Chanson à boire,This work should not be confused with Chanson à boire, the second of the eight Chansons gaillardes, FP 42, a work by the same composer on a different text. (Drinking song), FP 31, is a choral work by Francis Poulenc, composed in 1922 on an anonymous text of the 17th century for a four-part men's chorus a cappella. It was published first by Rouart-Lerolle,Rouart-Lerolle but today by Salabert.
History Chanson à boire is Poulenc's first choral work, commissioned by a student choir, the Glee Club of Harvard University in the United States. Upon completion, Poulenc sent them the score. In an interview with Claude Rostand dated 1954, he said:
Twenty-eight years separate the composition of the work and its first performance in The Hague. Poulenc states: "I was ready to do a lot of retouching. What was not my amazement (...) of not having one note to change!."
Structure The work is written for an unaccompanied four-part men's chorus. The total performance time is approximately four minutes.
Selected recordings Poulenc - Secular Choral Music, Norddeutscher Figuralchor, (cond.), label MDG Gold, MDG9471595; Chansons française, Harry Christophers (cond.), label Technics, 1993
Notes
Bibliography 1978:
1995:
References
External links Chanson à boire, FP 31 (Poulenc, Francis) on IMSLP