Poulenc, Francis. Francis Poulenc Composer and religion

25.01.202427.05.2017

A country France Professions Tools piano Genres opera, classical music And liturgical music[d] Awards Media files on Wikimedia Commons

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc(French Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc; January 7, Paris - January 30, Paris) - French composer, pianist, critic, the most prominent member of the French “Six”.

Biography

Comes from a wealthy and famous (to this day) French bourgeois family of factory owners. In 1910, due to floods in Paris, the family moved to Fontainebleau. There, Francis accidentally bought Schubert’s “Winter Reise” - a work that, according to him, played an important role in the decision to become a musician.

From the composer's correspondence it is clear how close he was to D. Milhaud, A. Saugat, how much he admired J. Auric, and what a difficult relationship he had with E. Satie.

Poulenc was closely acquainted with S.S. Prokofiev. Thus, V. Chemberdzhi, relying on the memoirs of Lina Prokofieva, writes: “Sergei was especially friendly with Francis Poulenc. Both loved chess and bridge. Before performing his concertos, Prokofiev always rehearsed them with Poulenc on two pianos: They played the First, Second, Third and Fifth piano concertos in their entirety - Poulenc performed the orchestra part. For Prokofiev, this was a necessary repetition before performance; for Poulenc, it was wonderful music-making with a composer whom he valued extremely highly.” In correspondence with V. Derzhanovsky, the Russian composer proposed Poulenc’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra for performance in the USSR. After Prokofiev's death, in 1962 Poulenc wrote a Sonata for oboe and piano and dedicated it to the memory of Sergei Prokofiev.

From 1933 to 1959 he performed extensively as an accompanist with the singer Pierre Bernac, the first performer of many of Poulenc's vocal works.

Personal life

Francis Poulenc was one of the first French composers who did not hide his unconventional sexual orientation. In particular, until 1931 the composer was in a relationship with the artist Richard Chanlaire. Shortly after the war, Poulenc had an affair with Frederique Lebedeff. The daughter Marie-Ange (b. 1946), born from this relationship, subsequently became the main beneficiary of Poulenc's will.

Composer and religion

As the musician recalled, the Poulenc family on his father’s side was distinguished by deep religious views, but “without the slightest dogmatism.” Francis's great-grandfather's brother, Abbot Joseph Poulenc, was the curate of the church of Ivry-sur-Seine, and his second cousin was a Franciscan monk. The composer's father, Emile Poulenc, was also a devout man, while for his wife, Jenny Royer, religiosity was only part of a good upbringing. And when, at the age of 18, Francis was left an orphan, his mother’s influence turned out to be stronger for him: young Poulenc forgot about the church for a while.

Only after almost two decades a new turning point occurred in the composer’s spiritual life. In August 1936, one of his colleagues, composer Pierre-Octave Ferru, tragically died in a car accident. Having a very impressionable character, Poulenc literally falls into a stupor: “reflecting on such frailty of our physical shell, I returned to spiritual life again.” His memory recalls his father's stories about the famous pilgrimage site near Aveyron. And in search of peace of mind, the composer goes there, to Rocamadour.

This small ancient village is nestled on the high mountain of Saint Amadour. Rocamadour has long been known among pilgrims as the abode of the miraculous and mysterious Black Virgin - a statue of the Madonna, who, unlike the usual canons, has a black complexion and hands. Researchers note that such statues made of stone, lead or black ebony became especially widespread in medieval Europe in the 12th century. But in the Rocamadour Church of Notre Dame (), in the main of seven ancient chapels built into the rock, a wooden figure of Our Lady of Rocamadour dates presumably to the 1st century AD.

What was the reason for Poulenc’s spiritual rebirth - whether it was the special energy of the holy place or the mystical mystery of the Black Virgin, but “one way or another, in Notre-Dame de Roque-Amadour, Francis Poulenc saw something that captured him.” As the composer himself said, “Rocamadour finally returned to me the faith of my childhood.” From that time on, pilgrimages to the monastery became an important part of his life. This unusually peaceful place helped to detach oneself from external hustle and bustle, cleanse the soul, and new creative ideas were born here. From now on, Our Lady of Rocamadour became the composer's constant patroness, under whose protection he placed many of his works.

Musical compositions (selection)

