Francis Poulenc - Litanies à la Vierge noire, FP.82 (1936)

Francis Poulenc - Litanies à la Vierge noire, FP.82 (1936). Performed by The Cambridge Singers, directed by John Rutter. Recorded January 1988 in University College School, London, England, UK. This video of classical music is solely for personal educational purposes. No copyright infringement intended. Videos are always incidental extracts from published works. If you like the music, please consider supporting the artist and the label by buying the music. Discover more lesser known classical gems at ‪‪‪@gorgeousclassicalunknown‬ . From Wikipedia: Litanies à la Vierge noire (Litany to the Black Virgin), FP 82, is sacred music composed by Francis Poulenc in 1936 for a three-part choir of women (or children) and organ, setting a French litany recited at the pilgrimage site Rocamadour which the composer visited. The subtitle, Notre-Dame de Rocamadour, refers to the venerated black sculpture of Mary. The composition is Poulenc's first piece of sacred music. In 1947 he wrote a version for voices accompanied by string orchestra and timpani. Poulenc returned to the Catholic faith of his youth in 1936 and began to compose sacred music with this piece. He made a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Black Virgin of Rocamadour shortly after learning of the death of his friend, the composer Pierre-Octave Ferroud, in a car accident. His account of the pilgrimage reads: A few days earlier I'd just heard of the tragic death of my colleague ... As I meditated on the fragility of our human frame, I was drawn once more to the life of the spirit. Rocamadour had the effect of restoring me to the faith of my childhood. This sanctuary, undoubtedly the oldest in France ... had everything to captivate me ... The same evening of this visit to Rocamadour, I began my Litanies à la Vierge noire for female voices and organ. In that work I tried to get across the atmosphere of "peasant devotion" that had struck me so forcibly in that lofty chapel. The piece was published by Durand & Cie in Paris in 1937.