La Courte Paille

La Courte Paille (The Short Straw), FP 178, is a set of seven songs for voice and piano, composed in 1960 by Francis Poulenc on poems by Maurice Carême. The duration of the work is about 8 minutes.

La Courte Paille
Songs by Francis Poulenc
CatalogueFP 178
Based onPoems by Maurice Carême
ComposedSummer 1960 (Summer 1960)
PerformedSeptember 1961 (1961-09)
Scoring
  • Voice
  • piano
Premiere
LocationFestival de Royaumont (then Seine-et-oise department)

History of the work

Composed in July–August 1960, the songs were premiered at the festival of Royaumont Abbey, in 1961, by soprano Colette Herzog and Jacques Février as the pianist.[1]

Titles
  1. Le sommeil
  2. Quelle aventure !
  3. La reine de cœur
  4. Ba, be, bi, bo, bu
  5. Les anges musiciens
  6. Le carafon
  7. Lune d'avril

Origin of the poems

Le sommeil, Ba, be, bi, bo, bu and Le carafon come from the collection of Maurice Carême La Cage aux grillons (1959).

Quelle aventure ! , La reine de cœur, Les anges musiciens and Lune d'avril come from the collection Le Voleur d'étincelles (1960).

Dedicatee

La Courte Paille is dedicated to the singer Denise Duval (1921–2016) for her son Richard Schilling.[1]

Discography

References
  1. La Courte Paille Archived 2013-06-30 at the Wayback Machine on the site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France

Clifton, Keith E. "Beyond Childhood: Poulenc, La courte paille, and the Aural Envelope." College Music Symposium 49/50 (2009/2010): 333-44.

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