Conrad Bernier (9 May 1904 – 7 November 1988) was a French-Canadian

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, conductor and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. For many years he was a professor at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Early life and education

Born into a family of musicians in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, Bernier was the brother of pianist Gabrielle Bernier and cellist/journalist Maurice Bernier, and the uncle of musicians

Françoys Bernier Françoys Joseph Arthur Maurice Bernier (12 July 19273 February 1993) was a Canadian pianist, conductor, radio producer, arts administrator, and music educator. He served as the music director of the Montreal Festivals from 1956 to 1960 and was a ...

, Madeleine Bernier, and Pierre Bernier. His first teacher was his father

Joseph-Arthur Bernier Joseph-Arthur Bernier (19 March 1877 – 28 April 1944) was a Canadian organist, pianist, composer, and music educator. Born in Lévis, Quebec, he was the senior member of a prominent family of musicians from Quebec City. He is the father of pian ...

, who introduced him to solfège,

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. He continued his keyboard studies with Berthe Roy, and became proficient enough to inaugurate the organ of the church at Bienville when he was 13 years of age. The following year he performed on the organ of St-Sacrement Church in Quebec City. In this church he served from 1920 to 1923 as principal organist, while he was also assistant organist at St-Jean-Baptiste. In 1923 Bernier won the

Prix d'Europe The Prix d'Europe is a Canadian study grant that is funded by the Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec of the Government of Quebec. Established in 1911, the award has been distributed annually to a single individual through competition wi ...

to study organ in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. There he studied 1923-26, taking piano with Sylvia Hérard and Simone Plé-Caussade, Music Theory with Georges Caussade (theory), and organ with the well-known organist from Bordeaux,

Joseph Bonnet Joseph Élie Georges-Marie Bonnet (17 March 1884 – 2 August 1944) was a French composer and organist. Biography One of the major French pipe organists, Joseph Bonnet was born in Bordeaux. He first studied with his father, an organist at S ...

, for whom he also substituted at the organs of the church of St-Eustache. In 1962 he was awarded a

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

of Music from St. Francis, Loretto,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Professional career

In 1926 he returned to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

for a concert tour, after which he was organist at the Church of the Visitation in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

for several months. His next appointment was at the

in Washington, D.C., where he became director of the Organ Department in 1927. He returned to Canada from time to time to teach courses between 1943 and 1947 and to give recitals and performances for the Casavant Society. In Washington Bernier was organist at the church of Ste. Anne (1935–69), artist in residence at The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, and also became the regular organist of the

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

of the Shrine of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was one of the three interim conductors of the

Cathedral Choral Society The Cathedral Choral Society is a 200-voice symphonic, volunteer chorus based at the Washington National Cathedral. The late J. Reilly Lewis was music director from 1985-2016. He succeeded Paul Callaway, who founded the group in 1941. The ens ...

Washington National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...

. Bernier continued to teach at Catholic University until he was named

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in 1974. In 1975 he played the organ for a recording of flute and organ music with Lambros Callimahos. Bernier he continued teaching

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 ...

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 ...

, and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

and rganuntil the eve of his death on 7 November 1988. Among his students were

Don Shirley Donald Walbridge Shirley (January 29, 1927 – April 6, 2013) was an American classical and jazz pianist and composer. He recorded many albums for Cadence Records during the 1950s and 1960s, experimenting with jazz with a classical influenc ...

Helmut Braunlich Helmut Braunlich (born 19 May 1929 in Brünn, Moravia; d. 24 May 2013) was a German-American violinist, composer, and musicologist. Education He received his formal musical education at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, where he studied violin with Chri ...

Haig Mardirosian Haig Mardirosian (born 1947 in New York City) is Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Tampa, Professor Emeritus at American University in Washington, DC, a concert organist, composer, and conductor. He has perfo ...

, and

Dieter Lehnhoff Dieter Lehnhoff Temme (born 27 May 1955) is a German-Guatemalan composer, conductor, and musicologist. Life Dieter Lehnhoff Temme was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala to German settlers in 1955. He has been a pupil of Klaus Ager, Gerhard Wimberg ...

Books

* ''Harmonie moderne'' * ''Traité d'improvisation à l'orgue'' (1962) * ''Organ Method/Méthode d'orgue'' (Gregorian Institute of America, GIA, Toledo, Ohio, 1962).

Selected compositions

* ''Croquis petit-capiens'' (Édition Belgo-Canadienne) * ''Variations et fugue'' for two pianos * ''Esquisse and Prière'' for organ * ''Réverie'' for organ * ''Mass'' for mixed-voice choir and two organs * ''Two songs'', 'Les Colombes' and 'Les Berceuses'; * ''Motets'', published mainly by Quebec City's Procure générale de musique.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernier, Conrad 1904 births 1988 deaths 20th-century classical composers Canadian classical composers Canadian organists French male organists Composers for pipe organ French classical organists Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Drama, and Art faculty Canadian male classical composers 20th-century Canadian composers 20th-century French musicians 20th-century organists 20th-century Canadian male musicians Male classical organists