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Francis Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include mélodies, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among his frequently performed pieces are the piano suite Trois mouvements perpétuels (1919), the ballet Les biches (1923), the Concert champêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, the opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1957), and the Gloria (1959) for soprano, choir and orchestra. Largely self-educated musically, he studied with the pianist Ricardo Viñes and was influenced by the avant-garde composer Erik Satie. Initially composing light-hearted and irreverent works, he also wrote serious, sombre and religious pieces beginning in the 1930s. He was an accomplished pianist, and toured Europe and America performing with the baritone Pierre Bernac and the soprano Denise Duval. One of the first composers to see the importance of the gramophone, he recorded extensively from 1928 onwards. This century has seen many new productions worldwide of his serious works, including Dialogues des Carmélites and La Voix humaine. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Sutton Hoo helmet

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... that the art historian Rosemary Barrow specialised in the work of the once-neglected Victorian painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema?
... that Francis Poulenc's L'Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant for narrator and piano was inspired by children requesting him to play from the book Histoire de Babar?
... that Jennifer Lawrence was reported to be the highest-paid actress in the world in 2015 and 2016?
... that the suspect in the shooting of Detective Benjamin Marconi got married the following morning and was arrested later that day?
... that Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy can be used to find how much water and carbon dioxide are in melt inclusions in mineral grains?
... that Caleb Orozco, who successfully challenged the Belize Criminal Code for violations to his privacy and freedom of expression, won the 2016 David Kato Vision and Voice award?
... that William Lister was listed as competing in water polo at the 1900 Summer Olympics, despite having died before the Games began?

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An attack on a nightclub (pictured) in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year's celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 70 others.
American actress, screenwriter, and author Carrie Fisher dies at the age of 60, and her mother, actress and singer Debbie Reynolds, dies one day later at the age of 84.
English singer, songwriter, and record producer George Michael dies at the age of 53.
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On this day...

January 7: Christmas (Julian calendar); Victory Day in Cambodia; Festa del Tricolore in Italy

Francis, Duke of Guise

1558 – Francis, Duke of Guise (pictured), retook Calais, England's last continental possession, for France.
1782 – The Bank of North America opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the United States' first de facto central bank.
1979 – The People's Army of Vietnam captured Phnom Penh, deposing Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, which marked the end of large-scale fighting in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
1989 – Representatives of Ruhollah Khomeini delivered a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, inviting him to consider Islam as an alternative to communism, and predicting the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc.
2015 – The offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris were attacked by a branch of Al-Qaeda, leaving twelve people dead.

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Today's featured picture

The Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, as viewed from across the Detroit River. Designed by John Portman and completed in 1977, this complex initially consisted of a five-tower rosette rising from a common base; two further towers were added in 1981. The central tower, measuring 73 floors in height, is the tallest building in Michigan. Since 1996, the complex has been owned by General Motors and used as its world headquarters; the complex also houses a shopping center, hotel, restaurants, brokerage firms, and banks.

Photograph: Chris Woodrich

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