Composer and pianist Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was born in Paris on January 7, 1899 and died there on January 30, 1963. His earlier works, many of which were of a lighter or satirical character, led audiences and critics to dismiss Poulenc as a serious composer despite having composed some sacred works. Poulenc’s attitude, and that of his critics, began to change after the Second World War, as witnessed by his opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites. Duality is an appropriate word to describe Poulenc. According to the biographical article in the Second Edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the composer’s father, Emile, was a wealthy pharmaceutical businessman with deep religious roots in his native Aveyron region. His mother, née Jenny Royer, was a Parisian with strong artistic bent. Staunch catholic and urbane wit; city boy with country roots; pianist and composer. As Claude Rostand put it: “In Poulenc there is something of the monk and something of the rascal.” His one-act ballet, Les Biches, was a collaboration with choreographer Bronislava Nijinska and was first performed by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes on January 6, 1924 in Monte Carlo’s Salle Granier. Several successful performances soon followed. Poulenc revised the works orchestration in 1939-40, and created the Suite from the ballet in 1948, omitting the work’s overture and three choral movements. The Suite is dedicated to Misia Sert, and is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 1 contrabassoon; brass: 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba; percussion, celeste, glockenspiel; and strings.

The title, Les Biches, has been variously translated as The Hinds, The Does, and The Darlings, none of which fully captures the ballet’s sexuality. The scenario of the ballet from which the Suite was derived has no true plotline, depicting the interactions of a group of young people on a summer afternoon. The enterprise was a kind of neo-classical fantasy, comparable in some respects to, and perhaps inspired by, Igor Stravinksy’s ballet, Pulcinella (1920). Poulenc’s music is tonal—sometimes modal—in idiom, yet always fresh and saucy to the ear. Even though his career brought him into close personal contact with other French modernists—most notably Milhaud, Auric, Honegger (Swiss born), Taileferre, and Durey, who collectively with Poulenc were dubbed as the “Groupe des Six”—his style remained distinct from that of his colleagues.

Les Biches comprises five movements. The first movement, Rondeau, begins with a brief slow introduction, followed by quick section marked by a saucy theme featuring the trumpet. A calmer central section leads to a return of the trumpet tune. The second movement, Adagietto, presents a plaintive oboe melody, interrupted briefly by a noisy interlude, before returning to its original mood. Poulenc did not wish this music to be played sentimentally, remarking that none of the characters in the ballet “falls for love in life, they have sex! Let’s just leave it there.” The third movement is marked Rag-Mazurka. Its jazz-inspired lilt is typically of the European understanding and interpretation of this American-born musical style. The Suite concludes with another slower movement, Andantino, followed by a virtuosic movement, labled Final.

Program Note by David B. Levy, © 2026