Alain Henri Bernaud (8 March 1932 – 4 December 2020) was a French composer.

Life

Bernaud was born in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

of a polytechnician father, a good violinist and violist and a mother playing the piano, daughter of Marcel Chadeigne who was, before and after the First World War, choir conductor at the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

and pianist - accompanist - decipherer - reducer of orchestral scores. He had formed with

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

, Maurice Delage,

Déodat de Séverac Marie-Joseph Alexandre Déodat de Séverac (; 20 July 1872 – 24 March 1921) was a French composer. Life Séverac was born in Saint-Félix-de-Caraman, Haute-Garonne. He descended from a noble family, profoundly influenced by the musical trad ...

Florent Schmitt Florent Schmitt (; 28 September 187017 August 1958) was a French composer. He was part of the group known as Les Apaches. His most famous pieces are ''La tragédie de Salome'' and ''Psaume XLVII'' (Psalm 47). He has been described as "one of the ...

Paul Ladmirault Paul Émile Ladmirault (8 December 1877 – 30 October 1944) was a French language, French composer and Music criticism, music critic whose music expressed his devotion to Brittany. Claude Debussy wrote that his work possessed a "fine dreamy musi ...

Émile Vuillermoz Émile-Jean-Joseph Vuillermoz (23 May 1878 – 2 March 1960) was a French critic in the areas of music, film, drama and literature. He was also a composer, but abandoned this for criticism. Early life Émile Vuillermoz was born in Lyon in 1878. He ...

, Désiré Inghelbrecht, Ricardo Viñes and Tristan Klingsor, a group they had named ''

Les Apaches Les Apaches (or Société des Apaches) was a group of musicians, writers and artists which formed in Paris, France in 1903. The core was formed by the French composer Maurice Ravel, the Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes and the writer and critic Mic ...

'', and whose rallying call was whistling the first theme of Borodin's Second Symphony. Arriving in Paris in 1938, he began studying piano and music theory with , wrote his Opus 1, a

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

(for the family!) and then returned to the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

(direction of

Claude Delvincourt Claude Étienne Edmond Marie Pierre Delvincourt (12 January 1888 – 5 April 1954) was a French pianist and composer of classical music. Biography Delvincourt was born in Paris, the son of Pierre Delvincourt and Marguerite Fourès. He studied ...

) in specialized solfege class, at

Lucette Descaves Lucette Descaves (1 April 1906 – 15 April 1993) was a French pianist and teacher, whose pupils included Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Geneviève Joy, Brigitte Engerer, Pascal Rogé, and Katia and Marielle Labèque. Biography Born in Paris, daughter o ...

, where he met

Michel Legrand Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many son ...

Roger Boutry Roger Jean Boutry (27 February 1932 – 7 September 2019) was a French composer and conductor. Biography Born in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, he resided in Paris. A virtuoso pianist, renowned and internationally recognized conductor, in ...

Jean-Michel Defaye Jean-Michel Defaye (born 18 September 1932) is a French pianist, composer, arranger and conductor known for his collaboration with French poet and singer-songwriter Léo Ferré. He was born in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne near Paris, on 18 Septemb ...

and

Alain Weber Alain Weber (8 December 1930 — 14 November 2019) was a French composer and music educator. Training and activities Born in Château-Thierry, Weber began his studies at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1941. First Grand Prix de Rome in 1952, he w ...

. He then followed

Jules Gentil Jules Charles Henri Gentil (10 February 1898 – 25 May 1985) was a French pianist and pedagogue. Biography Born in Annecy, Gentil first studied the piano with his mother, who had been a student of Georges Mathias, then with Santiago Riera (1867 ...

's piano class (1st medal) - studied

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

with

Jacques de La Presle Jacques de la Presle (1888-1969) was a French composer. He won Second Prix at the Prix de Rome in 1920 with his cantata ''Don Juan''. The following year he won the Grand Prix with a cantata ''Hermione'', and departed to spend four years at the Vill ...

