This is a list of works written by the French composer Francis Poulenc (1899–1963).
As a pianist, Poulenc composed many pieces for his own instrument in his piano music and chamber music. He wrote works for orchestra including several concertos, also three operas, two ballets, incidental music for plays and film music. He composed songs (mélodies), often on texts by contemporary authors. His religious music includes the Mass in G major, the Stabat Mater and Gloria.
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.
Songs
For his songs and song cycles, he often collaborated with contemporary poets, setting poems by writers such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Louis Aragon, Paul Éluard, Max Jacob, Federico García Lorca, and Louise de Vilmorin, whom he mentioned in titles. He further set poems by Théodore de Banville, Maurice Carême, Colette, Robert Desnos, Maurice Fombeure, Marie Laurencin, Madeleine Ley, François de Malherbe, Ronsard, Jean Moréas, Jean Nohain and Paul Valéry, among others. In 1943, during the occupation of France, a cantata Figure humaine on poems by Éluard which celebrate Liberté.
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.
FP | Year | Title | Genre | Scoring | Text | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1914 | Processional pour la crémation d'un mandarin | piano | destroyed or lost p. 11 | |||
2 | 1916 | Préludes | piano | destroyed | |||
3 | 1917 (rev. 1933) | Rapsodie nègre | vocal | Makoko Kangourou (Marcel Prouille and Charles Moulié) | sc. | ||
4 | 1917 | Scherzo for two pianos Zèbre | piano | destroyed or lost (fragment) | |||
5 | 1918 | Trois Pastorales | piano | ||||
6 | 1918 | Poème sénégalais | vocal | destroyed or lost | |||
7 | 1919 | Sonata for two clarinets | chamber | dedicated to Édouard Souberbielle · sc. | |||
7b | 1925 | Sonata | piano | piano version of FP 7 | |||
8 | 1918 (rev. 1939) | Sonata for piano 4 hands | piano | dedicated to Simone Tilliard · sc. | |||
9 | 1918 | Prélude-Percussion | solo | percussion | destroyed or lost | ||
10 | 1918 | Le Jongleur | piano | destroyed or lost | |||
11 | 1918 (rev. 1932) | Toréador chanson hispano-italienne | vocal | Jean Cocteau | sc. | ||
12 | 1918 | Violin Sonata | chamber | destroyed or lost | |||
13 | 1918 | Sonata for piano trio | chamber | destroyed or lost | |||
14a | 1918 (rev. 1939, 1962) | Trois mouvements perpétuels | piano | sc. · p. 32 | |||
14b | 1925 (rev. 1939, 1962) | Trois mouvements perpétuels | chamber | arr. of FP 14a | |||
15a | 1919 | Le Bestiaire (ou Cortège d’Orphée) | vocal | Guillaume Apollinaire | sc. | ||
15b | 1922 | Le Bestiaire (ou Cortège d’Orphée) | vocal | arr. of FP 15a | |||
16a | 1919 | Cocardes | vocal | Cocteau | dedicated to Auric · sc. | ||
16b | 1939 | Cocardes | vocal | arr. of FP 16a | |||
17a | 1919 | Valse in C | piano | part of L'Album des Six · sc. | |||
17b | 1932 | Valse in C | orchestral | orch. of FP 17a | |||
18 | 1919 | Quadrille for piano 4 hands | piano | lost or destroyed | |||
19 | 1920 (rev. 1926) | Piano Suite | piano | sc. | |||
20a | 1920–21 | Le Gendarme incompris | stage (opera) | Cocteau and Raymond Radiguet | lyric comedy in one act | ||
20b | 1921 | Le Gendarme incompris (suite) | chamber | sc. | |||
21 | 1920–21 | 5 Impromptus | piano | sc. | |||
22 | 1921 | Quatre poèmes de Max Jacob | vocal | Max Jacob | dedicated to Darius Milhaud | ||
/1 | 1921 | La baigneuse de Trouville (Carte Postale en couleurs) | stage (ballet) | orchestra | part of the collaborative Les mariés de la tour Eiffel, ballet by Cocteau | ||
