From the ebullient early years of the Groupe des Six to the seriousness of the
opera Dialogue des Carmélites, via neo-classicism and light melodies, Francis
Poulenc did not usurp the label "monk or rogue" attributed to him by critic
Claude Rostand. Born in Paris on January 7, 1899, his father was Émile Poulenc,
founder of the pharmaceutical company of the same name, which after a merger
became the Rhône-Poulenc group, renamed Aventis. From the age of five, his
mother Jennie-Zoé Royer gave him his first piano lessons, before entrusting him
to the care of Ricardo Viñes, who introdu...