POULENC, FRANCIS. (1899-1963). French composer and pianist. ALS. (“Francis”). 2pp. 4to. St. Bernard, N.d. [circa April 1932]. To his friend, “My little Claude .” In French with translation.

“Do not thank me for an action that was dictated only by my heart. I have told you one thousand times, and this is the last. Come to Noizay whenever you wish, and whether I am there or whether I am not there. You are one of the two or three friends to whom I am most attached… and you know the reasons in your heart. I shall never forget the Claude of Spain and the many other Claudes, the memories of whom are very dear to me. Believe me, one of the main reasons I regret my nomadic life is the frustration it has caused in my emotional life and my feelings of affection.

I have been working fiercely for several months and thank God, it has been productive. The longer I live, the more I feel that it is my only ‘raison d’être.

I have just completed a short secular Cantata which will be performed within ten days here at the home of Charles de Noailles. I am very pleased about that. Moreover, you will eventually hear it at springtime. Then, at the end of the month, I shall spend a week in Paris where I wish to see you alone and for a long time and speak to you about a multitude of things. Of course, the ravishing American young lady will be free at Pentecost and I count on seeing you two at Noizay.

I absolutely wish to return to play in Spain next winter. I am relying on you somewhat to arrange that for me, and especially counting on you to accompany me – for I dream of a trip there where I shall finally be a pleasant companion, all for you my little Claude, and content with the world.

Until before long, I embrace you…

[In the upper left margin of the first page is the postscript:] “Excuse the intensive use of blotting paper [?]”

A member of the group of French composers known as Les Six, among Poulenc’s most famous works is Les Biches, a ballet written in 1923 for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. The surrealistic and mildly erotic ballet, with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, catapulted Poulenc to success. “Perhaps more than any other French composer of his generation, Francis Poulenc… made a lasting contribution to the standing concert repertory, especially with regard to songs, choral works, operas, and piano works. He was a prolific and revealing letter-writer whose professional life spanned two world wars and two continents,” (Notes, “Review of Francis Poulenc, ‘Echo and Source’: Selected Correspondence, 1915-1963,” Heyman).

French aristocrat Charles de Noailles (1891-1981) is remembered as a patron of the arts, funding Man Ray’s film Les Mystères du Château de Dé and Jean Cocteau’s film Le Sang d’un Poète (Noailles and his wife appear in both) as well as Salvador Dali and Luis Buñuel’s L’Âge d’Or. Noailles also commissioned two works from Poulenc: his 1929 concerto Aubade written for a ball and the secular cantata Le Bal Masqué, the work discussed in our letter. Based on poems by Max Jacob, it premiered at a private event hosted by Noailles in Hyères on April 20, 1932.

Our letter, written from Hyères, a French Riviera resort town centered around the Castle of Saint Bernard, also invites the recipient to Poulenc’s Loire Valley chateau, Le Grand Coteau, in Noizay, which he purchased in 1927.

Folded into quarters and in overall very good condition.