When one thinks of Poulenc and his choral works, most listeners already have an idea of what they are going to get: something modal, filled with vitalité, and maybe a bit sentimental. However, Poulenc was also known for his darker, somber side and this can be seen in today's Voices of Connection clip, our performance of his Litanies à la Vierge Noire from March 2022.

Litanies à la Vierge Noire is certainly one of Poulenc's more ominous pieces of music, cycling between ethereal piety and fire-and-brimstone chanting over an eerie organ accompaniment. When Poulenc wrote Litanies in September 1936, he was grappling with his faith as well as the untimely death of his colleague, the composer Pierre-Octave Ferroud. Wracked with grief, Poulenc made the pilgrimage to the shrine of the Black Virgin of Rocamadour in the southwestern region of France, where he "meditated on the fragility of our human frame" and started to write Litanies. Confronting the delicate line between life and death, it's no wonder Litanies feels like a piece in conflict with itself. It is this conflict that makes Litanies à la Vierge Noire one of Poulenc's most gripping choral pieces.

Take a listen to Voices of Ascension's performance of Litanies à la Vierge Noire below.

POULENC Litanies à la Vierge Noire

Voices of Ascension
Mark Kruczek, Organ
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director & Conductor

Recorded live on March 9, 2022 at the Church of the Ascension, NYC

The singers in this performance are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO.