Composer of the Week: Poulenc

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Francis Poulenc (1899-1963): Tu as vu la mort

Tu as vu la mort

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), Tu as vu la mort

As war changes Paris, Poulenc searches for hope.

As the rumblings of war reach Paris, Poulenc finds his hidden private life under increasing inspection.

Francis Poulenc was the epitome of Parisian high society: suave, convivial and connected. Or was that how he wanted us to see him? The critic Claude Rostand famously commented that Poulenc was a combination of “moine et voyou” - monk and rogue. This week, we follow the composer from Paris’s artisanal upper class heartland, to the city’s dark underbelly, discovering the moments when the monk and the rogue met face-to-face.

In today’s programme, we’ll hear how Paris changed as the rumblings of war began, and how Poulenc changed too, as he found his hidden private life under increasing inspection… 

Bleuet 
Robert Murray, tenor
Malcolm Martineau, piano

Les Animaux Modèles
BBC Concert Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey, conductor

L’Histoire de Babar
Jean-Marc Luisada, piano
Jeanne Moreau, speaker 

Les Mamelles de Tirésias
Opera Trionfo & Nieuw Ensemble
Hans Pieter Herman, baritone
Renata Arends, soprano
Ed Spanjaard, conductor

Composer of the Week: Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod looks at Poulenc's life and work in the artistic circles of Paris society.

Donald Macleod follows the composer (famously described by one critic as both 'monk and rogue') from Paris's artisanal upper class heartland, to the city's dark underbelly.

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Composer of the Week

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)

Tu as vu la mort

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