Operas “Breasts Theresa” (Paris, 1947), “Dialogues of the Carmelites” (Milan, 1957), “The Human Voice” (Paris, 1959).
Ballets “Lani” (French Les Biches; Paris, 1924), “Exemplary Animals” (French Les Animaux modèles; Paris, 1942).
Sacred music: Litanies to the Black Madonna (French Litanies à la vierge noire, 1936, 2nd ed., 1947), Stabat Mater (1950), 7 responsorios of the Dark Matins (French Sept répons des Ténèbres, 1962), 4 penitential motets , 4 Christmas motets, G major mass, etc.
Cantatas “Drought” (French: Sécheresses, 1937), “The Human Face” (French: Figure humaine, 1943), “Masquerade Ball” (French: Le Bal masqué).
Negro Rhapsody for piano, flute, clarinet, string quartet and voice (1917).
Two marches and interlude for chamber orchestra (1938).
Two intermezzos for piano (1934)
French Suite after Claude Gervaise for piano (Burgundy branle, Pavane, Little military march, Song of lament, Champagne branle, Siciliana, Chime)
Vocal cycles “Bestiary” (on poems by Apollinaire, 1919), “Cockades” (on poems by Cocteau, 1919; 2nd edition for soprano and instrumental ensemble, 1939), Five Romances on poems by Ronsard (1925), “Naughty Songs” (French Chansons gaillardes, 1925), romances and songs (French mélodies) “Trip to Paris”, “Montparnasse”, “Toreador”, song (French chanson) “Paths of Love” (French Les chemins de l "Amour , 1940) and others.
Four Little Prayers of St. Francis of Assisi (1948) for a capella male choir
Sonata for cello and piano (1940-48)
Sonata for violin and piano (1943)
Sonata for two pianos (1952-53)
Sonata for flute and piano (1956)
Sonata for oboe and piano (1962)
Sextet for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano

Concerts

Morning serenade (French: Aubade). Choreographic concert for piano and 18 instruments (1929)
“Rural Concert” (French Concert champêtre) for harpsichord and orchestra (1928)
Concerto for two pianos and orchestra (1932)
Concerto for organ, string orchestra and timpani (1938)
Concerto for piano and orchestra in C sharp minor (1949)

(01/07/1899 - 01/30/1963) - French composer and pianist. Student of R. Vignes (piano) and S. Koecklin (composition). Poulenc's name became famous after the performance in 1917 of his "Rhapsody Negro" for soloists, piano, string quartet, flute and clarinet. Back in the early 1920s, he joined a group of young French composers known as the Six ( Milhaud , Honegger etc.), which opposed the dominant movements of impressionism and neo-romanticism in those years. In his early works, Poulenc often used jazz rhythms and found unusual instrumental colors. Clear melody in the spirit of Scarlatti and Haydn Poulenc combined with harmonies in the spirit of Stravinsky and Sati. These are the widely spread cycles of Poulenc’s piano pieces - “Perpetual Motions”, “Suite”, “Impromptu”, “Walks”, as well as a sonata for clarinet and bassoon, a sonata for piano for 4 hands, etc.

At the end of the 1930s, Poulenc joined the People's Music Federation, and during the years of occupation he participated in the Resistance movement. He writes cantatas and song cycles based on words by P. Eluard, L. Aragon, Garcia Lorca. In the last years of his life, Poulenc created a number of works that were profound in content. Among his latest works are the operas “Dialogues of the Carmelites” and “The Human Voice” (based on the play by J. Cocteau; the opera was written for one performer). Poulenc created many songs based on poems by French poets, marked by lively expressiveness of a melodic nature.

M. Yu. Mirkin.
Comments on the article:

Personal life
2016-04-05 12:40:59

Francis Poulenc was one of the first French composers who did not hide his unconventional sexual orientation. In particular, the composer was in a relationship with the artist Richard Chanlaire.

The Poulenc family on the paternal side was distinguished by deep religious views, but “without the slightest dogmatism.” Francis's great-grandfather's brother, Abbot Joseph Poulenc, was the curate of the church of Ivry-sur-Seine, his second cousin was a Franciscan monk. The composer's father, Emile Poulenc, was also a devout man, while for his wife, Jenny Royer, religiosity was only part of a good upbringing. And when, at the age of 18, Francis was left an orphan, his mother’s influence turned out to be stronger for him: young Poulenc forgot about the church for a while.

This small ancient village is nestled on the high mountain of Saint Amadour. Rocamadour has long been known among pilgrims as the abode of the miraculous and mysterious Black Virgin - a statue of the Madonna, who, unlike the usual canons, has a black complexion and hands. Researchers note that such statues made of stone, lead or black ebony became especially widespread in medieval Europe in the 12th century. But in the Notre Dame Church of Rocamadour (1479), in the main of seven ancient chapels built into the rock, a wooden figure of Our Lady of Rocamadour dates presumably to the 1st century AD.

Countries Professions Tools

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc(fr. Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc; January 7, Paris - January 30, ibid.) - French composer, pianist, critic, the most prominent member of the French Six.

Biography

My music is my portrait. F. Poulenc

F. Poulenc is one of the most charming composers that France gave to the world in the twentieth century. He went down in music history as a member of the creative community “Six”. In the Six - the youngest, barely over the threshold of twenty years - he immediately won authority and universal love with his talent - original, lively, spontaneous, as well as purely human qualities - immeasurable humor, kindness and sincerity, and most importantly - the ability to bestow people with his extraordinary friendship .

Francis Poulenc is music itself; I do not know of any other music that would act so directly, would be so simply expressed and would achieve its goal with the same accuracy. Milhaud

The period when Francis Poulenc was a member of the Six group is the brightest in his life and work, which at the same time laid the foundations for his popularity and professional career. Here is what Poulenc himself said about this time a quarter of a century later:

- (Francis Poulenc, “My friends and I.”)

