Sept Chansons, 2. A peine defigurée - Francis Poulenc
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Translation:
2. Scarcely disfgured
Good bye sadness
Hello sadness
You are inscribed in the lines of the ceiling
You are inscribed in the eyes I love
You are not quite misery,
Since even the poorest lips condemn you
With a smile
Hello, sadness
Love of beloved bodies
Power of love
Whose claim to love surges out
Like a monster without a body
Disappointed head
Sadness, beautiful face

Notes:
French composer Francis Poulenc was a member of Les Six, a group of six composers based in Paris in the early 20th century, whose music is seen as a reaction against the music of Wagner and the impressionist music of Debussy and Ravel. Poulenc’s early music is more light-hearted, but following the death of a close friend in a car accident in 1936, Poulenc returned to his Catholic faith and began composing more “serious” music as well as a great deal of choral music. Poulenc composed Sept Chansons in 1936, after hearing a performance of Monteverdi madrigals. The compositional style is influenced by music of the Renaissance, particularly the chansons of French composer Clément Janequin, but always with the added 20th century harmonic language that is characteristic of Poulenc – a mixture of jazz sonorities, abrupt juxtapositions of unrelated material, and short phrases with different choral timbres. Poulenc frequently set the surrealist poetry of Apollinaire and Éluard. These poems explore themes of love and nature, including presence/absence, light/ dark, and a sense of flying/groundedness, with elements of surprise and unexpected combinations, making it a great fit for Poulenc’s unique compositional style.

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