Partner
Richard Chanlaire,
Pierre Bernac
Queer Places:
2 Place des Saussaies, 75008 Paris, France
Lycée Condorcet, 8 Rue du Havre, 75009 Paris, Francia
Le Grande Coteau, Chemin Francis Poulenc, 37210 Noizay, Francia
5 Rue de Médicis, 75006 Paris, France
Père Lachaise Cemetery, 16 Rue du Repos, 75020 Paris, Francia
Francis
Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963) was a French
composer and pianist. His compositions include
mélodies,
solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and
orchestral concert music. Among the best-known are the piano suite
Trois mouvements perpétuels (1919), the ballet
Les
biches (1923), the
Concert champêtre (1928) for
harpsichord and orchestra, the
Organ Concerto (1938), the opera
Dialogues des Carmélites (1957), and the
Gloria (1959) for
soprano,
choir and orchestra. Poulenc's songs found their admirable interpreter in his
companion, Pierre Bernac.
As the only son of a prosperous manufacturer Poulenc was expected to follow
his father into the family firm, and he was not allowed to enrol at a music
college. Largely self-educated musically, he studied with the pianist
Ricardo Viñes, who became his mentor after the composer's parents died.
Poulenc soon came under the influence of
Erik
Satie, under whose tutelage he became one of a group of young composers
known collectively as
Les Six.
In his early works Poulenc became known for his high spirits and irreverence.
During the 1930s a much more serious side to his nature emerged, particularly
in the religious music he composed from 1936 onwards, which he alternated with
his more light-hearted works.
In addition to composing, Poulenc was an accomplished pianist. He was
particularly celebrated for his performing partnerships with the
baritone
Pierre Bernac (who also advised him in vocal writing) and the soprano
Denise Duval, touring in Europe and America with each, and making many
recordings. He was among the first composers to see the importance of the
gramophone, and he recorded extensively from 1928 onwards.
In his later years, and for decades after his death, Poulenc had a
reputation, particularly in his native country, as a humorous, lightweight
composer, and his religious music was often overlooked. During the 21st
century more attention has been given to his serious works, with many new
productions of Dialogues des Carmélites and
La voix humaine worldwide, and numerous live and recorded performances
of his songs and choral music.
Francis Poulenc by Jean de Gaigneron
The biographer Richard D. E. Burton comments that, in the late 1920s,
Poulenc might have seemed to be in an enviable position: professionally
successful and independently well-off, having inherited a substantial fortune
from his father.[56]
He bought a large country house, Le Grande Coteau, at
Noizay,
Indre-et-Loire, 140 miles (230 km) south-west of Paris, where he retreated to
compose in peaceful surroundings.[56]
Yet he was troubled, struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, which was
predominantly homosexual. His first serious affair was with the painter
Richard Chanlaire, to whom he sent a copy of the Concert champêtre
score inscribed, "You have changed my life, you are the sunshine of my thirty
years, a reason for living and working".[57]
Nevertheless, while this affair was in progress Poulenc proposed marriage to
his friend Raymonde Linossier. As she was not only well aware of his
homosexuality but was also romantically attached elsewhere, she refused him,
and their relationship became strained.[58][59]
He suffered the first of many periods of depression, which affected his
ability to compose, and he was devastated in January 1930 when Linossier died
suddenly at the age of 32. On her death he wrote, "All my youth departs with
her, all that part of my life that belonged only to her. I sob ... I am now
twenty years older".[58]
His affair with Chanlaire petered out in 1931, though they remained lifelong
friends.[60]
On 30 January 1963, at his flat opposite the
Jardin du Luxembourg, Poulenc suffered a fatal heart attack. His funeral
was at the nearby church of
Saint-Sulpice. In compliance with his wishes, none of his music was
performed;
Marcel Dupré played works by
Bach on the grand organ of the church.[67]
Poulenc was buried at
Père Lachaise Cemetery, alongside his family.[108][114]
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