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Francis Poulenc ( 1899-1963 ) is one of the most important French composers in the early 20th -century. Influenced by Neo-classicism, Poulenc developed his own personal musical language which is light, humorous, and sagacious. He wrote in many different musical genres during his life, including ballet, opera, piano, vocal, choral, and chamber music. In 1936, after his good friend Pierre-Octave Ferroud¡¦ sudden death in a car accident and religious experience in Rocamadour, Poulenc started to compose choral music, including Petites Voix. Petites Voix, completed in 1936, includes five short pieces for three-part treble voices. Poulenc chose five lovely poems as the text from Madeleina Ley¡¦s poetry Petites Voix, and created five short choral songs. La Petite Fille Sage ( The Good Little Girl ) describes a substantial day of a little girl. Le Chien Perdu ( The Lost Dog ) is a conversation between a kid and a dog. En Renreant de L¡¦école ( On the Way Home from School ) describes the surprising things that happened on the way home from school. Le Petit Garçon Malade ( The Little Sick Boy ) describes a sick boy whose mind is full of feelings of helplessness. Le Hérisson ( The Hedgehog ) talks about a father who brings a Hedgehog home and some funny things happen in the family. Each song describes a little story happening in daily life from a child¡¦s point of view, and Poulenc has put these texts to music with excellent technique to express childlike innocence. This master report consists of seven parts. The first part is an introduction. It is followed by background of early 20th-century french music, a biographic sketch of Poulenc life, characteristics of Poulenc secular choral works, a biographic sketch of Madeleina Ley life, analysis of Petites Voix, and interpretation of Petites Voix. The last part is the conclusion. There are three appendices at the end of this paper. Appendix A contains the phonetic alphabets and the general rules of French diction. Appendix B offers the translation and a French pronunciation guide for the lyrics of these five pieces. Appendix C is a list of Poulenc choral works

After World War I, a significant change for the concepts of culture and art occurred in France, which eventually causes a cultural revolution. Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) experienced such a transformation and became one of the most important French composers and pianists in the twentieth century. He was a member of the French group Les Six; his music was therefore often considered informal. However, those who had ever listened to his music were impressed deeply by the graceful melodies and rich harmonies presented in his works. Poulenc was prolific, producing a total number of 34 opuses for piano. In particular, he finished most of his outstanding works in the 1930s, of which Nocturnes is the most representative. Nocturnes is characterized by two main elements generally found in Poulenc¡¦s works, referred to as Neo-classicism and Popular Music, from which the characteristics of his piano music can be realized comprehensively. The primary purpose of this thesis is to thoroughly discuss Poulenc¡¦s famous piano pieces Nocturnes. The thesis is organized as follows. Firstly, the development of French cultures in the early twentieth century is introduced particularly with a historical perspective. In Chapter 2, Poulenc¡¦s life and his composition style are presented, followed by an emphasis on the unique characteristics of his piano music. Chapter 3 describes the background when Poulenc composed Nocturnes, with a discussion of the skills required for the interpretation. It is anticipated that this study is capable of offering the understanding of Poulenc¡¦s piano music.

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Notre projet a pour but de mettre en lumière les sources documentaires de Dialogues des Carmélites, la deuxième œuvre lyrique de Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). Le parcours vers la version « ultime » de cette œuvre fut si compliqué que le compositeur a laissé de nombreux documents à examiner. De plus, Poulenc a effectué plusieurs fois la révision de la musique, surtout pour la création milanaise de janvier 1957, mais aussi pour la création parisienne en juin de la même année. Dialogues des Carmélites est une œuvre dont les « versions définitives » ont été souvent rejetées par le compositeur lui-même. Nos analyses sont organisées autour des deux grands axes suivants : l’un est les recherches et les analyses des sources documentaires, l’autre est l’analyse de la musique à travers des partitions manuscrites et imprimées. Dans le premier chapitre, nous abordons l’aspect chronologique documentaire du sujet en montrant les sources intéressantes touchant notre compositeur. De nombreuses sources et leurs particularités, notamment les partitions et les listes de remaniement que nous traitons dans cette étude nous ont permis de cerner la chronologie de la composition de cet opéra. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous examinons l’écriture musicale du compositeur et sa progression dans l’œuvre. Le dernier chapitre concerne principalement la réception de l’œuvre. Les critiques de la presse nous montrent la réaction internationale et française aux créations de l’œuvre, qui est accueillie par de nombreux spectateurs aujourd’hui encore dans le monde entier. / Our project intends to bring to light the documentary sources for Dialogues des Carmélites, Francis Poulenc’s second opera. The road to the « definitive » version of this work was so complicated that the composer’s documents left to analyse are numerous. Furthermore, Poulenc himself often reviewed the music, particularly for the January 1957 Milanese creation, as well as for the June 1957 Parisian creation. Indeed, Dialogues des Carmélites is a work whose « definitive versions » have often been rejected by their composer. Our analyses are organised around two main axes: one pertains the researches and analyses of the documentary sources, the other concerns the study of the music through the handwritten and printed scores. In the first chapter, we tackle the chronological documentary aspect of the topic, showing the interesting sources concerning the composer. The abundance of these sources and their peculiarities, with particular reference to the scores and the reworking lists, will allow us to define the compositional chronology of this opera. In the second chapter, we examine the composer’s musical notation and its progression in Dialogues des Carmélites. Finally, the last chapter focuse mainly on the reception of the audiences. Press reviews will illustrate the international and French reactions to the various creations of the opera, a work still widely praised all over the world.