The future composer was born into the family of a large manufacturer. His mother, an excellent musician, was Francis’s first teacher; she passed on to her son her boundless love for music, her admiration for W. A. Mozart, R. Schumann, F. Schubert, F. Chopin. From the age of 15, his musical education continued under the guidance of pianist R. Vignes and composer C. Koecklin, who introduced the young musician to modern art, to the works of C. Debussy, M. Ravel, as well as to the new idols of the young - I. F. Stravinsky and E. Satie.
Poulenc's youth coincided with the years of the First World War. He was drafted into the army, this prevented him from entering the conservatory. However, Poulenc appeared early on the Parisian music scene. In 1917, the eighteen-year-old composer made his debut at one of the concerts of new music with Negro Rhapsody for baritone and instrumental ensemble. This work was such a resounding success that Poulenc immediately became a celebrity. They started talking about him.
Inspired by success, Poulenc, following the Negro Rhapsody, creates the vocal cycle Bestiary (to the verses of G. Apollinaire), Cockades (to the verses of J. Cocteau); piano pieces Perpetual Motions, Walks; choreographic concert for piano and orchestra Morning Serenade; ballet with Lani singing, staged in 1924. in the enterprise of S. Diaghilev. Milhaud responded to this production with an enthusiastic article:

The music of “Fallow Deer” is exactly what you would expect from its author... This ballet is written in the form of a dance suite... with such a richness of shades, with such elegance, tenderness, charm, with which only the works of Poulenc are so generously endowed... The meaning of this music timeless, time will not touch her, and she will forever retain her youthful freshness and originality.

In Poulenc's early works, the most essential aspects of his temperament, taste, creative style, the special purely Parisian coloring of his music, its inextricable connection with Parisian chanson were revealed. B. Asafiev, characterizing these works, noted the clarity... and liveliness of thinking, perky rhythm, keen observation, purity of drawing, conciseness and specificity of presentation.
In the 30s The composer's lyrical talent blossomed. He enthusiastically works in the genres of vocal music: he writes songs, cantatas, and choral cycles. In the person of Pierre Bernac, the composer found a talented interpreter of his songs. With him as a pianist, he toured extensively and successfully throughout the cities of Europe and America for more than 20 years. Poulenc's choral works on spiritual texts are of great artistic interest: Mass, Litanies to Our Lady of Rocamadour in Black, Four Motets for the Time of Penance. Later - in the 50s. Stabat mater, Gloria, Four Christmas Moments will also be created. All compositions are very diverse in style, they reflect the traditions of French choral music of various eras - from Guillaume de Machaut to G. Berlioz. Poulenc spent the years of the Second World War in besieged Paris and in his country mansion in Noise, sharing with his compatriots all the hardships of military life, deeply suffering for the fate of his homeland and friends.
The sorrowful thoughts and feelings of this time, but also faith in victory and freedom, were reflected in the cantata The Human Face for double choir a cappella based on the poems of P. Eluard. The poet of the French Resistance, Eluard, wrote his poems deep underground, from where he secretly forwarded them to Poulenc under an assumed name. The composer also kept the work on the cantata and its publication secret. In the midst of the war, this was an act of great courage. It is no coincidence that on the day of the liberation of Paris and its suburbs, Poulenc proudly displayed the score of The Human Face in the window of his house next to the national flag.
The composer in the opera genre proved himself to be an outstanding master playwright. The first opera Breast Thérèse (1944, based on the text of a farce by G. Apollinaire) - a cheerful, light and frivolous opera - buffa - reflected Poulenc's penchant for humor, jokes, and eccentricity. The next two operas are in a different genre. These are dramas with deep psychological development. Dialogues of the Carmelites (libretto by J. Bernanos, 1953) reveals the gloomy story of the death of the inhabitants of the Carmelite monastery during the Great French Revolution, their heroic sacrificial death in the name of faith. The Human Voice (based on the drama by J. Cocteau, 1958) is a lyrical monodrama in which a living and tremulous human voice sounds - the voice of melancholy and loneliness, the voice of an abandoned woman. Of all Poulenc's works, this opera brought him the greatest popularity in the world. It showed the brightest sides of the composer's talent. This is an inspired work, imbued with deep humanity and subtle lyricism. All 3 operas were created based on the remarkable talent of the French singer and actress D. Duval, who became the first performer in these operas.
Poulenc's career is completed by 2 sonatas - the Sonata for oboe and piano, dedicated to S. Prokofiev, and the Sonata for clarinet and piano, dedicated to A. Honegger. Sudden death cut short the composer's life during a period of great creative growth, in the midst of a concert tour.
The composer's legacy consists of about 150 works. His vocal music has the greatest artistic value - operas, cantatas, choral cycles, songs, the best of which were written to the poems of P. Eluard. It was in these genres that Poulenc's generous gift as a melodist was truly revealed. His melodies, like the melodies of Motzatre, Schubert, Chopin, combine disarming simplicity, subtlety and psychological depth, serving as an expression of the human soul. It was this melodic charm that ensured the long and enduring success of Poulenc's music in France and beyond.
He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Essays

