You will find below a selection of reference books, bibliographical and analytical, chosen from current works on the composer. It’s not, of course, an exhaustive list. Books written in French are quoted as follows: [F].
Francis Poulenc
The Poulenc bibliography lacked a wide-ranging biography encompassing the composer’s entire output as well as his personality and private life.
Francis Poulenc – ‘Echo and Source’
350 letters written by or to the composer, and translated into English
Francis Poulenc – Correspondance 1910-1963
The Bible for any music-lover who is a Poulenc enthusiast.
Francis Poulenc
The Horizons series from Editions Bleu Nuit now includes a work on Poulenc.
Entrancing Muse : A Documented Biography of Francis Poulenc
The benchmark in English on Poulenc.
The Music of Francis Poulenc
Indispensable work for university level, this complete catalogue lists (in English) every work
Francis Poulenc – J’écris ce qui me chante
book will allow you to discover Poulenc through reviews, tributes, portraits
Francis Poulenc – Articles and Interviews
That great authority on twentieth-century French music, the musicologist and writer Roger Nichols
Francis Poulenc – Journal de mes mélodies
Published and annotated by Renaud Machart, this book is the perfect companion to Bernac’s “Poulenc et ses mélodies”
Francis Poulenc – A Bâtons Rompus
A series of radio interviews which cover the particularly eclectic musical tastes of Poulenc.
Francis Poulenc
Amazing work by an English author which charts the paradoxical links between Poulenc’s late discovery of Catholicism and his homosexuality.
La musique pour piano de Francis Poulenc ou le temps de l’ambivalence
Erudite in style and drawing on a psychoanalytic approach, Franck Ferrati builds an interesting thesis.
Francis Poulenc et ses mélodies
In 1978 Bernac decided to write this account from his enormous knowledge of the songs, the majority written in conjunction with Poulenc himself.
Francis Poulenc et la voix
A very interesting musicological study of Poulenc’s relationship with the voice
Francis Poulenc : Music, Art and Literature
This selection of essays translated into English covers such subjects as the links between Poulenc, Matisse and dufy
Le Groupe des Six
Jean Roy (who died in September 2011) was a specialist in 20th Century French music.
Composer sous Vichy
A very interesting essay which depicts French musical life during the Occupation.
Du langage au style, singularités de Francis Poulenc
Une passionnante contribution de musicologues et universitaires, dirigée par Hervé Lacombe et Lucie Kayas.
Fortune de Francis Poulenc
De l’Espagne au Japon, en passant par l’Allemagne ou l’Italie, comment Poulenc et son œuvre furent-ils accueillis ?