Francis Poulenc's Sextuor (Sextet), FP 100, is a chamber music piece written for a standard wind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and French horn) and piano.
[3] Francis Poulenc, though rejected by the director of the Paris Conservatoire for the tendency of his compositional style to be overly progressive, was the most prolific member of the group of 20th-century French composers known as Les Six.
[4] In his Sextet there are obvious influences of the incidental music heard during the group's weekend visits to the circus as well as their general adherence to the melodic precedents set forth by Satie.
[7] The finale creates a sense of cohesion by repeating themes from the previous two movements, and it ends with a lyrical and solemn coda with influences from one of the composer's idols, Maurice Ravel.
[8][6] The premier of the sextet occurred in 1933 with Poulenc on the piano part and Marcel Moyse, Roland Lamorlette, Louis Cahuzac, Gustave Dhérin, and R. Blot on flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn, respectively.