Scored for a cappella men’s choir (TTBB), Poulenc’s Quatre Petites Prieres de St Francois d’Assise were composed for and dedicated to the monastery choir at Champfleury (and in particular, a certain monk there named Frere Jerome, who happened to be the composer’s great-nephew). With the use of archaic textures of plainchant and Poulenc’s own harmonic colourings, these four pieces create a unique reverence and solemnity.