Le Bestiaire, by Francis Poulenc

Le Bestiaire is Francis Poulenc's first song cycle, composed in 1919 on the text of poet Guillaume Apollinaire.  The poetry of "The Bestiary" was originally published in 1911 with an accompanying woodblock print of each animal.  Poulenc takes six of these short poems and connects them together through a series of miniature songs that playfully contrast one to the next. 

The listener may be enchanted by the spinning of the vocal line, only to have an unexpectedly exuberant piano postlude jump in to break the moment.  I hope you enjoy this performance I gave with pianist Kuang-Hao Huang from FCE's 2019 concert, What a Zoo!

Author

Bridget Skaggs is the founding mezzo-soprano and Executive Director of Fourth Coast Ensemble.  She studied opera at Oklahoma City University's Wanda L. Bass School of Music, and moved to Chicago in 2012 to pursue a dual career in singing and yoga.  Bridget's passion for art song grows from her lifelong love of words, communication, and the human voice.