Operas “Breasts Theresia” (1947), “Dialogues of the Carmelites” (1957), “The Human Voice” (1959).
Ballets "Lani" (fr. Les Biches; 1924, it would be more accurate to translate "Goats" or "Cuties", since we are talking about frivolous girls), “Exemplary Animals” (1942).
Cantatas “Drought”, “The Human Face” (1943), “Masquerade Ball”
Negro Rhapsody for piano, flute, clarinet, string quartet and voice (1917).
Two marches and interlude for chamber orchestra (1938).
Two intermezzos for piano (1934) No. 1 (C-dur) No. 2 (Des-dur)
Concerts: “Morning Serenade”, concert-ballet for piano and 18 instruments (1929), Country concert for harpsichord and orchestra (1938), Concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra (1932), Concerto for organ, string orchestra and timpani (1938).
Vocal cycles “Bestiary” to poems by Apollinaire and “Cockades” to poems by Cocteau (1919), Five Romances to poems by Ronsard, Mischievous Songs, etc.

Literature

Medvedeva I. Francis Poulenc. M.: Sov. composer, 1969.-240 pp., ill.-(Foreign music. Masters of the 20th century).
Schneerson G. French music of the 20th century. M., 1970. P.264-284.
Dumenil R. Modern French composers of the group "Six" L., 1964. P.96-106.
Creative portrait of composers. Directory. M., “Music” 1989

Sources

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

See what "Poulenc" is in other dictionaries:

- (more correctly Poulenc) Francis (7 I 1899, Paris 30 I 1963, ibid.) French. composer. Pupil of R. Vignes (ph.) and III. Köcklen (composition). P. successfully gave concerts as a pianist in his homeland and in other countries. Member of the Six (since 1920) ... Music Encyclopedia

- (more correctly Poulenc) Francis (7.1.1899, Paris, 30.1. 1963, ibid.), French composer. Student of R. Vignes (piano) and S. Koecklin (composition). Member of the “Six” (See Six) (since 1920). Brought up on examples... ...

Poulenc F.- Poulenc, Francis Poulenc (18991963), French. composer, pianist. Pupil of S. Keklen. He was a member of the Six community of composers. Buffoon op. Breasts of Tiresias (after G. Apollinaire, 1944), tragic Dialogues of the Carmelites (after J.... ... Biographical Dictionary

Poulenc F.- Poulenc Francis (7.1.1899, Paris, 30.1.1963, ibid.), French. composer and pianist. Studied with S. Keclin. In the beginning. 1920s joined the group of composers Six. In con. 30s joined Nar. music federation. Author of operas, many... ... Ballet. Encyclopedia

Francis Poulenc (1/7/1899, Paris, 1/30/1963, ibid.), French composer. Student of R. Vignes (piano) and S. Koecklin (composition). Member of the Six (since 1920). He was brought up on the examples of classical and... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Poulenc, Francis- Francis Poulenc (1899 1963), French composer. Member of the Six. A lyric composer, Poulenc paid special attention to melody (Poulenc was called the “French Schubert”). The highest achievements are associated with opera: the buffoonish “Breasts of Tiresias”... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Francis Poulenc(7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963), French composer, pianist, critic.

Francis Poulenc is one of the most significant figures among French musicians of the last century. The composer lived and worked in difficult times.

Poulenc is a contemporary of both world wars. He participated in the First World War as a soldier. He had to observe the Second World War through the eyes of a resident of occupied Paris, through the eyes of an eyewitness to Nazi atrocities. One of the composer’s favorite poets, his friend Max Jacob, to whose words Poulenc wrote over fifteen songs, died in a concentration camp. Many of Poulenc's friends and his co-authors took the uncompromising path of struggle. Just a month after the German surrender was accepted in Paris, Francis Poulenc’s exciting cantata “The Human Face”, a solemn hymn to Freedom, which the composer had secretly prepared for the Day of Liberation, was heard on the radio.

Poulenc's work, like a drop of water, reflected the events of the last half-century of French history: both the sorrows of defeat and the joys of victories left their mark on it.

The composer's creative heritage is largely heterogeneous and contradictory. Chamber and vocal creativity gained fame as the “French Schubert”. The amazing skill with which Poulenc uses musical means to achieve the utmost expressiveness of the text, highlights the slightest nuances of human speech. The choice of libretto for Poulenc's major opera works seems paradoxical at first glance. He chooses complex texts that are so seemingly unacceptable for this purpose that it sometimes seems incomprehensible how they could be set to music at all. This applies to the “Dialogues of the Carmelites”, and to the “Breasts of Tiresias”, and to the “Voice of Man”. In fact, it is in these operas that the composer’s unique talent is most clearly demonstrated.

