麻豆社

On 25 March 1945, the 麻豆社 Singers broadcast the premiere of Francis Poulenc鈥檚 Figure Humaine - an unaccompanied choral cantata setting eight poems by Paul Eluard.

Much of Poulenc's music had hitherto been characterised by its impish, roguish, charming, quirky nature. But Figure Humaine, with its great slabs of harmony and unequivocal cry of "Libert茅" (demanding a stratospheric top E from the sopranos at the end) was intimate, euphoric and deeply serious. What had changed?

In 1936, Poulenc鈥檚 friend, the composer Pierre-Octave Ferroud, was killed in a car accident. Deeply shocked by the horrific details of his death, Poulenc travelled to the Catholic pilgrimage site of Rocamadour, a beautiful village in the Pyrenees that seems to hang on a cliff face. And there, at the foot of a little black statue of the Madonna, he rediscovered the faith of his youth and embarked on a decade-long period of choral music composition; not all religious, but deeply ethereal, mysterious and moving.

The story doesn鈥檛 end there. Fast-forward another decade and along comes Gloria, in 1959. Poulenc gleefully set the words of the Mass to mischievous, exuberant music, alongside lush, lyrical writing. The rationale is probably best left to Poulenc: "I simply thought," he said, "of the frescoes of Benozzo Gozzoli where the angels stick out their tongues, and also some solemn Benedictine monks that I saw playing football one day".

This is one of 100 significant musical moments explored by 麻豆社 Radio 3鈥檚 Essential Classics as part of Our Classical Century, a 麻豆社 season celebrating a momentous 100 years in music from 1918 to 2018. Visit bbc.co.uk/ourclassicalcentury to watch and listen to all programmes in the season.

This archive recording features the 麻豆社 Singers with conductor David Hill.

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