Sérénade (Francis Poulenc)

2013-05-20T19:52:09+02:00

Sérénade – No.8 from the song cycle Chansons Gaillardes (1926) to an anonymous 17th Century text.

This charming Serenade rocks along in a gentle 6/8 rhythm, almost more lullaby than love song. Encountered more often in its cello transcription, divorced form the text, it is a sweet, seductive little miniature: a tasty petit-fours to slip in between larger items on the menu. The text however, is extremely sexually suggestive, positively dripping in double entendre. It might be possible to argue a case for reading things into it, if taking the poem on its own. Put it in the context of the [read more…]