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Concept
Pierre Bernac
Summary
Pierre Louis Bernac (né Bertin; 12 January 1899 – 17 October 1979) was a French singer, a baryton-martin, known as an interpreter of the French mélodie. He had a close artistic association with Francis Poulenc, with whom he performed in France and abroad. Poulenc wrote 90 songs for him during their 25-year musical partnership.
Bernac was well known as a teacher; among the singers who studied with him were Elly Ameling, Grace Bumbry, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Carol Neblett, Jessye Norman and Gérard Souzay. He gave masterclasses in France, Britain and the US.
In retirement, Bernac wrote two highly regarded books about the interpretation of mélodies in general and Poulenc's in particular.
Bertin in Paris on 12 January 1899, and started his working career in his father's brokerage house. He later changed his surname to Bernac to avoid confusion with the actor Pierre Bertin. He began taking singing lessons at the age of 18, and was first taught by the composer André Caplet. He was later coached by Yvonne Gouverné, who accompanied him at his first recital, in Paris, in 1925. He studied German lieder with Reinhold von Warlich in Salzburg, but it was as an interpreter of French mélodie that he became best known.
Bernac's name came to be closely linked with that of the composer and pianist Francis Poulenc. They gave the first performance of Poulenc's Chansons gaillardes in 1926, but it was another eight years before they worked together again. In 1933 Bernac made the first of only two excursions into opera, as Pelléas in Pélleas et Mélisande at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. His only other operatic appearance was in the same role in Geneva, conducted by Ernest Ansermet in 1936.
In 1934 Bernac, visiting the Salzburg Festival, was asked at short notice to give a Debussy recital. Having no accompanist and knowing that Poulenc was in Salzburg, Bernac sent him a three-line note: "I have been asked to sing some Debussy in three days' time. Would you agree to accompany me? Handsome fee, give me your reply quickly".
Official source
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