The Weekly Prelude: Poulenc’s Suite Française & the Transfiguration
PRELUDE for Last Sunday after Epiphany
Francis Poulenc: from Suite Française (for piano), composed 1935
When choosing the Prelude for worship, a music director must take into consideration the liturgical season, the scriptures, and the state of the world. Then, seated at the instrument, she or he must be open to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the force that gives life and breath to this musical expression.
This week the scriptures are powerful, mysterious, vivid and possibly even funny. We have Elijah and his disciple Elisha, and Jesus and his disciples Peter, James and John. In the Old Testament story, Elisha grieves when Elijah is carried up by the chariots, but he sees it happen, and so will inherit a “double share” of Elijah’s spirit. Elijah effectively tells Elisha that being a witness, seeing, is a blessed act.
Jesus’ disciples witness the miracle of the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountaintop, yet the significance of the event is hidden from them. Peter is so terrified that he babbles, asking for dwellings on the mountain for Elijah, Moses and Jesus. His request can be seen as almost amusing, but his interpretation of the event has its validity. Jesus and the prophets speak together and Peter wants this conversation to endure.
When I play music by composers who are no longer living, or at least distant from me, I feel that I am having a conversation with them. My process of learning a piece, like that of most musicians, goes beyond notes and technique to exploring the social and historical setting of the composition and the life of the composer. While this research doesn’t change the time signature or note values, it helps me to interpret the piece.
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963, born and died in Paris, France) was known as a witty and humorous composer, but he had a serious side as well. In 1936, the sudden death of a fellow composer, Pierre-Octave Ferroud, in a car crash, coupled with a visit to the religious sanctuary of Rocamadour awakened Poulenc’s spirituality. Thinking about the loss of his friend, he wrote: “As I meditated on the fragility of our human frame, I was drawn once more to the life of the spirit. Rocamadour had the effect of restoring me to the faith of my childhood.” He began to write sacred music, including many beautiful choral pieces, his celebrated “Gloria” from a Mass setting, and his two operas, La Voix humaine and Dialogue des Carmélites.
The piece I have chosen as Prelude for the Last Sunday of Epiphany is one of seven pieces from Poulenc’s Suite Française (1935), originally scored for pairs of oboes, bassoons and trumpets, three trombones, percussion and harpsichord and re-arranged by the composer for solo piano in the same year.
Suite Française was a commission: Poulenc was asked to write incidental music for Edouard Bourdet’s play La Reine Margot, a drama about Marguerite de Valois (1553-1615), wife of Henri de Navarre (1553-1601) who was later crowned Henri IV of France.
The subtitle of the piece is d'après Claude Gervaise (16e siècle). Poulenc is reaching back into the sixteenth century and communing with Gervaise, a French composer of court dances. Poulenc blends the rhythmic and harmonic language of the Renaissance with the dissonance and jazzy tonality of the twentieth century.
The Poulenc piece came to mind as I thought of what to play for this week partly because of this aspect of hearkening back to the past and those important figures who came before us (prophets in the scriptures, kings and queens of yore, or composers in the musical world). Also I wanted a piece that conveyed some awe and even fear, and the central section, with its alternation of high, bell like notes and low dissonant chords, suggested those emotions to me.
I also love the energy of this piece, the delicate yet strong dance-like beat, the elegant ornaments, and the subtle, unexpected ending. It is lively and true, and lots of fun to play.
Faithfully yours,
Mary Therese
