Analysis Of The Music And Singing Of Francis Poulenc’s Song Cycle Banalités

Francis Poulenc(1899-1963),one of the most important French composers of the 20 th century and a member of the French " Six",is the most accomplished in the field of vocal music.He is known as the " French Schubert" and is a representative French composer who is good at writing art songs,and his art songs and religious works are most admired.The songbook " Mediocrity" is a collection of five songs composed by Poulenc in the 1940s with the poems of Apollinaire as lyrics,which is one of the most widely sung works.The five songs in "Mediocrity" are not very connected,but the melodies vary greatly,and the combination of language and melody is complex,making this collection of songs very difficult.And in the field of domestic research,this set has never been studied in its entirety.Therefore,a study of this song collection is of positive relevance.The author divides the article into five parts:Introduction,Chapter 1,Chapter 2,Chapter 3,and Conclusion.The introductory chapter mainly addresses the reasons for the selection of the topic,the purpose and significance of the topic,the current status of domestic and foreign research,and the main research methods and problems in general.Chapter 1,the overview of Francis Poulenc’s songbook "Mediocrity",introduces the life experience of Francis Poulenc in chronological order,the composing style,characteristics and influence of Poulenc in different periods.This chapter provides a chronological overview of Francis Poulenc’s lif history,his compositional style,characteristics and influences in different periods.Chapter 2,the singing language of the songbook "Mediocrity",is analyzed and studied with respect to the linguistic characteristics of the five art songs and the detailed analysis of the lyric script.Chapter 3,based on the in-depth analysis in Chapters 1 and 2,further explores the singing techniques of Poulenc’s songbook The Mediocre,with the first three parts elaborating from various aspects such as language,lyrics,techniques,and emotions;the fourth part provides a comparative analysis of different versions of the songbook The Mediocre for soprano and baritone voices.