In Poulenc's creative biography, several distinct periods can be distinguished. In the twenties, during the existence of the “Six” - a group of young French musicians that included Honegger, Auric, Durey, Milhaud, Taillefer and Poulenc - the composer paid tribute to the fashionable trends of the post-war period. He was fond of eccentricity, music hall aesthetics, and the ideas of urbanism. A city dweller to the core, Poulenc draws his music entirely from the life of the city: the works of early Poulenc are rooted in the noisy crowd of streets and the serene silence of the labyrinthine alleys of Paris.

In the thirties, a pronounced turning point was outlined in Poulenc’s work. He develops a penchant for the vocal genre. The composer's works become much more serious and deep. In the second half of the thirties, Poulenc wrote his first works of a religious nature. During the years of occupation, patriotic motifs clearly appeared in his work. Finally, after the Second World War, Poulenc is a thoughtful, serious master, with a broad outlook, capable of conveying deep human grief and enthusiastic love. Francis Poulenc carried his music through all trials. As a young man, he absorbed the best traditions of French national music, and as a mature master, he developed and multiplied them.

“I admire a musician and a person who creates natural music that sets you apart from others. In the whirlpool of fashionable systems, dogmas that the powers that be are trying to impose, you remain yourself - a rare courage worthy of respect,” these words of Arthur Honneger can serve as the key to understanding the work of Francis Poulenc.

Francis Poulenc was born in Paris. The house of the wealthy Poulenc entrepreneurs stood in the city center on Place Sausset, not far from the Champs-Elysees.

Francis's mother, Jenny Royer, is a true Parisian and traces her ancestry from a family of skilled craftsmen: cabinetmakers, carpet makers, bronzers. At the same time, there was a wide range of art in the mother’s house. The interests of the Royer family concerned theater, music, and painting.

Emile Poulenc's family cared mainly about observing religious traditions, recognizing only serious music among all types of art.

If Francis owes his aesthetic and musical taste primarily to his mother, which he writes about in the dedication to the opera “Dialogues of the Carmelites,” then another side of his spiritual life is associated with the name of his father. We are talking about the religious motives of Poulenc's work, about the sharp contrast that catches the eye immediately after the first acquaintance with his works. “In this musician, a monk is combined with a dandy in love, a peasant with a kind and gentle rogue,” French musicologist Claude Rostand rightly notes.

Music and theater enter Francis' life early. From his mother's stories, he learns the names of famous actors - Sarah Bernhardt, Gabrielle Réjean, Lucien Guetrie. Vivid theatrical experiences, interesting guests, music - both in concerts and at home - all this significantly shaped the future composer.

In 1910, due to floods in Paris, the family moved to Fontainebleau. There, Francis accidentally bought Schubert’s “Winter Reise” - a work that, according to him, played an important role in the decision to become a musician.

Poulenc considers the music of Stravinsky to be one of the most powerful impressions of his childhood. At the age of eleven, Francis had the opportunity to hear individual numbers from “The Firebird,” and a little later “Petrushka” and “The Rite of Spring.” By the way, “Spring,” according to Poulenc himself, had much less influence on his work than many of Stravinsky’s other works - “Pulcinella,” “The Fairy’s Kiss,” “The Moor,” “The Game of Cards.” Stravinsky opened new horizons for Francis, and the young man had a new idol, a “spiritual teacher.” “I don’t know if I would have become a composer if Stravinsky had not existed,” he recalled.

Poulenc's musical studies were not the main part of his education. The composer's father could not accept the fact that his son would not receive a bachelor's degree, and insisted that the boy enter the Condorcet Lyceum. Francis did not show much interest in lyceum studies and had difficulty moving from class to class.

In 1915, Francis decided to specialize in piano. The excellent pianist and teacher Ricardo Vines agreed to study with Poulenc. Performing skills, literary taste, first experiences as a composer, as well as acquaintance with people such as Erik Satie and Georges Auric, who later became Francis's closest friends - all this is connected for Poulenc with Ricardo Vignes.

Poulenc's friendship with Auric was destined to last for a long time. For many years, Francis consulted with him as an elder, a teacher. Both of them, sharing each other’s tastes, each admired the other’s poetry; even their works sounded side by side: Diaghilev staged the ballets “Lani” (Poulenc) and “The Obnoxious” (Oric) one after another.

In 1917, Francis Poulenc attended two significant premieres: on June 24, Guillaume Apollinaire’s “Breasts of Tiresias” was presented to the Parisian public for the first time, and on May 18, “Parade” by Erik Satie, staged by Diaghilev in collaboration with Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso, was shown. Almost thirty years later, Apollinaire's buffoonery would become the libretto of his opera. Soon he managed to meet Erik Satie himself.

Acquaintance with the best literary works of his contemporaries was of great importance for Francis; it contributed to the further manifestation of one of the most amazing features of his talent - a subtle sense of melodic vocal line, which manifested itself already in such an early work as “Bestiary, or Orpheus’s Cortege” based on the poems of Guillaume Apollinaire , written by him at the age of nineteen.

