Editing Francis Poulenc (section)

===1950–63: ''The Carmelites'' and last years===
Poulenc began the 1950s with a new partner in his private life, Lucien Roubert, a travelling salesman.<ref>Ivry, p. 170</ref> Professionally Poulenc was productive, writing a seven-song cycle setting poems by Éluard, ''[[FP (Poulenc)#147|La Fraîcheur et le feu]]'' (1950), and the ''[[Stabat Mater (Poulenc)|Stabat Mater]]'', in memory of the painter [[Christian Bérard]], composed in 1950 and premiered the following year.<ref>Hell, pp. 97 and 100</ref>

[[File:Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Quidenham, Norfolk - Windows - geograph.org.uk - 1084822.jpg|thumb|alt=Church stained-glass window depicting the martyrdom of a line of nuns|The [[Martyrs of Compiègne]]]]
In 1953, Poulenc was offered a commission by [[La Scala]] and the [[Milan]]ese publisher [[Casa Ricordi]] for a ballet. He considered the story of [[Margaret of Cortona|St Margaret of Cortona]] but found a dance version of her life impracticable. He preferred to write an opera on a religious theme; Ricordi suggested ''Dialogues des Carmélites'', an unfilmed screenplay by [[Georges Bernanos]]. The text, based on a short story by [[Gertrud von Le Fort]], depicts the [[Martyrs of Compiègne]], nuns guillotined during the French Revolution for their religious beliefs. Poulenc found it "such a moving and noble work",<ref name=t1958>"Les Dialogues de Poulenc: The Composer on his Opera", ''The Times'', 26 February 1958, p. 3</ref> ideal for his libretto, and he began composition in August 1953.<ref>Hell, pp. 78–79</ref>

During the composition of the opera, Poulenc suffered two blows. He learned of a dispute between Bernanos's estate and the writer [[Emmet Lavery]], who held the rights to theatrical adaptations of Le Fort's novel; this caused Poulenc to stop work on his opera.<ref>Gendre, Claude, "The Literary Destiny of the Sixteen Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne and the Role of Emmet Lavery", ''Renascence'', Fall 1995, pp. 37–60</ref> At about the same time Roubert became gravely ill.{{refn|The illness is variously reported as [[pleurisy]] and lung cancer.<ref name=moore/><ref>Schmidt (2001), p. 404</ref>|group= n}} Intense worry pushed Poulenc into a nervous breakdown, and in November 1954 he was in a clinic at [[L'Haÿ-les-Roses]], outside Paris, heavily sedated.<ref>Schmidt (2001), p. 397</ref> When he recovered, and the literary rights and royalty payments disputes with Lavery were settled, he resumed work on ''[[Dialogues des Carmélites]]'' in between extensive touring with Bernac in England. As his personal wealth had declined since the 1920s he required the substantial income earned from his recitals.<ref>Burton, p. 42</ref>

While working on the opera, Poulenc composed little else; exceptions were two ''mélodies'', and a short orchestral movement, "Bucolique" in a collective work, ''[[Variations sur le nom de Marguerite Long]]'' (1954), to which his old friends from ''Les Six'' Auric and Milhaud also contributed.<ref>Hell, pp. 97 and 104</ref> As Poulenc was writing the last pages of his opera in October 1955, Roubert died at the age of forty-seven. The composer wrote to a friend, "Lucien was delivered from his martyrdom ten days ago and the final copy of ''Les Carmélites'' was completed (take note) at the very moment my dear breathed his last."<ref name=moore/>

The opera was first given in January 1957 at La Scala in Italian translation.<ref name=sams/> Between then and the French premiere Poulenc introduced one of his most popular late works, the [[Flute Sonata (Poulenc)|Flute Sonata]], which he and [[Jean-Pierre Rampal]] performed in June at the [[Strasbourg Music Festival]].<ref>Mawer, Deborah (2001). Notes to Hyperion CD CDH55386 {{oclc|793599921}}</ref> Three days later, on 21 June, came the Paris premiere of ''Dialogues des Carmélites'' at the Opéra. It was a tremendous success, to the composer's considerable relief.<ref name=bio/> At around this time Poulenc began his last romantic relationship, with Louis Gautier, a former soldier; they remained partners to the end of Poulenc's life.<ref>Ivry p. 194 and Schmidt (2001), p. 477</ref>

