Composer

Notes:
Fauré
Poulenc
Szymanowski

Synopsis
Fauré
Poulenc
Szymanowski

Text:
Fauré
Poulenc
Szymanowski

Gloria

Les enfants terribles de la musique française: Les Six. Iconoclasts, youthful, full of vim and vinegar, Les Six set out with determination, and considerable success, to undermine the stranglehold they felt impressionism and romanticism had on music. They represented an intense reaction to the philosophies of Wagner and Debussy. Les Six were determined to replace these styles with music more astringent, more direct, to thumb their noses at their elder colleagues and to swagger down their own street. Poulenc was one of the better known of this short-lived group - really they only stayed together long enough to nail their manifesto to the mast. Collectively they took their cue from that arch satirist, Erik Satie. Poulenc, especially, had a puckish wit that gave his music a special astringency.

Yet there was also another, lesser known, side to Poulenc's muse - a strong religious sensibility. In the Gloria (1959) we find a curious blend of these two aspects of Poulenc's character. There is the sense of serious purpose, a melodic line that is angular and wideranging, yet which is joyous, even tender. But the rhythmic bounce of his secular music is also very much apparent. It prevents the Gloria from sinking under any sense of leaden pomposity. Which is not too surprising given Poulenc once confessed that what he had in mind as he wrote the Gloria were "those frescoes of Benozzo Gozzoli in which the angels are sticking out their tongues; and also those grave Benedictines I encountered one day playing football"!