In French art there has long been a strong tendency towards exotic themes. In painting, such interest was embodied in the Tahitian paintings of Gauguin, paintings by Picasso, inspired by Negro sculpture. Oriental motifs are heard in music, starting with Rameau's "Gallant India" and ending with the exotic plays of Olivier Messiaen and Andre Jolivet.

French composers immediately after the war were attracted to a form of new exotic music - black jazz cultivated by the Americans. Stravinsky, and after him young French musicians, captivated by the rhythmic and timbre innovation of jazz, began to use new jazz techniques in their compositions, trying to create the music of a modern city.

It is not surprising that Poulenc could not escape the temptation to use various kinds of musical and textual “barbarisms”. He decided to use three stanzas from the verses of the pseudo-poem "Honolulu" for the central part of "Negro Rhapsody".

"Negro Rhapsody" was written for baritone accompanied by piano, flute, clarinet and string quartet. It was first performed on December 11, 1917 at one of the evenings organized by singer Zhanna Bathory at the Old Dovecote Theater, where music by young composers was often performed. Rhapsody was a resounding success. Fame came to Poulenc immediately after the premiere. They became interested in him.

Pre-war Paris, where the character of the future composer was formed, was a noisy and unusually diverse city, striking in the diversity of its population. It was to Paris, the city of art, that aspiring poets, artists, and musicians strove. Paris attracted such famous Russian writers as K. Balmont, A. Tolstoy, A. Akhmatova, I. Ehrenburg. Stravinsky and Picasso owed their success to Paris - the capital of France became their second home.

The theatrical life of pre-war Paris was rather sluggish; the public was not spoiled with new productions. Since the time of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, the stages of opera houses have seen almost no premieres. The performances of a group of Russian artists, organized by Sergei Diaghilev, brought particular excitement. With the beginning of the war, concerts and performances began to be held much less frequently: many musicians, actors and artists were drafted into the army.

The uncertainty that has gripped a significant part of the older generation of the French creative intelligentsia is also reflected in the mood of the younger generation. It no longer recognizes the authorities of the past, but still does not see new ideals in the present. It is not surprising that skeptical moods, irritation, and lack of faith in one’s own abilities become typical during these years.

From July 1919, Francis Poulenc was in Paris, where he served until October 1921 in the Ministry of Aviation. Acting as a secretary (he worked on a typewriter), Francis devoted most of his free time to his musical hobbies.

During these years, Poulenc became increasingly close to Cocteau, Satie, and Milhaud; participates in the very first concerts and publications of the future “Six”. His piano piece "Waltz" was included in the collection of plays "Album of Six", published by the Parisian publishing house "Eschig" in 1919.

The aesthetics of "Six" to some extent reflect the aesthetics of Jean Cocteau's manifesto "The Rooster and the Harlequin". Cocteau calls for shattering into pieces what seemed unshakable a century ago - aesthetics, directed mainly against the Wagnerians and Debussists. The author of the manifesto challenged the excessive lengths, boredom, vagueness and complexity of writing, and the vagueness of impressionism. It is interesting that Poulenc, many years later, rejected the idea of Cocteau as the ideological inspirer of the Six: “Jean Cocteau, who is attracted to everything new, was not our theoretician, as many believe, he was our friend and brilliant mouthpiece (...) and it is impossible to take his short musical sketch as a manifesto of the Six.

Musical Paris took the “Six” for a newfangled school; it did not take long to wait and soon performed a series of concerts. The first of them was dedicated to the works of the Six composers, the second - to their foreign contemporaries. Works by Alfredo Casella, Arnold Schoenberg, and Bela Bartok were played. Similar concerts were given not only in France, but also abroad. The "Six" publishes its own newspaper, the first issue of which is called "Le Coq" ("The Rooster"), and the following ones - "Le Coq Parisien" ("The Parisian Rooster").

This poster-shaped leaflet was quite cocky, although it did not associate itself with any program. Jean Cocteau writes: “This newspaper, in which six musicians of different views, united only by friendly relations, express their opinions... The musicians are joined by writers and artists. If one of us prints a phrase that the other doesn't approve of, we know very well that we will never start a feud over it."

It is curious that while advocating new art, honoring authors such as Schoenberg, Bartok and Berg, members of the Six see, in addition to Wagnerism and Debussism, another danger - modernism. As a result, Le Coq proclaimed the founding of an “anti-modernist league.”

By the mid-twenties, the formation of the composer's creative individuality ends. The turning point in Poulenc’s work came in 1923, when he composed the first ballet “Lani,” commissioned by Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes troupe.

The young composer’s interest and love for vocal music was reflected even in such a seemingly distant field from singing as ballet. The score of “Laney” includes vocal and choral numbers - songs and dances. Vocal and choral music rarely penetrates into choreographic art, and Poulenc’s merit lies in the fact that he was able to combine song and dance, turning them into a form of playful dance song.

The twenties were for Poulenc the time of the final formation of his individual style. Among the numerous compositions of these years, the most successful were “Lani”, “Merry Songs”, “Rural Concert” and “Morning Serenade”.

