Les Soirées de Nazelles is the largest-scale work of Poulenc’s piano pieces. Poulenc begun writing this piano suite in 1930, while he is having holiday at his country home at Touraine. He improvised the variations in this work during a long evenings in the country home, and each of the variations portrait different character of his friends. This work was completed in 1936, and was dedicated to “Ms. Lienard”. Unfortunately Ms. Lienard passed away before the work was published.

This thesis discuss how the characteristics of 20th-century art influences Poulenc’s Les Soirées de Nazelles. There are five chapters in this thesis. Chapter one my research motivations, my methods and the scope to research this piano work. Chapter two introduces the life of Poulenc and his music styles. Chapter three discusses the characteristics of Poulenc’s piano works. Chapter four stands with the musical background, the analysis and the interpretation of Les Soirées de Nazelles. Chapter five concludes the points discussed in this research, and the ways that this work is related to the 20th-centruy art. Finally, through my research I hope there are more listeners discover and appreciate this music.