{{Quote box |bgcolor=#FDF0F0 |salign=right| quote = It's not that I'm consumed by the idea of being a grrrrreat musician,{{refn|"grrrrrande" in Poulenc's original French<ref name=p917/>|group= n}} but all the same it has exasperated me to be, for so many people, simply an erotic ''petit maître''. ...&nbsp;From the ''Stabat Mater'' to ''La Voix humaine'' I must say that it hasn't been all that amusing.| source = Poulenc in a 1959 letter<ref name=p917>Poulenc 1994, letter 917, ''quoted'' in Moore, Christopher. "Constructing the Monk: Francis Poulenc and the Post-War Context", ''Intersections'', Volume 32, Number 1, 2012, pp. 203–230</ref>|align=left| width=30%}}
In 1958 Poulenc embarked on a collaboration with his old friend Cocteau, in [[La voix humaine|an operatic version]] of the latter's 1930 [[monodrama]] ''[[The Human Voice|La Voix humaine]]''.{{refn|There was a joke in musical circles at the time that Poulenc was writing his solo opera for [[Maria Callas]], who was known for her reluctance to share the spotlight with anybody, but in fact there was never any thought that Callas, or anyone apart from Duval, should play the lead.<ref name=s283>Sams, p. 283</ref>|group= n}} The work was produced in February 1959 at the Opéra-Comique, under Cocteau's direction, with Duval as the tragic deserted woman speaking to her former lover by telephone.<ref name=s283/> In May Poulenc's 60th birthday was marked, a few months late, by his last concert with Bernac before the latter's retirement from public performance.<ref name=bio>[http://www.poulenc.fr/en/?Biography "Biography"], Francis Poulenc: musicien français 1899–1963, retrieved 22 October 2014</ref>

[[File:Père-Lachaise - Francis Poulenc 01.jpg|thumb|upright|Poulenc's grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery.{{refn|The year of the composer's birth is incised as 1900, rather than 1899.|group=n}}]]
Poulenc visited the US in 1960 and 1961. Among his works given during these trips were the American premiere of ''La Voix humaine'' at [[Carnegie Hall]] in New York, with Duval,<ref name=s283/> and the world premiere of his [[Gloria (Poulenc)|Gloria]], a large-scale work for soprano, four-part mixed chorus and orchestra, conducted in Boston by [[Charles Munch (conductor)|Charles Munch]].<ref>Schmidt (2001), p. 446</ref> In 1961 Poulenc published a book about Chabrier, a 187-page study of which a reviewer wrote in the 1980s, "he writes with love and insight of a composer whose views he shared on matters like the primacy of melody and the essential seriousness of humour."<ref>Nichols, Roger. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/960821 "Views of Chabrier"], ''The Musical Times'', July 1983, p. 428 {{subscription}}</ref> The works of Poulenc's last twelve months included ''[[Sept répons des ténèbres]]'' for voices and orchestra, the [[Clarinet Sonata (Poulenc)|Clarinet Sonata]] and the [[Sonata for oboe and piano (Poulenc)|Oboe Sonata]].<ref name=grove/>

On 30 January 1963, at his flat opposite the [[Jardin du Luxembourg]], Poulenc suffered a fatal heart attack. His funeral was at the nearby church of [[Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris|Saint-Sulpice]]. In compliance with his wishes, none of his music was performed; [[Marcel Dupré]] played works by [[Bach]] on the grand organ of the church.<ref name=sacred/> Poulenc was buried at [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]], alongside his family.<ref name=bio/><ref>Schmidt (2001), p. 463</ref>