Pierre Bernac

Arguably the greatest French concert-singer of the 20th century, Pierre Bernac (1899-1979) was to Poulenc much as his English contemporary Peter Pears was to Britten: a close collaborative partner and inspiration for much of the composer’s vocal writing. Bernac’s speciality was mélodie—French art song—which he handled with the elegance, refinement and expressive clarity of the high-baritone voice known as baryton-Martin. Modest in scale and light in texture, it wasn’t suited to the opera stage (where Bernac never ventured except for Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande), but it was ideal for recitals. For a quarter-century, through the 1930s to ’50s, he appeared with Poulenc as pianist in a wide range of repertoire—though principally the songs of Poulenc himself, some 90 of which were specifically written for him. He understood (as Poulenc said) their “inner secrets”. And after retiring from the concert platform in 1960, Bernac wrote an influential book about them—as well as becoming a renowned teacher, with star pupils including Gérard Souzay and Jessye Norman.