Mélancolie

Mélancolie is one of the longest works Poulenc ever wrote for piano, and today can be counted among the composer’s best-known. In this piece, dedicated to Raymond Destouches, his companion at the time of whom he had no news because of the war, Poulenc’s melancholy takes on an air of nostalgia, a resignation that never reaches despair. A bit painful, but at the same time filled with sweetness, the composition plays on its dual character. Historical introduction by Edmond Lemaître and notes on Iinterpretation by Florence Ribot, in French, English and German.