Poulenc's Wartime Secrets
Poulenc's Wartime Secrets
During the war, Poulenc navigated among the diverging visions for French music promoted by German occupiers, Vichy officials, and Resistance agitators. The premiere of Poulenc's Les animaux modèles, juxtaposed with Werner Egk's Joan de Zarissa, epitomized the competing agendas of German and French officials for new ballets choreographed by Serge Lifar at the Opéra. The Violin Sonata paid homage to Federico García Lorca, and Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon set Resistance poems to music; both were performed and published in occupied Paris. The wartime genesis and postwar reception of Figure humaine, which set to music Resistance poetry by Paul Éluard, bolstered Poulenc's reception after the war as a celebrated national figure who successfully balanced his public career with his composition and performance of musical secrets.
Keywords: Francis Poulenc, Vichy, German occupation, Resistance, Serge Lifar, Paul Éluard, ballet, Louis Aragon, Werner Egk, Opéra
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