Pierre Bernac

Pierre Bernac (12 January 1899 – 17 October 1979) was a French baryton-martin who became the most renowned interpreter of the French art song, and had a close artistic association with Francis Poulenc.

He was born Pierre Bertin in Paris on 12 January 1899. He later changed his surname to Bernac to avoid confusion with the actor Pierre Bertin. He studied with Reinhold von Wahrlich in Salzburg. He came to music relatively late and gave his first recital in 1921.

He gave the first performances of Francis Poulenc's Chansons gaillardes in 1926. He began appearing in recital with Poulenc as his accompanist in 1934 and they continued performing together until Bernac withdrew from performing in public about 1960. Poulenc wrote a majority of his songs for Bernac, including Tel jour, telle nuit and Calligrammes. He became the most renowned interpreter of the French art song.

Bernac recorded several of Poulenc's songs, accompanied by the composer on the piano, in 1947. These were released by EMI and RCA Victor on 78-rpm discs.

When his American debut, delayed by World War II, finally came in 1948, according to Allen Hughes of the New York Times:

"the integrity and elegance of his singing quickly won him a following among connoisseurs of art song interpretation. His voice was relatively small and not naturally beautiful, but it did have a wide range, and as a result some of Poulenc's songs call for changes of register that singers other than Mr. Bernac have not always found comfortable."