La Fraîcheur et le feu

La Fraîcheur et le feu (FR) Coolness and Fire. Poulenc's settings (1950) for voice and piano of the 17th poem from Le Livre ouvert I (The Open Book, I, 1940) by Eluard. The multi-sectioned poem is titled Vue donne vie (Sight Gives Life). Poulenc asked Eluard if he might retitle the cycle of poems he had set, thus La Fraîcheur et le feu. The line is taken from the fifth poem. The songs are not really titled, but are known by the first words of their first lines, which are: 1. »Rayons des yeux…