23/2 | 1921 | Discours du Général (Polka) | stage (ballet) | orchestra | part of the collaborative Les mariés de la tour Eiffel, ballet by Cocteau | ||
24 | 1921 (rev. 1952) | Promenades | piano | sc. | |||
25 | 1921 | Esquisse pour une fanfare | orchestral | sc., overture for Act V of Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet | |||
26 | 1921 | 3 Etudes for pianola | piano | lost or destroyed | |||
27 | 1921 | Première suite d'orchestre | orchestral | lost or destroyed | |||
28 | 1921 | String Quartet no. 1 | chamber | lost or destroyed | |||
29 | 1921 | Trio for piano, clarinet and cello | chamber | lost or destroyed | |||
30 | 1921 | Military marches for piano and orchestra | orchestral | lost or destroyed (fragments) | |||
31 | 1922 | Chanson à boire | choral | men's choir | anonymous texts of the 17th century, English by J. V. Hugo | sc. | |
32a | 1922 | Sonata for clarinet and bassoon | chamber | sc. | |||
32b | 1945 | Sonata | piano | piano version of FP 32a | |||
33a | 1922 | Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone | chamber | ||||
33b | 1945 | Sonata | piano | piano version of FP 33a | |||
34 | 1922 | Caprice espagnol | piano | lost or destroyed | |||
35 | 1923 | La colombe | stage (opera) | recitatives for Charles Gounod's opera | |||
36 | 1922 | Les biches | stage (ballet) | sc. | |||
36b | 1939–40 | Les biches (Suite) | orchestral | from FP 36a | |||
36c | 1923 | Les biches (Suite) | orchestral | from FP 36 | |||
37 | 1923 | Clarinet Quintet | chamber | lost or destroyed | |||
38a | 1924–25 | Poèmes de Pierre Ronsard | vocal | Pierre Ronsard | sc. | ||
38b | 1924–25 | Poèmes de Pierre Ronsard | vocal | orch. of 38a | |||
39 | 1924–25 | Violin Sonata No. 2 | chamber | lost or destroyed | |||
40 | 1922–25 | Napoli | piano | sc. | |||
41 | 1925 | Dorfmusikanten-Sextett von Mozart | lost or destroyed | ||||
42 | 1925 | Chansons gaillardes | vocal | sc. | |||
43 | 1926 | Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano | chamber | sc. | |||
44 | 1927 | Vocalise | vocal | ||||
45 | 1927 | Pastourelle | stage (ballet) | part of the collaborative L'Éventail de Jeanne by ten composers | |||
45b | 1927 | Pastourelle | piano | piano version of FP 45a, sc. | |||
46 | 1927–28 | Airs chantés | vocal | Jean Moréas | sc. | ||
47 | 1927–28 (rev. 1939) | Novelettes | piano | sc. | |||
48 | 1928 (rev. 1953) | 3 Pieces | piano | sc. | |||
49 | 1927–29 | Concert champêtre | orchestral | sc. | |||
50a | 1929 | Pièce brève sur le nom d'Albert Roussel | piano | No. 3 of the collaborative Hommage à Roussel (2 mélodies and 6 pièces for piano by Conrad Beck, Roger Delage, Arthur Honegger, Arthur Hoérée, Jacques Ibert, Darius Milhaud and Alexandre Tansman) published in addition to the Revue musicale (April 1929) | |||
50b | 1949 | Pièce brève sur le nom d'Albert Roussel | orchestral | orch. of FP 50a | |||
51a | 1929 | Aubade, concerto chorégraphique | stage (ballet) | sc | |||
51b | 1929 | Aubade | piano | piano version of FP 51a | |||
52 | 1929 | Fanfare | lost or destroyed | ||||
53 | 1929 | Valse | piano | lost or destroyed | |||
54 | 1929 | Violin Sonata No. 3 | chamber | lost or destroyed | |||
55 | 1930 | Épitaphe | vocal | François de Malherbe | sc. | ||
56 | 1929–30 | 8 Nocturnes | piano | sc. | |||
57 | 1931 | Trois poèmes de Louise Lalanne | vocal | Louise Lalanne | sc. | ||
58 | 1931 | Quatre poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire | vocal | Apollinaire | sc. | ||
59 | 1931 | Cinq poèmes de Max Jacob | vocal | Jacob | sc. | ||
