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20th century French chanson changed immensely and rapidly due to internal and external factors
affecting France, the greatest of which were the two World Wars that were truly centered around
France. These wars brought the full spectrum of power and destruction that human beings were
capable of to a new apex. This, however, led to a new apex in artistic motivation, inspiration, and
insight that musicians and, specifically, composers were cable of. From Ravel's 5 Mlodies
populaires grecques to the later music of Erik Satie, the immense insight
gained by experiencing the extremes is immediately apparent, whether
the subject was war, love, loss, or laughter.
Poulenc's Deux Poemes de Louis Aragon was published in 1944, during of one of the
bloodiest periods of time in France's already tragic history. The Nazis had been
occupying the country for about 4 years at this time, France's infrastructure was
almost non-existent, millions of French citizens and soldiers had died, with more
yet to perish, and France was beginning to resemble a ruinous wasteland akin to
that of Warsaw, which had just been completely destroyed. This isn't to say France
was coming out of any golden period of their own; World War 1 had just ended 21
years earlier, and the failure of the Third Republic to effectively run the country
had made the French national morale quite low before the Germans entered
France in 1940 at the beginning of World War 2.
Poulenc, personally, was also quite troubled. A devout Roman Catholic in his later
years who also was considered the world's first openly gay composer, Poulenc was a
successful composer and a member of the legendary group of composers, Les Six.
Louis Aragon, meanwhile, was a surrealist poet and novelist who was also an avid
supporter of the French Communist Party. The Deux Poemes were written early in
Aragon's life, suggesting his fully radical ideals had not completely set in yet.
Let us take a look at the first of the two songs, "C".
Here is a translation!