Poulenc's "Rural Concert" largely follows the national traditions of the old masters and Scarlatti. Experiencing the influence of old harpsichordists, Francis Poulenc, however, does not take the path of simply imitating them. “Rural Concert” is a continuation and development of this kind of music.

In 1929, Poulenc wrote another ballet, “Morning Serenade.” The composer created a unique form of ballet - a choreographic concert for piano and eighteen instruments. This work, which is almost the first in the new genre of piano concerto-ballet, was conceived by Poulenc as a synthesis of two genres - a one-movement piano concerto and a one-act ballet. The concert's score, which includes winds, strings and percussion, but lacks violins, represents a kind of double concerto in which the main roles are equally distributed between the two soloists - the piano and the dancer.

The works of Francis Poulenc in the second half of the 1930s reveal new, previously hidden sides of the composer's talent. In these works we see a thoughtful, serious master who created a number of large-scale works over the course of several pre-war years.

By the end of the thirties, the threat of an inevitably approaching war became more and more clear. Nazi Germany was preparing to march victoriously through all European countries and begin the world domination of the Third Reich. France is rallying the ranks of its anti-fascist fighters. Broad circles of the French public, socialist, communist and other political parties are organizing a united Popular Front.

In 1932, an association of writers and artists was created, which included the greatest masters of France Romain Rolland, Jean Richard Bloch, Louis Aragon, Paul Eluard. Leading representatives of the French artistic intelligentsia - composers, writers, poets, performers and teachers - unite in the People's Music Federation.

The composers of the “Six” participate in collective compositions - this is the music for the performances. Francis Poulenc did not join the Communist Party or become an active member of the National Musical Federation, but from his music one can judge the composer’s uncompromising attitude to the events of the second half of the 1930s.

At this time, the versatility of the composer is most clearly manifested. He composes dramatic works "Drought" and Organ Concerto. A wonderful lyrical vocal cycle by Poulenc based on the words of Eluard “Both Day and Night” and the French Suite (after Claude Gervaise) is published in Paris. In addition to such purely secular works, Poulenc writes a number of works on spiritual themes: “Litanies to Our Lady of Rocamadour Black”, Mass in G major, motets.

The cantata "Drought" (1937) for mixed choir and orchestra is written with words by Edward James. The four parts of the cantata - “Locusts”, “Abandoned Village”, “Deceptive Future”, “Skeleton of the Sea” - depict a natural disaster that befell people.

The once fertile valley has been devastated and has become a haven and kingdom for locusts. The powerful hand of drought has erased traces of human habitation, its spirit floats over the silent land, dried up like an empty shell.

The images of the poem are symbolic and cannot be understood straightforwardly. The image of the all-devouring locusts, the evil whirlwind of Drought persistently echo the dark forces of Hitlerism that have come into motion.

At the beginning of the war, Francis Poulenc was drafted into the army, into an anti-aircraft formation, and by the time of the armistice - June 1940 - he ended up in Bordeaux. After being demobilized, he spent the summer with his cousins, again taking up writing. That summer, sketches of a cello sonata were made and a decision was made to write a ballet based on La Fontaine's fables. Work on the ballet continued until 1942.

The theatrical calendar of Paris was very meager and limited during the occupation, and the composition of the audience was not at all the same as before the war - the gray-green uniforms of Hitler's officers flashed, the heels of forged boots clattered.

The musician’s voice of protest sounded in full force in the cantata for double mixed choir a cappella “The Human Face” to the words of Paul Eluard. On the title page, the composer wrote the following lines: “Dedicated to Pablo Picasso, whose work and life I admire.” This inscription symbolically personifies the union of three modern humanist artists of France - Paul Eluard, Francis Poulenc and Pablo Picasso.

Having become acquainted with the poetry of Eluard, Poulenc decided to turn to it twenty years later. He liked to repeat that for many years he had been looking for the key to Eluard’s poems, which were quite difficult for the inexperienced reader.

The cantata “The Human Face” tells the story of the difficult and difficult years of the fascist occupation and reflects the deep feelings and experiences of the French people. The eight parts of the cantata reflect either the poet’s tender appeal to his Motherland or his contempt for the enemy hordes. A large double a cappella choir is required to perform the cantata. At the climax, the number of votes reaches sixteen due to the additional division of parties. The complexity of the performance also lies in the polyphonic richness of the fabric, in the difficulties of intonation-harmonic language and singing technique.

The war and the poems of Paul Eluard, who speaks of the suffering of the people of France, inspired Poulenc to create one of the outstanding choral works of our time - the cantata “The Human Face”.

The opera buffe “The Breasts of Tiresias” in two acts with a prologue was written based on the “surrealist drama” by Guillaume Apollinaire between May and October 1944. Poulenc admitted that “Apollinaire found a response in the eccentric side of my nature”; indeed, the performance shown to Parisians in June 1947 was not just a comedy, but a farce taken to the point of grotesquery.

Few composers of the 20th century had such a happy biography as Francis Poulenc. With some exceptions, each of Poulenc's new works was successfully performed, and he did not have to beg publishers either. Poulenc was truly a darling of fate, not knowing the woeful ordeals of artists forced to constantly knock on the thresholds of publishing houses and concert associations.