1932 | Le Bal masqué | vocal | Jacob | composed for Marie-Laure and Charles de Noailles · sc. | |||
60.I | 1932 | Caprice | piano | piano version of Final from FP 60 | |||
60.II | 1932 | Intermède | piano | from FP 60.I | |||
60.III | 1932 | Bagatelle | chamber | excerpts from FP 60.I | |||
61 | 1932 | Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra | orchestral | sc. | |||
62 | 1932 | Valse-improvisation sur le nom de BACH | piano | No. 3 of the collaborative Hommage à J. S. Bach (with Albert Roussel, Alfredo Casella, Gian Francesco Malipiero and Arthur Honegger), sc. | |||
63 | 1932–34 | 10 Improvisations | piano | sc. | |||
64 | 1933 | Intermezzo | stage (incidental) | incidental music for Jean Giraudoux's play | |||
65 | 1933 | Villageoises 6 petites pièces enfantines | piano | sc. | |||
66 | 1932 | Pierrot | vocal | Théodore de Banville | |||
67 | 1932 | Petrus | lost or destroyed | ||||
68 | 1933 | Feuillets d’album | piano | sc. | |||
69 | 1934 | Huit chansons polonaises | vocal | anonymous in French and Polish | sc. | ||
70 | 1934 | Presto in B major | piano | dedicated to Vladimir Horowitz · sc. | |||
71 | 1934 | 2 Intermezzi | piano | sc. | |||
72 | 1934 | Humoresque | piano | ||||
73 | 1934 | Badinage | piano | ||||
74 | 1934 | Villanelle | chamber | dedicated to Louise Hanson-Dyer | |||
75 | 1934–35 | Quatre chansons pour enfants | vocal | Jean Nohain | |||
76 | 1936 | La Belle au bois dormant | film | music for the commercial film by Alexandre Alexeieff | |||
77 | 1935 | Cinq poèmes de Paul Éluard | vocal | Paul Éluard | sc. | ||
78 | 1935 | La Reine Margot | stage (incidental)) | incidental music for Édouard Bourdet's play, in collaboration with Auric | |||
79a | 1935 | À sa guitare | vocal | Ronsard | after FP 78 · sc | ||
79b | 1935 | À sa guitare | vocal | orch. of 79a | |||
80a | 1935 | Suite française d'après Claude Gervaise | chamber | sc. | |||
80b | 1935 | Suite française | piano | piano version of Fp80a | |||
81 | 1936 | Sept Chansons | choral | choir | 1 & 6: Apollinaire; 2–5 & 7: Éluard | sc. | |
82a | 1936 | Litanies à la Vierge Noire Notre-Dame de Rocamadour | choral | sc. | |||
82b | 1947 | Litanies à la Vierge Noire | choral | orch. of FP 82a | |||
83 | 1936 | Petites Voix | choral | 3-part women's (or children's) choir | Madeleine Ley | ||
84 | 1930–36 | Soirées de Nazelles | piano | sc. | |||
85 | 1936 | Plains-chants de Cocteau | vocal | lost or destroyed | |||
86 | 1936–37 | Tel jour telle nuit | vocal | Éluard | sc. | ||
87 | 1937 | Bourrée, au pavillon d’Auvergne | piano | part of the collaborative À l’exposition, 1937 · sc. | |||
88 | 1937 | Deux marches et un intermède | orchestral | sc. | |||
89 | 1937 | Mass in G major | choral | sc. · p. 288 | |||
90 | 1937 | Sécheresses | choral | Edward James | sc. | ||
91 | 1937 | Trois poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin | vocal | Louise de Vilmorin | |||
92 | 1938 | Le Portrait | vocal | Colette | |||
93 | 1934–38 | Organ Concerto | orchestral | ||||
94 | 1938 | Deux poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire | vocal | Apollinaire | sc. | ||
95 | 1938 | Priez pour paix | vocal | Charles d'Orléans | sc. | ||
96 | 1938 | La Grenouillère | vocal | Apollinaire | sc. | ||
97 | 1938–39 | Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence | choral | mixed choir | sc. · p. 288–292 | ||
98 | 1938–39 | Miroirs brûlants | vocal | Éluard | sc. · p. 293–294 | ||
99 | 1939 | Ce doux petit visage | vocal | Éluard | sc. | ||
100 | 1932 (rev. 1939–40) | Sextet | chamber | sc. | |||
101 | 1939 | Fiançailles pour rire | vocal | Vilmorin | |||
