| My study of the music of Francis Poulenc (1899--1963) takes seriously certain types of encoded ambivalences, an umbrella term that allows me to think about Poulenc's music in many different ways. Like the man himself, I argue that his music is saturated in contradictions. In the first chapter I take as a starting point for my study of ambivalence the aesthetic of ambiguity as expressed in symbolist poetry, impressionist painting, and the music of Claude Debussy. In the second chapter I suggest that Poulenc's early music has certain correspondences with the style of cubism, an aesthetic most often associated with painting. My discussion of his Mouvement Perpetuels (1918) illustrates how tonal ambivalence, stemming from irresolvable third-related tonalities, accounts for large-scale structure, musical syntax, and enigmatic harmonies. In the third chapter I continue to explore tonal ambivalence in his Concerto for Two Pianos in D minor (1932), in which I also consider Poulenc's ambivalence toward high and low culture in general, as well as his ambivalence toward the aesthetics of Jean Cocteau in particular. In the fourth chapter I consider Poulenc's ambivalence toward his own sexuality, which takes form in his tonal ambivalence, and is expressed in two separate works: namely, his ballet Aubade (1929) and the Concerto for Two Pianos. I argue that irresolvable tensions lie at the heart of many of Poulenc's compositions, and it is because of such structured contradictions, both musical and extra-musical, that his music will continue to hold resonance for future listeners. |
