Francis Poulenc (7 January 1899 in Paris – 30 January 1963 in Paris) was a French composer. He was one of the group of six composers who became known as Les Six. He composed music in many different forms: song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, ballet music and orchestral music. His music is easy to enjoy at first hearing: it is much simpler than the music of many other composers who were writing modern music at the time. At first the music critics did not think he was a serious composer, but later people realized the importance of his music. He is the greatest writer of French song (mélodie) since Fauré.