Mad About Nuns 1952–1956

This chapter focuses on Francis Poulenc's devotion to three very different works. It analyzes Ave verum that Poulenc wrote for women's voices and commissioned by the Howard Heinz Foundation to be performed at the Pittsburgh International Contemporary Music Festival. It also explains that the other two works were both for two pianos and dedicated to Poulenc's friends, such as Capriccio d'après Le Bal masque that was dedicated to Sam Barber. The chapter illustrates Poulenc's stay in France through the rest of 1952, where he suffered serious eye problems and headaches that made work impossible. It also talks about Poulenc's series of six interviews with Stéphane Audel for the Swiss Radio after he left France for Ouchy-Lausanne.

‘Liberty, I Write Your Name’ 1944–1952

This chapter looks into Francis Poulenc's performance of the Figure humaine after the liberation of France from the Second World War. It talks about Poulenc's Les Mamelles in which the BBC Director of Music, Victor Hely-Hutchinson, expressed gratitude for the chance to peruse the score and agreed enthusiastically to recordand perform it. It also recounts Poulenc's visit to London in 1945, where he gave recitals with Pierre Bernac at the Wigmore Hall and the National Gallery. The chapter looks into the event of Poulenc joining Benjamin Britten in a performance of the Two-Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Basil Cameron. It also describes the triumphant premier of Poulenc's concert called Un Soir de neige, which happened at the same time as Olivier Messiaen's Trois petites Liturgies de la Présence divine.

Dreaming of Maturity 1924–1928

This chapter looks at the triumph of Francis Poulenc's Les Biches, in which he took some time to fully absorb it and what it meant for him as a composer. It clarifies the significance of triumphs for composers and how they pose the problem of acting as markers against which anything a composer writes thereafter will be judged. The chapter looks into Poulenc's two new works in the whole of 1924 that was given the title of a piano concerto: Trio for oboe in May and Poèmes de Ronsard in December. It mentions Poulenc's work on the third movement of Napoli and revision of the Impromptus. It also describes the Violin Sonata for Jelly d'Aranyi that ultimately met the familiar fate of most of Poulenc's works for strings.

Depression and Recovery 1929–1934

This chapter explains what made the years from 1929 to 1934 terrible and not easy to decipher for Francis Poulenc. It speculates that the cause of Poulenc's depression was due to the arrival of his thirtieth birthday and the ongoing question on how Raymonde Linossier might fit into his future. It points out Poulenc's documentation of his depression through his letter to Charles de Noailles around February 1929. The chapter narrates Poulenc's meeting and serious homosexual relationship with the artist Richard Chanlaire. It also talks about the production at the Opéra of the L'Éventail de Jeanne that helped Poulenc's mood.

‘Now we are Six’ 1919–1924

This chapter explains how Francis Poulenc exorcized the influence of Claude Debussy's piano music through his multi-stave preludes. It also analyzes Poulenc's modelling of his solo piano music in that of Igor Stravinsky, although the eight little piano duets were more interesting with the imaginative use of ostinato. It looks at Poulenc's three pieces called Mouvements perpétuels, which was acclaimed by virtuosos and by amateurs and reflected a sense in which the “war had created a new world.” The chapter looks at the performing instructions on Mouvements perpétuels, such as the second piece that must be played three times consecutively: the first time in a casual manner, second with plenty of rubato, and third with fury. It also mentions how Poulenc described Mouvements perpétuels as no more than three simple little touches of colour on a ground of white paper.

Overture and Beginners 1899–1918

This chapter introduces Francis Poulenc's parents. It begins with Poulenc's mother, Jenny Zoé Royer, who was born on 20 June 1864 and played a large part in his musical life. Jenny gave Poulenc his first lessons on the piano in 1904 and then appeared first in the list of dedicatees for his opera Dialogues des Carmélites. The chapter then talks about Émile Poulenc, Poulenc's father who was born on 5 July 1855 and took over the family chemical firm under the name “Poulenc Frères.” It describes how the chemical firm flourished throughout Poulenc's youth and beyond, bringing in a comfortable income for the family, and eventually morphed into the current enterprise Rhône–Poulenc. It also explains the contrast made between Poulenc's parents, between his mother's free–thinking, agnostic family and the committed Roman Catholic one of his father's.

The Years of Darkness 1939–1944

This chapter focuses on Francis Poulenc's military service during the Second World War, in which his creativity, in sympathy, became muted and would remain so for at least three years. It analyzes Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin's departure with her husband for his castle in Hungary that became Poulenc's emotional motivation behind Fiançailles pour rire. It analyzes Poulenc's first musical recognition of war in the song Bleuet and to a poem by Apollinaire that records the imagined thoughts of a squaddy who is to “go over the top.” The chapter analyzes Mélancolie as one of Poulenc's most touching piano pieces, which Wilfrid Mellers observed that it has a mood of resignation and fragility that is immanent in its continual modulations. It also describes how Poulenc tried to take Maurice Ravel's belief in making the different departments of the orchestra as far as possible self-sufficient into his score of Les Animaux modèles.

Surrealism and Faith 1934–1939

This chapter recounts the first Bernac/Poulenc recital that took place at the École normale de musique after Francis Poulenc's North African tour with Maria Modrakowska in February 1935. It talks about Plume d'eau claire and Rodeuse au front de verre, which Poulenc thought belonged to his more familiar style of almost classical arrangement of harmonies spiced up with a few unimpeachable chromaticisms. It also describes Poulenc's compositions during the remainder of 1935 that turned their back temporarily on surrealism in favour of less demanding fare, including two pieces of incidental music. The chapter looks into Poulenc's devotion to film music and occasional collaborations with Georges Auric and Arthur Honegger, writing five scores between 1935 and 1951. It also assesses Poulenc's most interesting literary contributions that appeared during October 1935, Mes maîtres et mes amis, that was published in Conferencia.

Joy, Suffering and Farewell 1957–1963

This chapter talks about Francis Poulenc's return to Paris, where he spent some weeks putting final corrections to the score of Carmélites and continuing his project on the Flute Sonata. It mentions Poulenc's relationship with former soldier Louis Gautier, which followed the pattern of metamorphosing from lover to friend and remained close until his death. It also explores the Paris press' symphony of admiration for Poulenc, stating how he has invented a new kind of opera with intimate, psychological drama that has no reference but itself. The chapter provides a summary of Poulenc's harmonic and melodic preferences all throughout the years. It also talks about Marguerite de Saint-Marceaux's diary in which she had written that Poulenc sang his Chansons gaillardes and played his Napoli well and that he didn't lack talent, but he wasn't a genius.