In 1959 French composer Francis Poulenc composed the opera La Voix humaine based on Jean Cocteau’s original play (1928). La Voix humaine is a one-act opera for soprano. The main character, Elle, spends the opera on the phone with her ex-lover who is marrying another the next day. Many musicians believe this opera is difficult or impossible to update, due to the use of the telephone and its dated operator system, which is a large aspect of the action and drama. This document provides the reader with a new interpretation of the opera with modern technology. Chapter One begins with a brief history of the creators of the play and opera, Jean Cocteau and Francis Poulenc. It delves into their early years, leading up to their time involved with Les Six. Chapter Two discusses Cocteau’s vision and creation of the play and continues to his collaboration with Poulenc on the opera. Chapter Three offers a view of how the phone plays a large part in the play, continues to the telephone’s function during the time period the play was written, and concludes with a look at how current technology may be applied to an updated interpretation of the opera. Chapter Four provides a look at the sections of the libretto that is linked to the telephone, thus making its use unavoidable in certain portions of the opera while providing musical examples. It also discusses how the libretto poses a problem with a modern-day telephone system and how to address these issues. Chapter Five presents ways to incorporate the use of an iPad into the second section of the opera, through analysis and interpretation of the text. Chapter Six gives a look into modern research on technology and its effects on mental health, following with how this research can be applied to a modern interpretation of the work and Elle’s untimely suicide due to effects of technology addiction. This chapter also discusses how the text and music support these ideas. Finally, the conclusion summarizes main ideas and their application into the opera.

Because of the nature of the poetry, the interpretation of Banalites in this study has involved certain subjective decisions. These deductions were, nevertheless, colored by statements of the poet, the composer, and authorities on each. This is not to imply, however, that this is the only interpretation. Both poet and composer have given evidence that their creation requires a subjective response on the part of the interpreter. This is perhaps the greatest challenge offered by the work.

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À la mémoire de Serge Prokofieff står högst upp på första sidan av Oboesonaten, FP 185 av Francis Poulenc. Stycket komponerades år 1962 och är Poulencs sista komposition, som han aldrig har fått möjligheten att höra innan han dog samma år. Under åren har Poulenc tillägnat sina verk till många vänner och bekanta. Sitt sista verk tillägnar han sin vän som han beundrar väldigt mycket, dvs. Prokofjev. Detta är en vinkel som jag länge har velat fördjupa mig i. Under studieåren har många lärare dragit kopplingar mellan oboesonaten och vissa verk av Prokofjev, som t.ex. baletten Romeo och Julia. Så jag har valt undersöka ämnet och se om det finns tydliga influenser av Prokofjevs musik i oboesonaten samt också att klargöra om huruvida stycket är karaktäristiskt för Poulencs stil som kommer från en fransk musiktradition. För att utöka mina kunskaper och för att bilda en större kontext om båda kompositörerna, har jag börjat med att läsa biografier om dessa. Även en utförlig analys av oboesonaten har genomförts. Genom att lyssna på verk av båda tonsättarna samt genom att titta i partitur har jag kunnat ta ut vissa ställen som kunde jämföras för att hjälpa mig vidare i min undersökning. Dessa ställen har jag lagt sida vid sida för en mer detaljerad analys och jämförelse. Jag upptäckte att det fanns en del likheter mellan oboesonaten och Prokofjevs musik, däremot mycket fler likheter mellan oboesonaten och andra verk av Poulenc. Det finns många närvarande kompositionsdrag som berättar att stycket är mycket karaktäristiskt för Poulencs sätt att skriva musik. Dock kan man också se en del kompositionsegenskaper som föredras av Prokofjev. Min slutsats är att det finns influenser av Prokofjev, men också att oboesonaten är Poulencs egen tillbakablick till ett rikt och händelsefullt liv samt en medryckande karriär. Att kunna känna igen dessa referenser till Prokofjev och till Poulencs tidigare musik bidrar till att man som musiker kan skapa en mer utförlig interpretation av stycket. Att förmedla kompositörens tankar är en stor del av en musikers jobb. Därför anser jag att det är viktigt att tolkningen av ett stycke stämmer överens i så stor utsträckning som möjligt med tonsättarens idéer. / <p>F Poulenc: Oboesonat, FP 185</p><p></p><p>Medverkande:</p><p>Gabriela Dogaru - oboe</p><p>Katarina Ström-Harg - piano</p>

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