8 Nocturnes, FP. 56 (Poulenc)
Movements
i C major. Sans traîner – Le double plus lent, ii A minor. Bal de jeunes filles. Très animé – Strictement au même mouvement – Très lent, iii F major. Les cloches de Malines. Modéré mais sans lenteur – Agité et mystérieux – Tempo I, iv C minor. Bal fantôme. Lent, très las et piano, v D minor. Phalènes. Presto misterioso, vi G major. Très calme mais sans traîner, vii E-flat major. Assez allant – Toujours strictement au même mouvement, viii G major. (pour servir de coda au cycle). Très modéré
Notes
Huit nocturnes, FP 56, is a cycle of nocturnes for solo piano by French composer Francis Poulenc. Written over a period of nine years, each one of the nocturnes were published separately. Poulenc composed his nocturnes as individual pieces and never conceived them as a set. The earliest account of these pieces dates back to 1929, when he started composing short piano pieces, some of them with titles, and each piece was dedicated to an important person in Poulenc’s life. In 1938, when he completed the eighth and final nocturne, he wrote that it would serve as a “coda to the cycle”, indicating that it was then that he conceived the nocturnes as a set.
