FP

Overview

The composer had written a catalogue of his works in 1921, which is reproduced in Schmidt's book. According to this list, the first noted piece was in 1914 Processional pour la crémation d'un mandarin for piano, now lost or destroyed. Poulenc completed his last work, his Oboe Sonata, in 1962.

Piano, chamber music and songs

As a professional pianist, Poulenc wrote many pieces for his own instrument. He was a prolific writer of works of chamber music, often with piano, and some works for two pianos. Poulenc composed many songs (mélodies), most of them accompanied by piano, but some also in versions with a small instrumental ensembles, for example his Rapsodie nègre for baritone, flute, clarinet, string quartet and piano. He composed easily for woodwind instruments, scoring for example a piano trio with oboe and bassoon instead of the traditional violin and cello. Poulenc was less familiar with string instruments. The cellist Pierre Fournier helped him to write the Cello Sonata, which he premiered with the composer as the pianist. Poulenc destroyed all sketches for string quartets and three for violin sonatas, while only the fourth one survived, but was received critically.

Orchestra and stage

Among his works with orchestra are three operas, two ballet, incidental music for plays, film music and concertos, some with unusual solo instruments such as harpsichord and organ. The harpsichordist Wanda Landowska inspired the composition of the Concert champêtre.

Collaboration in the group Les Six

Poulenc was a member of the group of composers Les Six, with Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud and Germaine Tailleferre, and contributed to their collective productions, which included another ballet.

Sacred music and choral music

Poulenc turned to writing also religious music in the 1930s, composing a Mass in G major for a cappella choir. He composed the Stabat Mater in 1950 in memory of the painter Christian Bérard in 1950. The late Gloria for soprano, choir and orchestra became one of his best-known works. He drew inspiration for his sacred compositions mostly from liturgical texts.

List of works by FP number

The Music of Francis Poulenc (1899–1963): A Catalogue, abbreviated FP, is a chronological catalogue of Francis Poulenc's works which was published by Carl B. Schmidt in 1995. Schmidt provides for each known composition, which includes unfinished, unpublished and lost works, a detailed history of composition and performance, and lists manuscripts and publications.

In the table, the works are initially listed by the FP number. Other information given is the French title, a translation if commonly used, the key, the scoring if not clear from the title, the year(s) of composition, the genre, text information, notes and a free score when available, and the page number in the catalogue. Abbreviations used are "rev." for "revised", "orch." for "orchestration", arr. for "arrangement" and "sc." for "score".

In Genre, instrumental pieces are distinguished as orchestral and chamber music, particularly that for piano. The group of stage works contains operas, ballets and incidental music, while film scores are marked separately. Sacred and secular music for voice is divided in choral, for cantatas and motets, and vocal, holding songs and song cycles.

List of works by genre

Stage works

Les mariés de la tour Eiffel, ballet (1921; a collaborative work by all the members of Les Six except Louis Durey); Poulenc's contributions, Discours du General (Polka) and La Baigneuse de Trouville are listed as FP 23 in Schmidt's Poulenc catalog.

Les biches, ballet (1922/23), FP 36

Pastourelle (1927; for the children's ballet L'éventail de Jeanne, to which ten French composers each contributed a dance; this excerpt became better known in its piano transcription), FP 45

Les animaux modèles, ballet (1941), FP 111

Les mamelles de Tirésias, opera (1947), FP 125

Dialogues of the Carmelites, opera (1957) Composed 1953–56, FP 159

La voix humaine, monodrama (1959), FP 171

Orchestral

Sinfonietta, FP 141 (1947)

"Matelote provençale", variation for La guirlande de Campra, FP 153 (1952)

"Bucolique" for Variations sur le nom de Marguerite Long, FP 160 (1954)

Concert champêtre, for harpsichord and orchestra, (1927–1928), FP 49

Aubade, a "Concerto choréographique" for piano and 18 instruments, FP 51 (1929)

Concerto for two pianos and orchestra in D minor (1932), FP 61

Concerto for organ, strings and timpani in G minor (1938), FP 93

Concerto for piano and orchestra (1949) FP 146

Vocal/choral orchestral

Le bal Masqué, secular cantata on poems by Max Jacob (Baritone or mezzo soprano, ensemble) (1932), FP 60

Sécheresses (SATB, orchestra) (1939), FP 90

Litanies à la Vierge Noire (SSA, org) (1936), orchestrated (1947), FP 82

Stabat Mater (Soprano solo, SATB divisi, orchestra) (1950), FP 148

Gloria (Soprano solo, SATB divisi, orchestra) (1959), FP 177

La dame de Monte-Carlo (Soprano solo, orchestra) (1961), FP 180

Sept répons des ténèbres (Child Soprano, Men's Chorus, Children's Chorus, orchestra) (1961–62), FP 181

Chamber/Instrumental

Rapsodie nègre, for flute, clarinet, string quartet, baritone and piano, FP 3 (1917)

Sonata for two clarinets, FP 7 (1918/1945)

Trois mouvements perpétuels for 9 instruments, FP 14 (1946)

Sonata for clarinet and bassoon, FP 32 (1922/1945)

Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone, FP 33 (1922/1945)

Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano, FP 43 (1926)

Bagatelle in D minor for violin and piano, FP 60c (1932)

Villanelle for pipe (pipeau) and piano, FP 74 (1934)

Suite française for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, percussion and harpsichord, FP 80 (1935)

Sextet for piano and wind quintet, FP 100 (1932–9)

Un joueur de flûte berce les ruines, for flute (1942)

Violin Sonata, FP 119 (1942–3/1949)

L'Invitation au Chateau, FP 138 (1947)

Cello Sonata, FP 143 (1940–48)

Flute Sonata, FP 164 (1956–7)

Élégie for horn and piano, FP 168 (1957) In memory of Dennis Brain

Sarabande for guitar, FP 179 (1960)

Piano

Sonata for piano, 4 hands, FP 8

Sonata for 2 pianos, FP 156

L'embarquement pour Cythère, valse-musette for 2 pianos (from film, Le voyage en Amérique), FP 150

Élégie (en accords alternés), for 2 pianos, FP 175

Capriccio for 2 pianos (after Le bal Masqué), FP 155

Choral

Chanson à boire (TTBB) (1922), FP 31

Sept chansons (SATB) (1936), FP 81

Litanies à la vierge noire (SSA, org) (1936), orchestrated (1947), FP 82

Les Petites voix (SSA a cappella) (1936) FP 83 (Madeleine Ley) (I. La Petite Fille sage; II. Le Chien perdu; III. En rentrant de l'école; IV. Le Petit garçon malade; V. Le Hérisson)

Mass in G (SATB) (1937), FP 89

Sécheresses (chorus, orchestra) (1937), FP 90

Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence (SATB): "Vinea mea electa", (1938); "Tenebrae factae sunt", (1938); "Tristis est anima mea", (1938); "Timor et tremor", (1939), FP 97

Exultate Deo (SATB) (1941), FP 109

Salve Regina (SATB) (1941), FP 110

Figure humaine (12 voices) (1943), FP 120

Un soir de neige (6 voices) (1944), FP 126

Chansons françaises: "Margoton va t'a l'iau", (SATB)(1945); "La belle se sied au pied de la tour" (SATBarB) (1945); "Pilons l'orge" (SATBarB) (1945); "Clic, clac, dansez sabots" (TBB) (1945); "C'est la petit' fill' du prince" (SATBarB) (1946); "La belle si nous étions" (TBB) (1946); "Ah! Mon beau laboureur" (SATB) (1945); "Les tisserands" (SATBarB) (1946), FP 130

Quatre petites prières de saint François d’Assise (Men's chorus) (1948), FP 142

Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël (Mixed chorus): "O magnum mysterium" (1952); "Quem vidistis pastores?" (1951); "Videntes stellam" (1951); "Hodie Christus natus est" (1952), FP 152

Vocal

Rapsodie nègre: see Chamber/Instrumental, above.

Toréador chanson hispano-italienne (poem by Jean Cocteau) (1918, revised 1932) FP 11

Le Bestiaire, ou le Cortège d'Orphée pour Baryton et Orchestre de Chambre, FP 15a (poems by Apollinaire) (I: Le dromadaire II: La chèvre du Thibet III: La sauterelle IV: Le dauphin V: L'écrevisse VI: La carpe) (1918–1919)

Le Bestiaire, ou le Cortège d'Orphée pour Baryton et Piano, Trois Melodies Inedites (VII La Colombe, VIII Le Serpent, IX La Puce), FP 15b

Cinq poèmes de Max Jacob (I:"Chanson Bretonne" II:"Cimetière" III:"La petite servante" IV:"Berceuse" V:"Souric et Mouric") (1931), FP 52

Miroirs Brûlants (2 Poems by Paul Eluard. I:"Tu vois le feu du soir" II:"Je nommerai ton front") (1938), FP 98

Poèmes de Ronsard (I:"Attributs", II: "Le tombeau", III: "Ballet", IV: "Je n'ai plus les os", V: "À son page") (1925), FP 38

Chansons Gaillardes (anonymous 17th-century texts, I:"La Maîtresse volage", II: "Chanson à boire", III: "Madrigal", IV: "Invocation aux Parques", V: "Couplets bachiques", VI: "L'Offrande", VII: "La Belle Jeunesse", VIII: "Sérénade") (1925–1926), FP 42

Quatre airs chantés (I:"Air romantique", II: "Air champêtre", III: "Air grave", IV: "Air vif") (1927–28), FP 46

Quatre poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire (1931, FP 58) for voice and piano (I. L'Anguille; II. Carte postale; III. Avant le cinéma; IV. 1904)

A sa guitare (poem by Pierre de Ronsard) (1935), FP 79

Tel jour, telle nuit (poems by Paul Éluard), I: "Bonne journée", II: "Une ruine coquille vide", III. "Le front comme un drapeau perdu", IV. "Une roulotte couverte en tuiles", V. "A toutes brides", VI. "Une herbe pauvre", VII. "Je n'ai envie que de t'aimer", VIII. "Figure de force brûlante et farouche", IX. "Nous avons fait la nuit" (1936–1937), FP 86