Quatre petites prières de Saint François d'Assise
The Quatre petites prières de Saint François d'Assise, FP 142 ("Four Little Prayers of St. Francis of Assisi") are a sacred choral work by Francis Poulenc for male choir .
Emergence
In the summer of 1948, Poulenc's great-nephew Jérôme, who lived as a monk in the Franciscan monastery of Champfleury near Poissy , sent French translations of four of St. Prayers attributed to Francis of Assisi with the request that his great-uncle should set them to music. Poulenc set the prayers to music in his house in Noizay within a few weeks and dedicated the work to the Franciscans of Champfleury. Poulenc commented on his composition: “I adore St. Francis, but he also intimidates me a little. In any case, I wanted to set a sign of humility by setting his wonderfully touching prayers to music. ”The first performance took place in a liturgical setting by the monastery choir in Champfleury. A performance lasts around eight minutes.
music
Poulenc fuses archaic elements of medieval monastery song, e.g. B. Organum imitations or echoes of Gregorian chant , with the progressive harmony typical of it. Nevertheless, the seemingly simple melodies, embedded homophonically , represent a dedication to the work of Francis of Assisi.
text
Original text (French) | Translated text |
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I. Salut, Dame Sainte II. Tout puissant III. Seigneur, je vous en prie IV. Ô mes très chers frères |
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Web links
- Quatre Petites Prières de Saint François d'Assise de Francis Poulenc (oratoriodeparis.asso.fr, French)
- Francis Poulenc: Quatre petites prières de Saint François d'Assise . SWR2, piece of music of the week from February 27th - March 4th 2012
Individual evidence
- ^ Francis Poulenc: Entretiens avec Claude Rostand , R. Julliard, Paris 1954, p. 159