Francis Poulenc

A French composer and pianist belonging to the famous group Les Six (which also included Milhaud, Honegger, Auric, Tailleferre, and Durey). He was born in Paris in 1899, and his musical vocation appeared relatively early. At the age of 17, he established contact with the eccentric composer Erik Satie, who had a huge influence on Poulenc's creativity. He composed his first work a year later, which was 'Rapsodie nÃ¨gre'. At that time, he was mainly interested in the music of the classical and romantic eras.
In 1920, he founded the group Les Six as a response to the excessive influence of conservative French composers associated with Schola Cantorum and the imposing impressionism of Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and CÃ©sar Franck. The works created in the 1920s were saturated with elements of contemporary trends in music such as dodecaphonism and jazz, which interested the composer. In 1924, the ballet 'Les biches' was created, produced by the Russian entrepreneur Sergei Diaghilev, whose choreography was developed by BronisÅawa NiÅ¼yÅska.
After 1937, he focused mainly on creating sacred music and opera. This was related to the profound internal transformation that occurred in this composer, thanks to which many religious works were created, such as 'Stabat Mater' and 'Gloria'. Poulenc collaborated with many outstanding poets; in 1946, the opera 'Les mamelles de TirÃ©sias' was created to the text of G. Appollinaire, in 1957 'Les dialogues des carmÃ©lites' to the text of G. Bernanos, and a year later 'GÅosy ludzkie' to the text of J. Cocteau.
The composer's works that are also worth mentioning include 'Concert champÃªtre' for harpsichord and chamber orchestra, a concert for organ, string instruments, and timpani, a concert for two pianos, 'Aubade', sinfonietta, sonata for flute and piano.
The composer died in 1963 in his hometown of Paris.