ABSTRACT
The writer, critic and musicologist Henri Hell (1916–1991) first came across Poulenc’s music in the 1930s in Algeria, where he was living, when the composer and Bernac came to give a recital in Oran (possibly in February 1935). His biography of the composer, published by Plon in 1958 and in a revised edition by Fayard in 1978, was for a long time the accepted reference work, despite its gaps and hagiographic tone. He was one of Poulenc’s close friends and the fourteenth Improvisation for piano is dedicated to him.
