| French: Quatre petites prières de saint François d'Assise | |
| Type: | Motets |
| Composer: | Francis Poulenc |
| Catalogue: | FP 142 |
| Dedication: | Franciscans of Champfleury |
| Translation: | Four small prayers of Saint Francis of Assisi |
| Language: | French |
| Scoring: | male voices a cappella |
Quatre petites prières de saint François d'Assise, FP 142 (Four small prayers of Saint Francis of Assisi)[1] is a sacred choral work by Francis Poulenc for a cappella men's chorus, composed in 1948. Written on a request by Poulenc's relative who was a Franciscan friar, the work was premiered by the monks of Champfleury.
In the summer of 1948, Poulenc's great-nephew Jérôme, who lived as a friar in the Franciscan monastery of Champfleury[2] near Poissy, sent Poulenc French translations of four prayers attributed to Francis of Assisi with the request to his great uncle to set them in music.
Poulenc set the prayers to music within a few weeks in his house in Noizay and dedicated the work to the Franciscans of Champfleury. Poulenc commented on his composition: "I worship St. Francis, but he intimidates me a little too. In any case, I wanted to set a sign of humility with the setting of his wonderfully touching prayers. Thus, in the fourth piece, for example, a simple solo is heard at the beginning, like a monk leading his brothers in prayer." The premiere was performed by the monastery choir in Champfleury as part of the liturgy. Poulenc wrote to the conductor that he appreciated the atmosphere of clarity and trust, more touching than the work with professionals who look at their watches during a concert.
Poulenc merges archaic elements of medieval monastic chanting, e. g. organum-imitations or reminiscences of the Gregorian chant with the progressive harmonies typical of him. Nonetheless, the simple-looking melodies embedded in homophony represent a dedication to the work of Francis of Assisi. A performance lasts about eight minutes.[3] A 2004 thesis describes the works as "stylistically distilled" and notes about the Petite prieres, along with the Mass in G and Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence, that they "display the greatest variety of style and form" and that they show "Poulenc's skillful unification of sacred and secular, ancient and modern sound worlds".
I. Salut, Dame Sainte
II. Tout puissant[4]
III. Seigneur, je vous en prie
IV. Ô mes très chers frères