2023-07-10 09:51:34
Love at first sight in Rocamadour: in his novel La Vierge noire et le voyou, the writer Xavier-Marie Garcette retraces the conversion of the composer Poulenc. To meditate.
Your novel is centered on Francis Poulenc, who died in 1963. Why him?
Xavier-Marie Garcette: The first time I heard of Francis Poulenc was in 1996 during summer vacation. I was visiting the city of Rocamadour but because of, or thanks to the heat and the crowd, we cut the visit short by taking refuge in the coolness of a museum of sacred art Francis Poulenc. There were works and some information regarding him, including the fact that he converted to Rocamadour in 1936. Two years later, as part of my work in this region, I met a musicologist in need of grants to create the Francis Poulenc piano competition in Brive. This project interested me and I became its patron. I was therefore interested in this composer and his work touched me a lot, especially Le Dialogue des Carmélites.
How did you immerse yourself in his life?
When I started writing regarding him, I read a few biographies, but that wasn’t enough. One day, I found the composer’s correspondence at the Fayard editions, then a collection of texts he wrote during his life, entitled I write what me sings. It is mainly thanks to this that I managed to grasp this character and I was able to write as it was necessary.
What do we know of Poulenc and this Black Madonna?
Poulenc lived surrounded by friends and he formed a musical piano trio with Bernac who sang and Gouvernet, a singing teacher. They toured all over the province. One day, they decide to visit Rocamadour and Poulenc comes face to face with the Black Virgin for which the town is famous. It’s love at first sight and he decides to convert immediately.
You quote Claude Rostand who said: “There are monks and hoodlums in Poulenc”.
Absolutely ! To immerse yourself in the context, you have to go back to the 1950s. Poulenc was criticized by the press during a music festival in Aix en Provence where he played his Piano Concerto. His work is considered too trivial and simple because it belongs to his guinguette register, for which he is a little less known. Claude Rostand, music critic, and also a friend of Poulenc, defends him with this very apt sentence. To which the person concerned replied: “It is true, alas”. Poulenc is everything and its opposite, it is its complexity and this duality that make it touching and interesting.
The Black Madonna and the Thug
From the authors of the books, 2023
163 pages, 16,60 €
Anna Austin Interview
Photo : Gabrielle Langevin
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