The Program Resumes: Gloria

By Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963) Like most French composers of his generation, Poulenc was influenced by Stravinsky and Satie, yet his music is quite different from both. His early music is characterized by its bright colours, strong, clear rhythms, and novel diatonic harmonies. His compositional style is ‘warmer’ and less intellectual than Stravinsky, more passionate and musically more refined than Satie.

Poulenc's writing abounds with sudden changes in dynamic, rhythmic and harmonic structure. He often works in short musical phrases, repeating them with subtle variation. Above all, he continually combines and recombines groups of voices and instruments, affording him not only a wide variety of musical color but also a sound of wonderful clarity and precision. By the time he wrote the Gloria, he had adopted the clarity and simplicity of Stravinsky's late Neo-Classical style.

Having studied the mysterious glories of Nature and its invisible spirit with profound understanding, he has a unique ability to make music sound as though it is a reflection of changing light. Now only half a century old, the Gloria is a fresh, vibrant, and glorious piece.

It was after the death of a close friend in 1936 that Poulenc experienced a reawakening of his Catholic faith. He began to compose a steady stream of sacred choral music which forms perhaps the most significant part of his musical output. The Gloria was commissioned by the Koussevitsky Music Foundation in collaboration with the Library of Congress. Its debut was in Boston on 20 January 1961, the day that President John F. Kennedy, the first U.S President of the Catholic faith, was inaugurated in Washington.