Francis Poulenc

Francis (Jean Marcel) Poulenc is one of the most representative figures of the “Les Six” - along with Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric, Louis Durey and Germaine Tailleferre. The group of young French composers in the 1920s were united by aspiration to a new aesthetic, related to the call of the spiritual leader of the avant-garde, the famous writer, poet, playwright, director and artist Jean Cocteau in his essay manifesto “Cock and Harlequin” (1918) for cheerful, earthy music, with the pulse of the present day, restoring the clear picture and the beauty of French melody. Although strongly influenced by the eccentric innovator Erik Satie and Igor Stravinsky, who ruled over the tastes of Paris at that time, Poulenc created his own individual style and left an extremely rich and diverse artworks. His operas (“Dialogues des Carmélites”, “La voix humaine”, “Les Mamelles de Tirésias”), the ballet “The Hinds”, the piano concertos, the dozens of vocal and chamber instrumental opuses, the spiritual Mass, Stabat mater, “Litany to the Black Virgin” nd other church choral works became globally popular.