Editing Francis Poulenc (section)

===1930s: new seriousness===
At the start of the decade, Poulenc returned to writing songs, after a two-year break from doing so. His "Epitaphe", to a poem by [[François de Malherbe|Malherbe]], was written in memory of Linossier, and is described by the pianist [[Graham Johnson (musician)|Graham Johnson]] as "a profound song in every sense".<ref>Johnson, p. 140</ref>{{refn|In addition to "Epitaphe", other Poulenc works were dedicated to Linossier or her memory are the Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone (1922), ''Ce doux petit visage'' (1939), ''Les Animaux modèles'' (1941) and "Voyage" from ''Calligrammes'' (1948).<ref>Schmidt (2001), p. 480</ref>|group= n}} The following year Poulenc wrote three sets of songs, to words by Apollinaire and Max Jacob, some of which were serious in tone, and others reminiscent of his earlier light-hearted style, as were others of his works of the early 1930s.<ref>Hell, pp. 38–43</ref> In 1932 his music was among the first to be broadcast on television, in a transmission by the [[BBC]] in which [[Reginald Kell]] and [[Gilbert Vinter]] played his [[Sonata for clarinet and bassoon]].<ref>[http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/c88bcd0c71bd447fbc38c2ed188a8c46 "A Television Transmission by the Baird Process will take place during this programme"], Genome&nbsp;– ''Radio Times'', 1923–2009, BBC, retrieved 17 October 2014</ref> At about this time Poulenc began a relationship with Raymond Destouches, a chauffeur; as with Chanlaire earlier, what began as a passionate affair changed into a deep and lasting friendship. Destouches, who married in the 1950s, remained close to Poulenc until the end of the composer's life.<ref>Schmidt p. 476</ref>

[[File:Rocamadour fda.jpg|alt=View of small cliff-top village|thumb|[[Rocamadour]], which inspired Poulenc to compose religious works]]
Two unrelated events in 1936 combined to inspire a reawakening of religious faith and a new depth of seriousness in Poulenc's music. His fellow composer [[Pierre-Octave Ferroud]] was killed in a car crash so violent that he was decapitated, and almost immediately afterwards, while on holiday, Poulenc visited the sanctuary of [[Rocamadour]]. He later explained:
<blockquote>A few days earlier I'd just heard of the tragic death of my colleague&nbsp;... As I meditated on the fragility of our human frame, I was drawn once more to the life of the spirit. Rocamadour had the effect of restoring me to the faith of my childhood. This sanctuary, undoubtedly the oldest in France&nbsp;... had everything to captivate me&nbsp;... The same evening of this visit to Rocamadour, I began my ''Litanies à la Vierge noire'' for female voices and organ. In that work I tried to get across the atmosphere of "peasant devotion" that had struck me so forcibly in that lofty chapel.<ref>Poulenc (2014), p. 233</ref></blockquote>

Other works that followed continued the composer's new-found seriousness, including many settings of Éluard's surrealist and humanist poems. In 1937 he composed his first major liturgical work, the [[Mass (Poulenc)|Mass]] in G major for soprano and mixed choir ''[[a cappella]]'', which has become the most frequently performed of all his sacred works.<ref name=sacred>Thibodeau, Ralph. [https://www.proquest.com/docview/1202458 "The Sacred Music of Francis Poulenc: A Centennial Tribute"], ''Sacred Music'', Volume 126, Number 2, Summer 1999, pp. 5–19 {{subscription}}</ref> Poulenc's new compositions were not all in this serious vein; his incidental music to the play ''La Reine Margot'', starring [[Yvonne Printemps]], was pastiche 16th-century dance music, and became popular under the title ''[[Suite française (Poulenc)|Suite française]]''.<ref>Hell, p. 48</ref> Music critics generally continued to define Poulenc by his light-hearted works, and it was not until the 1950s that his serious side was widely recognised.<ref name=moore>Moore, Christopher. [https://www.proquest.com/docview/1514322251 "Constructing the Monk: Francis Poulenc and the Post-War Context"], ''Intersections'',  Volume 32, Number 1, 2012, pp. 203–230 {{subscription}}</ref>

[[File:Benjamin Britten, London Records 1968 publicity photo for Wikipedia crop.jpg|thumb|alt=Middle-aged man looking towards camera|upright|[[Benjamin Britten]], friend and interpreter of Poulenc]]
In 1936 Poulenc began giving frequent recitals with Bernac. At the [[École Normale]] in Paris they gave the premiere of Poulenc's ''[[FP (Poulenc)#77|Cinq poèmes de Paul Éluard]]''. They continued to perform together for more than twenty years, in Paris and internationally, until Bernac's retirement in 1959. Poulenc, who composed 90&nbsp;songs for his collaborator,<ref name=bernac>[[Alan Blyth|Blyth, Alan]]. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/02837 "Bernac,  Pierre"], Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, retrieved 5 October 2014 {{subscription}}</ref> considered him one of the "three great meetings" of his professional career, the other two being Éluard and Landowska.<ref>Ivry, p. 96</ref>{{refn|Bernac's timbre and sensitive musicianship considerably influenced Poulenc's compositional style in his ''[[mélodie]]s'', to a degree comparable with the musical relationship between Poulenc's friends the tenor [[Peter Pears]] and the composer [[Benjamin Britten]], although unlike their English counterparts Poulenc and Bernac were partners only professionally.<ref name=bernac/><ref name="Johnson, p. 15">Johnson, p. 15</ref>|group= n}} In Johnson's words, "for twenty-five years Bernac was Poulenc's counsellor and conscience", and the composer relied on him for advice not only on song-writing, but on his operas and choral music.<ref>Poulenc (1991), p. 11</ref>

Throughout the decade, Poulenc was popular with British audiences; he established a fruitful relationship with the BBC in London, which broadcast many of his works.<ref>Doctor, pp. 69, 74, 78, 147, 226, 248, 343, 353–354, 370–371, 373, 380 and 382</ref> With Bernac, he made his first tour of Britain in 1938.<ref>Poulenc (2014), p. 141</ref> His music was also popular in America, seen by many as "the quintessence of French wit, elegance and high spirits".<ref name=ny>"N.Y. Musical Tributes to Francis Poulenc", ''The Times'', 17 April 1963, p. 14</ref> In the last years of the 1930s, Poulenc's compositions continued to vary between serious and light-hearted works. ''[[Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence]]'' (Four Penitential Motets, 1938–39) and the song "Bleuet" (1939), an elegiac meditation on death, contrast with the song cycle ''[[Fiançailles pour rire]]'' (Light-Hearted Betrothal), which recaptures the spirit of ''Les biches'', in the opinion of Hell.<ref name="Hell, pp. 60–61">Hell, pp. 60–61</ref>