Soirées de Nazelles

Les Soirées de Nazelles, FP 84, is a set of variations for piano written by the French composer Francis Poulenc. During the evenings, the composer used to sit at the piano and improvise "portraits" of his friends, all based on a given theme. The work was begun in 1930, and completed at Noizay on October 1, 1936.[1] At the beginning of the score, it reads:

The variations that form the center of this work were improvised at Nazelles during long country evenings wherein the composer played "portraits" for friends gathered around his piano.
We hope that these variations, each one somewhere between a first draft and a finished work, will have the power to evoke this game in the spirit of a Touraine region living room– with a window open to the night.[2]

Soirées de Nazelles
Variations by Francis Poulenc
Catalogue	FP 84
Composed	1936 (1936)
Dedication	"to the memory of my aunt LIÉNARD, in memory of Nazelles"
Scoring	piano

The composition is dedicated "to the memory of my aunt LIÉNARD, in memory of Nazelles".[3] The score was published by Éditions Durand Salabert-Eschig.[1]

Structure.

Les Soirées de Nazelles are composed of eight variations and a cadence, framed by a prelude (Preamble) and a finale. It takes about 20 minutes to perform. A complete recording by Tom Pascale lists the titles, tempo markings and durations as follows:[1]

Variation	Title	Tempo	Duration
	Preamble	Extrêmement animé et décidé	3'37
I	Le comble de la distinction	Vif et gai	1'16
II	Le cœur sur la main	Modéré	2'41
III	La désinvolture et la discrétion	Presto	1'23
IV	La suite dans les idées	Très large et pompeux	1'59
V	Le charme enjôleur	Très allant	2'24
VI	Le contentement de soi	Très vite et sec	1'10
VII	Le goût du malheur	Lent et mélancolique	3'14
VIII	L'alerte vieillesse	Très rapide et bien sec	1'17
	Cadence	Très large et très librement	1'38
	Final	Follement vite, mais très prècis	3'39

References

1. Partition Éditions Durand Paris, France
2. Piano Society Archived 2017-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
3. à la mémoire de ma tante LIÉNARD, en souvenir de Nazelles

External links

• Francis Poulenc - Les Soirées de Nazelles by Patrick Jankowski (18 November 2014)
• Les soirées de Nazelles, FP 84 (Poulenc, Francis) on IMSLP
• Poulenc - Soirées de Nazelles on Pianopedia
• Orazio Sciortino, piano. F. Poulenc- Les Soirées de Nazelles on YouTube
• Château de Noizelles