Poulenc for kids: his life, his music, and what to play first

Francis Poulenc was a French composer who lived from 1899 to 1963. His music is tuneful, witty, and full of charm, and it can turn serious in a moment. He wrote a piece for children that is still performed around the world: The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant, for a storyteller and a piano. It is the best first piece for a child.

Quick facts

• Born: 1899, in Paris, France
• Died: 1963, in Paris
• Era: Modern
• Played: piano
• Known for: The Story of Babar, a concerto for two pianos, the Gloria, and many songs

The life in short

Poulenc was born into a wealthy family. His father ran a large company that made chemicals and medicines. His mother played the piano well and gave Francis his first lessons at five.

His father wanted him to have a regular education and would not let him go to a music school. Poulenc studied the piano in private with a fine teacher and taught himself most of what he knew about composing.

He had his first success at 18, with a cheeky piece that made Paris take notice. He fell in with a group of young French composers who wanted music to be clear, short, and fun. A critic named them “The Six.”

Poulenc wrote ballets, piano pieces, and songs that made Paris smile. He was a fine pianist, and for many years he toured with a singer, playing his own songs.

In his thirties, a fellow composer he knew well died in a car crash. Poulenc visited an old shrine built into a cliff and came back changed. From then on, he wrote religious music for choirs beside his lighter pieces.

During the Second World War, he stayed in France and set poems of the French Resistance to music in secret.

How Babar began

In the summer of 1940, Poulenc was staying with cousins in the country. He sat at the piano to practice. A small girl, one of the children in the house, grew bored with what he was playing. She put her picture book on the music stand and said, “Play this.”

The book was The Story of Babar by Jean de Brunhoff. Poulenc began to make up music for each page, and the children gathered around. He remembered that afternoon, and a few years later he wrote the piece down. He dedicated it to the children.

What the music sounds like

Poulenc loved a good tune. His music can sound like a song from a Paris café, a circus band, or a church choir, and sometimes like all three in one piece.

He liked sudden changes. A silly passage stops, and a tender one begins. That keeps a listener awake.

Pieces to play first

The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant. A narrator reads the story, and the piano answers after each part. There is a lullaby for the baby elephant, a chase, a car ride, a sad march, and a wedding dance. It lasts about 25 minutes. A version for orchestra exists too.

Concerto for Two Pianos, first movement. Two pianists chase each other up and down the keys. One section chimes in the style of bells from Bali, which Poulenc had heard at a fair in Paris.

“Mouvements perpétuels,” No. 1. A two-minute piano piece he wrote at 19. The left hand repeats one pattern from start to finish.

Gloria, second movement. A choir sings a bouncing, joyful tune. Some listeners were shocked that church music could be so cheerful.

Things to do together

Read along. Borrow the Babar book from the library. Turn the pages as the narrator reads.

What is happening? Stop the recording after a piano section. Ask what the music showed: the elephant walking, the car, or the party.

Your own book. Put a picture book on the piano or a keyboard, as the little girl did. Make up a few notes for each page.

Two pianos. Watch a video of the concerto for two pianos. Ask how the two players stay together.

Print and play

Fill in a composer study notebook page for Poulenc. For more music with a story, read classical music that tells a story and the guide to Peter and the Wolf. For more to play in the car, see classical music for car rides with kids.

For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.