His compositions include songs , solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. As the only son of a prosperous manufacturer, Poulenc was expected to follow his father into the family firm, and he was not allowed to enrol at a music college.
Poulenc also made the acquaintance of Erik Satie , under whose tutelage he became one of a group of young composers known collectively as " Les Six ". In his early works Poulenc became known for his high spirits and irreverence.
During the s a much more serious side to his nature emerged, particularly in the religious music he composed from onwards, which he alternated with his more light-hearted works. In addition to his work as a composer, Poulenc was an accomplished pianist. He was particularly celebrated for his performing partnerships with the baritone Pierre Bernac who also advised him in vocal writing and the soprano Denise Duval.
He toured in Europe and America with both of them, and made a number of recordings as a pianist. He was among the first composers to see the importance of the gramophone , and he recorded extensively from onwards. In his later years, and for decades after his death, Poulenc had a reputation, particularly in his native country, as a humorous, lightweight composer, and his religious music was often overlooked.
Jenny Poulenc was from a Parisian family with wide artistic interests. In Poulenc's view, the two sides of his nature grew out of this background: a deep religious faith from his father's family and a worldly and artistic side from his mother's. Poulenc grew up in a musical household; his mother was a capable pianist, with a wide repertoire ranging from classical to less elevated works that gave him a lifelong taste for what he called "adorable bad music".
