Poulenc - Gloria (1959)

In the same concert as the Puccini we also sang the Poulenc Gloria. I've done this numerous times before, but it is one of my favourite choral works. I think it's unique and has all of Poulenc's character in it. I first came across Poulenc when I played his flute and oboe sonatas. Whilst his music has an edge to it and uses a lot of dissonance, he also writes remarkably beautiful melodies, which are almost haunted by the underlying texture. I used to think you could write either beautiful music or dissonant music, but this piece in particular showed me you could have both. Again we performed this with piano duet which takes a lot of the character out of the piece; I feel Poulenc plays with the orchestral colours more than Puccini; there's certainly a lot more contrast, which is lost with the pianos.


Gloria

The piece opens with an orchestral fanfare, dominated by the brass, completely homophonic. A short, 2 bar bridge passage by the woodwind disconnects us completely from the opening music before the chorus begins with a new motif. Poulenc generally writes in short 2-4 bar phrases with big contrasts in dynamics from ff to pp, giving a neo-classical feel. The movement gradually builds to a climax with short, raucous brass chords.


Laudamus Te

This movement is a more light-hearted, witty affair. Poulenc again uses short phrases with call and responses moving around the choir parts under a detached, polka style accompaniment. The same themes are used repeatedly, but gradually descended down a semi-tone at a time with varying orchestration. This builds to a climax before the solemn Gratias Agimus Tibi section sung by unaccompanied Mezzo-Sopranos (interesting that Poulenc specifies Mezzo rather than Altos). The Propter Magnam Gloriam section continues in a similar vain to the opening of the music, before it returns to end to movement.


Domine Deus

The movement opens with a delicate woodwind melody introducing the Soprano soloist. All the sections for Soprano solo are very restrained and light, calling for a very pure Soprano tone; a stark contrast to the Tenor and Bass/Baritone soloists in the Puccini. The Soprano lines are backed and interjected by the chorus parts. To give more dynamic contrast, Poulenc calls for semi-choruses of each part in the pp passages.


Domine Fili Unigenite

Apparently one of Poulenc's inspirations for this piece was seeing a group of monks playing football. You get that sense of character with this movement and the Laudamus Te; there's a playful jollity to it. Poulenc intertwines the orchestral melodies and harmonic lines to give a continuous sense of movement as wells as being light and detached. Again, as with other movements, he uses short phrases emphasised with rests at the ends of each bar to create some separation.


Dominus Deus, Agnus Dei

This is my favourite movement, particularly the opening orchestra passage. There's something spine jinglingly beautiful about the woodwind writing; piccolo and flute in fifths under dissonant chords. This theme returns later with full strings under horn and woodwind chords to give real bite and power. The soprano Qui tollis peccata mundi lines provide angelic interjections around the choral dissonance.


Qui Sedes Ad Dexteram Patris

The opening of the final movement sees unaccompanied choral lines with interjections of fanfare from the orchestra reminiscent of the first movement. The choir then sing a reprise of the Propter Magnam Gloriam theme from the 2nd movement, interjected with bursts of the opening fanfare. The climax of the section is met with a soprano solo Amen, returning us to the dark, more reflective mood of the previous movement. Again, Poulenc uses the orchestra (harp in particular) to create a sense of movement underneath the long sustained choral lines. A long quiet passage is finally met with 2 ff Amens on top of the opening fanfare theme. This is echoed in the chorus, followed by soprano solo to end the piece.