Editing Francis Poulenc (section)

===Choral===
Apart from a single early work for unaccompanied choir ("Chanson à boire", 1922), Poulenc began writing choral music in 1936. In that year he produced three works for choir: ''Sept chansons'' (settings of verses by Éluard and others), ''Petites voix'' (for children's voices), and his religious work ''[[Litanies à la Vierge Noire]]'', for female or children's voices and organ.<ref>Hell, pp. 98–99</ref> The Mass in G major (1937) for unaccompanied choir is described by Gouverné as having something of a [[baroque music|baroque]] style, with "vitality and joyful clamour on which his faith is writ large".<ref name=gouverne/> Poulenc's new-found religious theme continued with ''Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence'' (1938–39), but among his most important choral works is the secular cantata ''Figure humaine'' (1943). Like the Mass, it is unaccompanied, and to succeed in performance it requires singers of the highest quality.<ref name=grove/> Other ''[[a cappella]]'' works include the ''Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël'' (1952), which make severe demands on choirs' rhythmic precision and intonation.<ref>Vernier, David. [http://www.classicstoday.com/review/resonant-resplendent-poulenc-motets-mass-chansons/ "Resonant, Resplendent Poulenc Motets, Mass, Chansons"], Classics Today, retrieved 18 July 2016</ref>

Poulenc's major works for choir and orchestra are the ''Stabat Mater'' (1950), the ''[[Gloria (Poulenc)|Gloria]]'' (1959–60), and ''[[Sept répons des ténèbres]]'' (Seven responsories for ''[[Tenebrae]]'', 1961–62). All these works are based on liturgical texts, originally set to [[Gregorian chant]].<ref name=sacred/> In the ''Gloria'', Poulenc's faith expresses itself in an exuberant, joyful way, with intervals of prayerful calm and mystic feeling, and an ending of serene tranquillity.<ref name=sacred/> Poulenc wrote to Bernac in 1962, "I have finished Les Ténèbres. I think it is beautiful. With the Gloria and the Stabat Mater, I think I have three good religious works. May they spare me a few days in [[Purgatory]], if I narrowly avoid going to hell."<ref name=sacred/> ''Sept répons des ténèbres'', which Poulenc did not live to hear performed, uses a large orchestra, but in Nichols's view it displays a new concentration of thought.<ref name=grove/> To the critic Ralph Thibodeau, the work may be considered as Poulenc's own [[requiem]] and is "the most avant-garde of his sacred compositions, the most emotionally demanding, and the most interesting musically, comparable only with his ''magnum opus sacrum'', the opera, ''Dialogues des Carmélites''."<ref name=sacred/>