Francis Poulenc Sheet Music

About Francis Poulenc

(1899-1963) 20th Century music - France

Francis Poulenc was born in Paris in 1899 into a passionately musical family. He very early started to study the piano, though he received no official instruction. At the age of 18, Poulenc triumphed with his Mouvements Perpetuels for piano.

Poulenc wrote several works for the stage, including operas, incidental and film music, and a ballet. Additionally, he made a significant and idiomatic contribution to the art of French solo song in addition to a number of choral works. After converting to Catholicism in 1935, he composed a Mass and Stabat Mater. Poulenc’s deftness at composing for woodwinds is exemplified in his sonatas for flute and piano, clarinet and piano, and oboe and piano, in addition to an attractive Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano.

Francis Poulenc was a member of Les Six, a group of six French composers that included Honegger, Auric, Milhaud, Durey and Tailleferre.