Lambiotte Family/Francis Poulenc archive

Collection

Identifier: MS 0623

Staff Only

Finding aid note: Stored on-site at the Woodson Research Center inside vault.

Scope and Contents

The Lambiotte Family/Francis Poulenc archive contains materials that document Poulenc's life and career during his long friendship with the Lambiotte family, a Belgian family with close ties of friendship to the composer. The collection includes autograph musical manuscripts, signed and inscribed printed musical scores, letters, photographs, publications, and ephemera. Dates for the collection range from 1920 to 1994, with bulk dates from 1920 to 1963.

Dates

Creation: 1920-1994
Creation: Majority of material found within 1920 - 1963

Creator

Poulenc, Francis, 1899-1963 (Composer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This material is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored on-site at the Woodson Research Center inside vault.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish from this material must be facilitated through the Woodson Research Center. The correspondence may not be reproduced and can only be used for research purposes.

The Woodson Research Center use policy is that researchers assume sole responsibility for any infringement of privacy, literary rights, copyrights, or other rights arising from their use of the archival materials. In addition to any restrictions placed by donors, certain kinds of archival materials are restricted for the life of the creator plus 50 years.

Biographical / Historical

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (January 1, 1899-January 30, 1963) was an accomplished French composer and pianist known for his mélodies, solo piano works, chamber music, orchestral works, choral pieces, operas, and ballets. Poulenc was a member of Les Six, a group of French and Swiss composers who had links with Erik Satie, Jean Hugo and Jean Cocteau.

“Francis Poulenc has come to be considered the greatest composer of French mélodies of his period – a period that opened with the aftermath of the First World War and closed as recently as 1960. He set to music poetry by all of the greatest French twentieth century poets, as well as a few from earlier times. For 25 years the famous baritone Pierre Bernac, with Poulenc at the piano, toured Europe giving recitals, and also visited Britain and America. Thanks to their work, not only in the French repertoire but also in the general Lieder repertoire, the piano-accompanied song increased enormously in popularity in their own country; and in other countries they were very largely responsible for the present wide popularity of the French song repertoire.” Exerpt from: Bernac: "Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs"

Pierre Bernac (January 12, 1899-October 17, 1979) was a French singer who became the most renowned interpreter of the French art song. He had a close artistic association with Francis Poulenc, who wrote many of his songs for Bernac. He gave the first performances of Francis Poulenc's "Chansons gaillardes" in 1926. He began appearing in recital with Poulenc as his accompanist in 1934, and they continued performing together until Bernac withdrew from performing in public about 1960.

Denise Duval (October 23, 1921- January 25, 2016) was a French soprano, best known for her performances in works by the composer Francis Poulenc. Duval created the roles of Elle in "La voix humaine," Thérèse in "Les mamelles de Tirésias" and later sang the role of Blanche de la Force in "Dialogues of the Carmelites."

Richard Chanlaire (1896-1973) was a French painter, known as the first serious lover of composer Francis Poulenc. Chanlaire exhibited regularly in Paris: at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Salon des Tuileries, and the Salon des Artistes Indépendants. Chanlaire also designed for collections of Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain.