''Chanson à boire'',
[This work should not be confused with ''Chanson à boire'', the second of the eight '']Chansons gaillardes
The ''Chansons gaillardes'' (Ribald songs) FP 42, are a song cycle of eight pieces composed by Francis Poulenc in 1925–1926 "In euphoria and post-war"''Guide de la mélodie et du lied'', p. 497 on anonymous texts of the 17th century. The work w ...
'', FP 42, a work by the same composer on a different text. (
Drinking song
A drinking song is a song sung while drinking alcohol. Most drinking songs are folk songs or commercium songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyrics and in the music.
In Germany, drinking songs are c ...
),
FP 31, is a
choral work by Francis Poulenc, composed in 1922 on an anonymous text of the 17th century for a four-part
men's chorus
A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC) (German: ''Männerchor''), is a choir consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose music is typically arranged into high and low tenors (1st and 2nd tenor), and high and low bass ...
a cappella. It was published first by Rouart-Lerolle,
Rouart-Lerolle
/ref> but today by Salabert.
History
''Chanson à boire'' is Poulenc's first choral work, commissioned by a student choir, the Glee Club of Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in the United States. Upon completion, Poulenc sent them the score. In an interview with Claude Rostand dated 1954, he said:
Twenty-eight years separate the composition of the work and its first performance in The Hague. Poulenc states: "I was ready to do a lot of retouching. What was not my amazement (...) of not having one note to change!."
Structure
The work is written for an unaccompanied four-part men's chorus
A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC) (German: ''Männerchor''), is a choir consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose music is typically arranged into high and low tenors (1st and 2nd tenor), and high and low bass ...
. The total performance time is approximately four minutes.
Selected recordings
* ''Poulenc - Secular Choral Music'', ''Norddeutscher Figuralchor'', (cond.), label ''MDG Gold'', MDG9471595 ;
* ''Chansons française'', Harry Christophers
Richard Henry Tudor "Harry" Christophers CBE FRSCM (born 26 December 1953) is an English conductor.
Life and career
Richard Henry Tudor Christophers was born in Goudhurst, Kent. He was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral under choirmaster Allan ...
(cond.), label ''Technics'', 1993
Notes
Bibliography
*1978:
*1995:
External links
* ''Chanson à boire'', FP 31 (Poulenc, Francis) on IMSLP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chanson à boire (Poulenc)
1922 compositions
Compositions by Francis Poulenc
Choral compositions