102 | 1939 | Bleuet | vocal | Apollinaire | |||
103 | 1939 | Française | piano | sc. | |||
104 | 1939 | Deux préludes posthumes et une gnossienne | orchestral | chamber orchestra | orch. of pieces by Erik Satie | ||
105 | 1940 | Mélancolie | piano | sc. | |||
106 | 1940 | Léocadia | stage (incidental) | incidental music for Jean Anouilh's play · lost but for FP 106-Ia | |||
106-Ia | 1940 | Les Chemins de l'amour | vocal | Jean Anouilh | sung waltz from FP 106 · sc. | ||
106-Ib | 1940 | Les Chemins de l'amour | vocal | orch. of FP 106-Ia | |||
107 | 1940 | Banalités | vocal | Apollinaire | sc. | ||
108 | 1940 | Colloque | vocal | Paul Valéry | |||
109 | 1941 | Exultate Deo | choral | 4-part choir | sc. | ||
110 | 1941 | Salve Regina | choral | 4-part choir | sc. | ||
111a | 1940–41 | Les Animaux modèles | stage (ballet) | ||||
111b | 1942 | Les Animaux modèles (Suite) | orchestral | six movements from FP 111a | |||
112 | 1941 | La Fille du jardinier | stage (incidental) | incidental music for Charles Exbrayat's play | |||
113 | 1941 | 2 Improvisations | piano | sc. | |||
114 | 1941 | Un joueur de flûte berce les ruines | chamber | flute | unpublished | ||
115 | 1941 | String Trio | chamber | lost or destroyed | |||
116 | 1942 | La Duchesse de Langeais | film | music for the film by Jacques de Baroncelli, adapted from Honoré de Balzac's novel by Jean Giraudoux | |||
117a | 1942 | Chansons villageoises | vocal | Maurice Fombeure | |||
117b | 1942 | Chansons villageoises | vocal | orch. of FP 117a | |||
118 | 1943 | 3 Intermezzi | piano | sc. | |||
119 | 1942–43 (rev. 1949) | Violin Sonata | chamber | sc. · p. 330–332 | |||
120 | 1943 | Figure humaine | choral | 12-part choir | Éluard | p. 333–335 | |
121 | 1943 | Métamorphoses | vocal | Vilmorin | |||
122 | 1943 | Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon | vocal | Louis Aragon | |||
123 | 1943 | Le Voyageur sans bagage | film | music for the film by Jean Anouilh | |||
124 | 1944 | La Nuit de la Saint-Jean | stage (incidental) | incidental music for the play by J. M. Barrie | |||
125 | 1944 | Les Mamelles de Tirésias | stage (opera) | Apollinaire | sc. | ||
126 | 1944 | Un soir de neige | choral | 4-6-part mixed choir | Éluard | sc. | |
127-1 | 1941–45 | Montparnasse | vocal | Apollinaire | |||
127-2 | 1945 | Hyde Park | vocal | Apollinaire | |||
128 | 1945 | Le Soldat et la Sorcière | stage (incidental) | incidental music for the play by Armand Salacrou | |||
129 | 1940–45 | L'Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant | vocal | Jean de Brunhoff | orch. by Jean Françaix, sc. | ||
130 | 1945 | Huit chansons françaises | choral | sc. | |||
131 | 1946 | Deux mélodies sur des poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire | vocal | Apollinaire | |||
132 | 1946 | Paul et Virginie | vocal | Raymond Radiguet | sc. | ||
133 | 1946 | String Quartet no. 2 | chamber | lost or destroyed | |||
134 | 1947 | Le Disparu | vocal | Robert Desnos | |||
135 | 1947 | Main dominée par le cœur | vocal | Éluard | sc. | ||
136 | 1947 | Trois chansons de Federico García Lorca | vocal | Federico García Lorca | |||
137 | 1947 | Mais mourir | vocal | Éluard | |||
138 | 1947 | L'Invitation au château | stage (incidenal) | incidental music for Jean Anouilh's play | |||
139 | 1947 | Amphitryon | stage (incidental) | incidental music for Molière's 1668 play for the compagnie Renaud-Barrault at the théâtre Marigny | |||
140 | 1948 | Calligrammes | vocal | Apollinaire | |||
141 | 1947 | Sinfonietta | orchestral | sc. | |||