(1st prize) -

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

and

fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...

with

Noël Gallon Noël Jean-Charles André Gallon (11 September 1891 – 26 December 1966) was a French composer and music educator. His compositional output includes several choral works and vocal art songs, 10 preludes, a ''Toccata'' for piano, a ''Sonata ...

(1st medal and 1st prize) - finally

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

with

Tony Aubin Tony Louis Alexandre Aubin (8 December 1907 – 21 September 1981) was a French composer. Career Aubin was born in Paris. From 1925 to 1930, he studied at the Paris Conservatory under Samuel Rousseau (composer), Samuel Rousseau (music theory), ...

(1st Prix de Rome in 1953 with ''Ouverture à la française'' for 2 pianos). He won the 2nd Prix de Rome in 1955 with the

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

''Le Rire de Gargantua'' then 1st Grand Prix de Rome in 1957 with the cantata ''La fée Urgèle''. Bernaud stayed 40 months at the

Villa Médicis The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

, a stay during which he wrote a quartet for saxophones, ''Les chants de la jungle'' - six melodies for

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

and

string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first ...

on poems from

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

, a Symphony, an ''Ouverture pour orchestre de chambre'' (1960), a ''Messe brève'' for mixed choir and organ (1958), a ''Nocturne pour orchestre à cordes'', ''Sept mélodies pour flûte et mezzo soprano'' on poems by Omar Khayyam. Back in France, he wrote scores for television shows ''Présence du passé'', for short films and also feature films and was appointed, in 1963, professor of solfege for instrumentalists at the Conservatoire de Paris, and a little later, in 1971, harmony teacher in the same establishment. He provided this teaching there until the end of 1999. He is currently retired in northern Brittany and continues to compose and put in order his existing production.

Compositions

1950s

* 1951: ''Sonate pour violon et piano'' * 1953: ''Ouverture à la française'' for 2 pianos * 1955: ''Concerto lyrique'' for clarinet and orchestra (Ed. Alphonse Leduc) * 1957: ''Récitatif et air'' for clarinet and piano (Ed. Leduc) * 1958: ''Capriccio rustique'' for oboe and piano (Ed. Leduc) * 1959: ''Suite en trois mouvements: Ouverture, Sarabande & Gigue pour grand orchestre'' * 1959: ''Chants de la Jungle'', after Kipling for baritone and string orchestra (Ed. Combre)

1960s

* 1963: ''Pavane et saltarelle'' for trumpet and piano (Ed. Ricordi) * 1964: ''Humoresque'' for tuba (or Bb saxhorn or cello) and piano (Ed. Max Eschig) * 1965: ''Diptyque'' for oboe and piano (Ed. Leduc) * 1965: ''Cadence pour le concerto de piano K491 de Mozart'' (Ed. Musimage) * 1966: ''D’une extrême gravité'', 2 pieces for double bass and piano (Ed. Leduc) * 1967:''Trois pièces pour les percussions'' (Ed. Rideau Rouge) * 1968: ''Contrastes'' for viola and piano (Ed. Rideau Rouge) * 1969: ''Réversibilité'' for violin and piano (concours J. Thibaud 1969 - Édition Rideau Rouge)

1970s

* 1970: ''Phantasmes'' for clarinet and piano (Ed. Rideau Rouge) * 1972: ''Obliques'' for cello and piano (Ed. Rideau Rouge) * 1973: ''Incantation et danse'' for flute and piano (Ed. Rideau Rouge) * 1973: ''Magyar'' for violin and piano (concours Jacques Thibaud 1973 - Ed. Rideau Rouge) * 1974: ''Sonate pour les deux saxophones'', soprano and bariton (Ed. Combre) * 1975: ''Scherzo pour cor et piano'' (Ed.

Max Eschig Max Eschig (27 May 1872 – 3 September 1927) was a Czech-born French music publisher who published many of the leading French composers of the twentieth century, later also including many East European and Latin American composers. Life Eschig wa ...

