By Martin Nron

Because of copyrights, this volume does not contain the complete song texts of Francis Poulenc. The book does discuss seventy songs composed for voice and piano, written from texts now in the public domain. The text included in this volume are of poems by Apollinaire, Banville, Charles d’Orlons, Cocteau, Eighteenth-Century Anonymous, Jacob, Kangourou, Malherbe, Moras, Racine, Radiguet, Ronsard, and Shakespeare.

Each chapter groups all of the text settings by a particular poet organized in chronological order and following the FP numbering from Carl B. Schmidt’s catalogue of Poulenc’s works. Each of the poems receives a phonetic transcription and a word-to-word translation. The year of composition of the song, its written compass, and its dedication are specified at the beginning. A short essay follows, which first emphasized any pertinent facts about the poem itself, then describes the song, its historical background, the circumstances of composition, and explores the relation and interconnection between the music and the poem.

Dr. Martin Nron, Qubec-born pianist, moved to the United States to complete his doctorate on scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music. Praised as ‘an attentive partner’ (Opera News), Dr. Nron is an active recitalist, vocal coach and educator.

xvii + 130 Pages Smyth-Sewn Paper