Ave verum corpus

Poulenc found it difficult to resist making allusions to popular music even in his most serious works: the Gloria, which comes next in tonight’s programme, is a prime example of that. So the Ave verum corpus, a radiant and restrained setting for unaccompanied three-part choir of a Latin hymn by Pope Innocent VI, is a rare achievement on his part. He was rightly proud of it. As he wrote to a friend from his home in Noizay in 1952, “I have just completed in two days an Ave verum corpus which is very simple, very pure and, I believe, very successful.”