ABSTRACT
Raoul Dufy is the artist Poulenc mentions most often in Journal de mes melodies. Just as perfume and jewels, which had been the preserve of the aristocracy, were now made available to a wider class, so Poulenc's Nogent music, despite its sophisticated, luminous harmonies, was accessible to a wide audience thanks to the singable melodies, the uncomplicated rhythms and the appealing texts. While the similarities of biography, habit and interest certainly help to explain Poulenc's observation that he and Dufy had much in common, comparable style elements in their works reveal their common spirit at another level. To begin with, there are strong analogies, for instance, between certain compositional devices in Poulenc's songs and various elements of Dufy's style. Poulenc's written or recorded comments, similarities of biography, habit, temperament and critical assessment.