A few years after the successful premiere of “The Breasts of Tiresias,” Poulenc wrote an opera, which was a worthy crown and one of the composer’s best creations, his swan song. In the last years of his life, the musician did not create anything that could be placed next to the lyrical tragedy “The Human Voice”.

Poulenc again turned to the work of Jean Cocteau. Previously, other composers had tried to write music for Cocteau's drama The Human Voice, but Poulenc's work was the first to reach the stage.

The play is based on an eternal theme: the grief and suffering of an abandoned woman. The play captures the long minutes of her telephone conversation with her former lover, who is due to marry someone else tomorrow. The only thread connecting this woman with life is the telephone. When she forces herself to stop talking, the phone becomes an unnecessary trinket; nothing can stop her from ending her life.

Poulenc's only performer for this work was Denise Duval, a singer who had collaborated with the composer in previous productions. “If I had not met her, and if she had not entered my life, The Human Voice would never have been written.” (F. Poulenc).

Poulenc called the opera a lyrical tragedy. Let us add that this is a small tragedy of great human feelings.

Despite the apparent banality of the plot, “The Human Voice” is a truly modern and original work with a clearly defined and prominent character of its heroine.

Over the last four years of his life, Poulenc created several more works for voice and choir. A major composition in 1959 was “Gloria” for solo soprano, choir and orchestra.

In 1962, Poulenc wrote two works: one of them, a Sonata for oboe and piano, dedicated to the memory of Sergei Prokofiev, the second, a sonata for clarinet and piano, in memory of Arthur Onneger. Poulenc decided to write a new opera based on the plot of Cocteau’s “The Infernal Machine”.

On February 2, 1962, while the composer was in his apartment in Paris, a heart attack suddenly ended his life.

The creative activity of Francis Poulenc lasted for almost half a century. The composer's musical heritage during this period includes about one hundred and fifty works: three operas, three ballets, cantatas, vocal cycles, a large number of piano and chamber vocal works. Francis Poulenc gained wide recognition both at home and abroad.

Francis Poulenc is a French composer of the 20th century. He was a member of the creative association “Six” and was its youngest member. His talent was lively and spontaneous, which made the composer a favorite of the public and colleagues. He was also distinguished by excellent human qualities: honesty, an excellent sense of humor, openness, and the ability to make selfless friends.

Poulenc's father was a major industrial figure, and his mother was a musician. She began to teach little Francis music and instilled in him a love of beauty. It was to her that he owed his acquaintance with the work of the greatest composers:,. After fifteen years, the Spanish pianist Ricardo Vignes and the French composer Charles Ququelin took up his studies. Thanks to two masters, Poulenc became familiar with the musical creativity of his time, works by, and. During the First World War, Poulenc served in the army and was unable to enter the conservatory. However, immediately after the end of the war, his star shone brightly on the musical horizon of Paris. As an eighteen-year-old boy, he won the hearts of listeners by playing “Negro Rhapsody” (1917) at a concert. This contributed to his creative growth. Following “Negro Rhapsody”, the vocal cycles “Bestiary” and “Cockades” (1919), the plays “Perpetual Motions” (1918), “Walks” (1924), the concert for piano and orchestra “Morning Serenade” (1929), and the ballet were created "Lani" (1924). The latter's production met with incredible critical acclaim.

It should be noted that even the composer’s early works were distinguished by their refined musical taste and close connection with Parisian songs.

In the 1930s, the composer began a twenty-year collaboration with singer Pierre Bernac. Together they gave concerts in Europe and America, Poulenc accompanied the performer who sang works written by him.

Poulenc also created choral works based on religious texts: “Litanies to Our Lady of Rocamadour Black” (1936), “Four Little Prayers of St. Francis of Assisi” (1948). A few years later they were created Stabatmater(1950), Four Christmas Motets, cantata Gloria. These works, different in style, trace the traditions and trends of choral music from different eras.

During World War II, the composer did not leave the capital and shared with the Parisians their fate of living in a besieged city. At this time, he created the cantata “The Human Face” (1943) based on the poems of the underground poet of the Resistance Paul Eluard, which reflected hope for victory and freedom of people, suffering about the fate of his native land, grief about the fate of his native people.

Poulenc also expressed his talent in opera. The first opera, “Breasts Theresia,” written in 1944 to a text by Guillaume Apollinaire, is distinguished by its sparkling humor, in contrast to the two subsequent works, “Dialogues of the Carmelites” (1953) and “” (1958). These are dramas filled with deep psychologism. In all three operas, the title role was performed by the French singer Denise Duval, whose talent delighted the composer.

Before his unexpected death, while actively touring, Poulenc wrote a Sonata for clarinet and piano and a Sonata for oboe and piano.

In total, the composer created about one hundred and fifty works, among which vocal music stands out the most. It is distinguished by simplicity and melody, depth and soulfulness. Francis Poulenc is still famous in France and throughout the world.