. In the spring of 1944, the composer returned to his house Noisay, where he began work on the opera-buff Breast Tiresia on the unrestrainedly cheerful work of the French avant-garde poet Guillaume Apollinaire. The opera was staged at the National Theater of Comic Opera in 1945, but the premiere took place only two years later. Poulenc's creative activity from the mid-40s has not waned, one piece after another comes out of his pen, among them: the vocal cycle "Calligrams" (verses by G. Apollinaire) and the work for choir a cappella "Four Little Prayers to Francis of Assisi" .

Touring the USA

Biography of Poulenc says that in the fall of 1948, Francis, along with vocal baritone Pierre Bernack, went on his first concert tour of the United States of America, where Poulenc's music was played frequently and therefore was quite popular. The tour lasted two months, covering many cities in the country. The composer was fortunate enough to perform at the famous Carnegie Hall New York, where he and his Boston Symphony Orchestra performed his Rural Concert. A trip to America left a lot of impressions with Poulenok. Here he met with Vanda Landovsky, a friend of his youth, met and listened to the play by the outstanding pianist Vladimir Horowitz, spoke to Igor Stravinskywho was considered a perfect genius. Returning to Paris in January 1949, the composer immediately began to compose a piano concerto, an order for which he received from the directorate of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The premiere performance of this work took place in Boston in early 1950 during repeated tours of the United States.

The last stage of the creative path

In the fifties, Poulenc loses his best friends one by one, because of this his creative direction changes significantly: the composer delves into philosophical reflections and human experiences. An example of this is the work "Stabat mater", which Francis devoted to the memory of his friend - the talented artist Christian Berar. In 1953, after another tour of the United States, Canada, and then Italy, Poulenc began work on the opera "The Dialogues of the Carmelites", which was based on the eponymous work of the French writer Georges Bernanos. The premiere of the performance with great triumph took place in Milan's La Scala Theater in late January 1957. In the last years of his life journey, Francis continues to work intensively as well. The most significant of his works of this period is the mono - opera “The Human Voice”, written after the play by Jeanne Caquto, a great work in which the composer realistically displayed the entire tragedy of human feelings. In early 1963, after returning home, after another concert tour of Holland, Francis called his friends and said that he could not meet with them, as he was a little unwell. It happened on the morning of January 30, and the composer did not become the same afternoon, his heart suddenly stopped.

Interesting facts about Francis Poulenc

• His very first musical instrument - a small toy piano - Francis received as a gift at the age of two. Still not very well able to speak, the boy called him "my before, re, mi", laid out colorful advertising brochures of the stores and explained to everyone that these are the notes on which he plays.
• Francis's mother, being a good pianist, gradually began to study music with a boy when he was four years old. It was impossible to name the child’s special abilities, but at the age of five he could already play something on the instrument.

• Being brought up on the works of great composers who constantly sounded in the performance of his mother Francis, the boy felt special feelings while listening to the music of V.A. Mozart, and these impressions from childhood were preserved by Poulenc for life.
• One day at a young age, resting in the summer months with his parents in a country house near Paris, Poulenc accidentally met Darius Millau. Francis asked for an autograph from a famous composer at that time, but was refused. A few years later they became good friends and members of the famous creative association "Six."
• From the biography of Poulenc, we learn that the composer did not study in any special musical educational institution. All his education was made up of private lessons that he took on the piano, and then on composition.
• The Negro Rhapsody, written by eighteen-year-old Poulenc, was successfully performed at one of the evenings of the creative intelligentsia. Inspired by public recognition, Francis decided to seriously engage in composing practice. To replenish theoretical knowledge, he turned to Paul Antuau Vidal, a famous composer and conductor. Vidal, looking at the first bars of the Negro Rhapsody, was very indignant, cursed the young man and drove away.

• In 1922, at the request of an American acquaintance, Poulenc was supposed to write a choral work for students at Harvard University. The composer gladly accepted the order, with diligence took up his execution, choosing for this lyrics Bachic hymns of the 17th century. When the work, which Francis called "Drinking Songs," was completed, Poulenc sent him to America, looking forward to a response. And what was the author’s disappointment when he received a message in which it was said that, unfortunately, the work could not be performed, since it sings alcoholic beverages that were banned in the United States at that time. "Drinking Songs" were first performed only after 28 years in 1950.
• Francis Poulenc was very proud of his friendship with Sergei Prokofiev. They loved to play bridge and chess, and before performances Prokofiev always rehearsed together on two pianos: they played piano concerts from beginning to end (Poulenc played the orchestral part on the instrument). For each of them, such a music was very valuable: Prokofiev repeated the concert work, and Poulenc joined the works of the composer, whom he greatly valued.

• In 1944, Francis Poulenc, together with the singer Pierre Bernack, traveled through Belgium occupied by the Germans, at the end of one of the concerts, performed a work by the composer, in which words were said about the sufferings of the people of France. Having listened to the song, the audience stood up defiantly, and the German officers who were present at the performance did not understand the text and did not attach any special significance to this episode. Fortunately, there were no Gestap people at the concert, otherwise the musicians would have very big problems.
• Francisk Poulenc never hid or was ashamed of his unconventional orientation. However, he had relations not only with men, but also with women, for example, from the novel with Frederica Lebedeff he had a daughter, Marie-Ange, in 1946, who after the death of her father became the beneficiary owner of his property.

Works by Francis Poulenc

The creative life of Francis Poulenc, which lasted almost half a century, compared to other composers, can be called happy. He did not experience sad disappointments because of the refusal of publishers to print his works, and his writings did not lie down for a long time and were executed almost immediately with success. Poulenc left a great heritage to descendants, which includes more than one hundred and forty works written in various genres. These are operas, ballets, cantatas, vocal cycles, concerts, piano and chamber - vocal compositions. His work is very multifaceted and sometimes even seems very contradictory. For example, comparing the composer's operas: the comedy-buff "Breast Tiresia", the tragic mystery poem "The Dialogues of the Carmelites" and the lyrical tragedy "The human voice", it is not easy to believe that these three popular works are written by the same author.

The world-famous vocal masterpieces of the composer are the cantatas: "The Face of Man", "Drought" and "The Masked Ball", and from the sacred music: "Stabat Mater", motets and masses. In addition to vocal and choral music in which Poulenc most vividly expressed his melodic gift, the composer composed quite a few works for piano - from small pieces to large concerts, and also in a duet with such instruments as cello, flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon.

Music Poulenka in the cinema

The music of Francis Poulenc can often be heard in the movies. To some films, such as:

"Myarka, Girl with a Bear" (1937), "A Trip to America" ​​(1951), "A Symphony in White" (1942), "Duchess Lange" (1942), the composer wrote the music specifically. In addition, many directors use excerpts from the composer’s works, including them in movie soundtracks, for example:

Analyzing the work of Francis Poulenc, we can confidently confirm that he occupied a significant place not only in the history of French, but also of world music. В нынешнее время интерес к произведениям композитора постоянно возрастает не только со стороны профессионалов, но простых слушателей, которых до глубины души трогает эмоциональная, темпераментная, мелодичная музыка, колоритно отражающая национальную культуру Франции.