About Me
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (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 for the rest of his career.
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, 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 pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Rocamadour , led him to rediscovery of the Catholic faith and resulted in compositions of a more sombre, austere tone.
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 woodwinds, and planned a set of sonatas for all of them, yet only lived to complete four: sonatas for flute, oboe, clarinet, and the Elegie for horn.
Poulenc died of heart failure in Paris in 1963
CONCERT FOR 2 PIANOS AND ORCHESTRA, FIRST MOVEMENT
CONCERT FOR 2 PIANOS AND ORCHESTRA, SECOND MOVEMENT
CONCERT FOR 2 PIANOS AND ORCHESTRA, THIRD MOVEMENT
SONATA POUR 4 MAINS
