Francis Poulenc: Mélancolie

"Poulenc's Melancolie is a neo-romantic pastorale, but contains his surprises, ironies, parodies, and wit as well. It was composed in 1940, and sounds very improvisatory. That is the way he composed. Poulenc would first improvise at the piano. Once he had some interesting material, he would add structure to his improvisations. Then he'd invite a group of musician friends to his home, and during the evening informally play his new improvisations for them. If the group was enthusiastic about an improvisation, he would later formalize the work, commit it to score, and submit it to his publisher."

Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include melodies (French art songs), solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. In his early works Poulenc was 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. Among Francis Poulenc's best-known works are the piano suite Trois mouvements perpétuels (1919), the ballet Les biches (1923), the Concert champêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, the opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1957), and the Gloria (1959) for soprano, choir and orchestra.

Tutorial

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• Sheetmusic at imslp.org