142 | 1948 | Quatre petites prières de saint François d’Assise | choral | 4-part men's choir | Francis of Assisi | sc. | |
143 | 1940–48 (rev. 1953) | Cello Sonata | chamber | sc. · p. 393–395 | |||
144 | 1947 | Hymne | vocal | Jean Racine | sc. | ||
145 | 1949 | Les Bijoux de poitrine, mazurka | vocal | Vilmorin | part of the collaborative song cycle Les Mouvements du cœur in memory of Frédéric Chopin, with Darius Milhaud, Henri Sauguet, Auric, Jean Françaix and Léon Preger, premiered by bass Doda Conrad | ||
146 | 1949 | Piano Concerto | orchestral | sc. | |||
147 | 1950 | La Fraîcheur et le Feu | vocal | Éluard | |||
148 | 1950–51 | Stabat Mater | choral | sc. | |||
149 | 1951 | Le Voyage en Amérique | piano | 2 pianos | music for the film by Henri Lavorel | ||
150 | 1951 | L'Embarquement pour Cythère | piano | 2 pianos | Valse musette after FP 149 · sc. | ||
151 | 1951 | Thème varié | piano | sc. | |||
152 | 1951–52 | Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël | choral | 4-part choir | sc. · p. 417–419 | ||
153 | 1952 | Matelote provençale | orchestral | part of the colleborative La guirlande de Campra | |||
154 | 1952 | Ave verum corpus | choral | 3-part women's chorus | sc. | ||
155 | 1952 | Capriccio | piano | 2 pianos | after Le Bal masqué FP 60, dedicated to Samuel Barber | ||
156 | 1953 | Sonate for two pianos | piano | ||||
157 | 1954 | Parisiana | vocal | Jacob | sc. | ||
158 | 1954 | Rosemonde | vocal | Apollinaire | sc. | ||
159 | 1956 | Dialogues of the Carmelites | stage (opera) | Georges Bernanos | sc. | ||
160 | 1954 | Bucolique | orchestral | part of the collaborative Variations sur le nom de Marguerite Long | |||
161 | 1956 | Le Travail du peintre | vocal | Éluard | |||
162 | 1956 | Two mélodies | vocal | 1: Apollinaire, 2: Laurence de Beylié | |||
163 | 1956 | Dernier Poème | vocal | Desnos | sc. | ||
164 | 1956–57 | Flute Sonata | chamber | sc. | |||
165 | 1957 | Ave Maria | lost or destroyed | ||||
166 | 1957 | Bassoon Sonata | chamber | lost or destroyed | |||
167 | 1956 | Vive Nadia | vocal | homage to Nadia Boulanger | |||
168 | 1957 | Élégie pour cor et piano | chamber | homage to Dennis Brain | |||
169 | 1956 | Une chanson de porcelaine | vocal | Éluard | |||
170 | 1958 | Improvisation 13–14 | piano | sc. | |||
171 | 1958 | La voix humaine | stage (opera) | Cocteau | sc. | ||
172 | 1957–59 | Laudes de saint Antoine de Padoue | choral | 3-part men's choir | sc. | ||
173 | 1958–59 | Novelette | piano | sc. | |||
174 | 1959 | Fancy | vocal | after Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice | sc. | ||
175 | 1959 | Elegy for 2 pianos | piano | homage to Marguerite de Polignac (called Marie-Blanche) · sc. | |||
176 | 1959 | Improvisation 15 | piano | homage to Édith Piaf · sc. | |||
177 | 1959 | Gloria | choral | sc. | |||
178 | 1960 | La Courte Paille | vocal | Maurice Carême | |||
179 | 1960 | Sarabande for guitar | chamber | dedicated to Ida Presti · sc. | |||
1961 | La Dame de Monte-Carlo | vocal | Cocteau | ||||
181 | 1961 | Sept répons des ténèbres | choral | sc. | |||
182 | 1961 | Nos souvenirs qui chantent | vocal | Tatry | |||
183 | 1962 | Renaud et Armide | stage (incidental) | incidental music for Cocteau's 1943 play | |||
184 | 1962 | Clarinet Sonata | chamber | sc. | |||
185 | 1962 | Oboe Sonata | chamber | sc. | |||
?? | 1950 | Ce siècle a cinquante ans | film | orchestra | music for the documentary directed by Denise Batcheff, Roland Tual and, composed in collaboration with Auric, Henri Sauguet and Jean Wiener |
See main article: List of solo piano compositions by Francis Poulenc.