Inscribed Photograph of Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) was a founding member of “Les Six,” a group of young French composers that included Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, and Germaine Tailleferre. The group sought to establish a quintessentially French style of contemporary art music by rejecting foreign influences, most notably that of the German Romantic Richard Wagner, as well as the musical impressionism of their compatriot Claude Debussy. Poulenc composed one ballet for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Les Biches, with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska. Part of the inscription on this photograph states “to the admirable Nijinska who made our ‘Biches’ so beautiful, with my profound affection—Francis Poulenc, 1923.”
Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) was a founding member of “Les Six,” a group of young French composers that included Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, and Germaine Tailleferre. The group sought to establish a quintessentially French style of contemporary art music by rejecting foreign influences, most notably that of the German Romantic Richard Wagner, as well as the musical impressionism of their compatriot Claude Debussy. Poulenc composed one ballet for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, <em>Les Biches</em>, with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska. Part of the inscription on this photograph states “to the admirable Nijinska who made our ‘Biches’ so beautiful, with my profound affection—Francis Poulenc, 1923.”