) * 1975: ''Le jardin de Gabriel'' Six evocations for violin and piano * 1976: ''Hommage au capitaine Fracasse'' for percussion and piano (Ed. Rideau Rouge) * 1977: ''Final pour saxophone alto et piano'' (Ed. Choudens) * 1978: ''Hallucinations'' for bassoon and piano (Ed. Peermusic - E.M.I. 1978) * 1979: ''Crescendo'', progressive pieces for young pianists (Ed. Kercoz) * 1979: ''Étude-expression'' for quintet with clarinet

1980s

* 1980: ''Exponentielles'' for

tenor trombone A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is widel ...

and piano (Ed. E.M.I.) * 1981: ''Variations pour hautbois et piano'' (Ed. Billaudot) * 1984: ''Rhapsodie pour saxophone alto et piano'' (Ed. Choudens) * 1986: ''Dies irae Deus misericordiæ'' for Large Organ (Ed.Kercoz)

1990–2010

* 1990: ''Le Miroir d’Euterpe'' 49 preludes for string quartet (Ed.Kercoz) * 1997: ''Catalyses'', Rhapsody for piano (Ed. Kercoz) musical journey for an exhibition of the painter François Bernaud * 2000: ''Cinq pièces pour quatuor de violoncelles'', in honour of Howard Buten (Ed.Kercoz) * 2004: ''Variazioni Napoli'' for baroque harpsichord (Ed.Kercoz) * 2005: ''Quatre mouvements pour trois archets et douze cordes'' for string trio (Ed. Kercoz) * 2005: ''Partita pour violoncelle solo'' (Ed. Kercoz) * 2008: ''La flûte Greco Romaine'', Seven pieces of progressive difficulty for flute and piano * 2009: ''Cinq pièces faciles pour guitare'' * 2009: ''Partita pour violoncelle solo'' (Ed.Combre) * 2009: ''Cinque intermezzi per piano solo'' * 2009: ''33 Basses données pour l'étude du contrepoint fugué''

2010–2013

*2010: ''Suite archaïque'' for oboe, bassoon and string trio * 2010: ''Figures de style ou le Clavier bien partagé'' 50 pieces for four hands piano * 2013: ''FAGKONZERT for bassoon and string orchestra''

For cinema

* 1961: ''Le Trésor des 13 maisons'', TV serials, 13 épisodes * 1962: ''De la Perse à l'Iran'', documentary * 1963: ''Rien ne va plus'', by Jean Bacqué * 1964: ''Suzanne et le cambrioleur'' - short film * 1965: ''Yalta ou le partage du monde'', documentary * 1967: ''Valmy'' - TV film * 1967: ''Francis au pays des grands fauves'' (with

Antoine Duhamel Antoine Duhamel (30 July 1925 – 11 September 2014) was a French composer, orchestra conductor and music teacher. Life and career Born in Valmondois in the Val-d'Oise département of France, Antoine Duhamel was one of the three sons of the Fre ...

), TV serials, 55 épisodes * 1968: ''L'Homme de l'ombre'', TV serials, 6 épisodes * 1968: ''Nadar'', documentary * 1968: ''Les Sœurs Barenton'', short film * 1971: ', by * 1979: ''Petite histoire un peu triste'' * 1989: ', by

Nina Companéez Nina Companeez (26 August 1937 – 9 April 2015) was a French screenwriter and film director. Nina Companeez was the younger daughter of Russian Jewish émigré screenwriter Jacques Companéez and younger sister of contralto Irène Companee ...

Awards

* 2nd Prix de Rome for composition 1955. * 1st Grand Prix de Rome for composition 1957.

References

External links

Personal website

Alain Bernaud, Hallucinations for bassoon and piano
(YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernaud, Alain 1932 births 2020 deaths Musicians from Neuilly-sur-Seine 20th-century French composers 21st-century French composers French film score composers Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris Prix de Rome for composition French male film score composers 20th-century French male musicians 21st-century French male musicians