1. Pierre Louis Bernac was a French singer, a baryton-martin, known as an interpreter of the French melodie.
18 Facts About Pierre Bernac
1. 2.
Pierre Bernac had a close artistic association with Francis Poulenc, with whom he performed in France and abroad.
3.
Pierre Bernac gave masterclasses in France, Britain and the US.
4.
In retirement, Pierre Bernac wrote two highly regarded books about the interpretation of melodies in general and Poulenc's in particular.
5.
Pierre Bernac later changed his surname to Bernac to avoid confusion with the actor Pierre Bertin.
6.
Pierre Bernac began taking singing lessons at the age of 18, and was first taught by the composer Andre Caplet.
7.
Pierre Bernac was later coached by Yvonne Gouverne, who accompanied him at his first recital, in Paris, in 1925.
8.
Pierre Bernac studied German lieder with Reinhold von Warlich in Salzburg, but it was as an interpreter of French melodie that he became best known.
9.
Pierre Bernac's name came to be closely linked with that of the composer and pianist Francis Poulenc.
10.
In 1933 Pierre Bernac made the first of only two excursions into opera, as Pelleas in Pelleas et Melisande at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees.
11.
In 1934 Pierre Bernac, visiting the Salzburg Festival, was asked at short notice to give a Debussy recital.
12.
Poulenc said that his association with Pierre Bernac was the reason why he wrote so many songs.
13.
Pierre Bernac retired from the concert platform in 1959, when he was 60.
14.
Pierre Bernac wrote two books: The Interpretation of French Song and Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs.
15.
Pierre Bernac wrote the first in English for the guidance of English-speaking singers.
16.
Pierre Bernac explained in his preface that he had space for only the most outstanding composers; nevertheless the book covers 200 melodies by 18 composers, from Berlioz to Poulenc, via Gounod, Franck, Lalo, Saint-Saens, Delibes, Bizet, Massenet, Duparc, Chabrier, Chausson, Faure, Debussy, Satie, Caplet, Roussel and Ravel.
17.
Pierre Bernac used an approach similar to that in his earlier book: a short biographical study of Poulenc is followed by a discussion of the composer's style and the singer's approach to it, and the bulk of the book considers the songs individually, grouped by the various poets' names.
18.
Pierre Bernac died, following a series of heart attacks, in Villeneuve-les-Avignon on 17 October 1979, aged 80.