Frédéric Bérat (11 March 1801, Rouen - 2 December 1855,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

) was a French composer, chansonnier and goguettier. His best known song is '' Ma Normandie'', the official anthem of the Bailiwick of Jersey.

Biography

He was the sixth of seven children born to Jean Charles Bérat, a wealthy trader in leather and oils. His older brother, , began as a designer, but also became a chansonnier. It was intended that Frédéric would take over the family business. While studying at a local preparatory school, he also began taking clarinet lessons from a private teacher. When his studies were completed, he went to Paris, where he found employment with Chevreux-Aubertot, a large trader in textiles. During his years there, he taught himself how to play the piano. Soon he was seeking advice from Charles-Henri Plantade, concerning composition and harmony, and began writing songs that he performed for a close circle of friends. As he felt more confident, he started to attend meetings of the "".. He ended by quitting his job to become a singer.

Pierre-Jean de Béranger Pierre-Jean de Béranger (19 August 178016 July 1857) was a prolific French poet and chansonnier ( songwriter), who enjoyed great popularity and influence in France during his lifetime, but faded into obscurity in the decades following his deat ...

, the songwriter, became his close friend and worked to promote his career. He wrote several successful songs during the 1840s, but his best known is one of his first: ''Ma Normandie'' (1836), which was adopted as an anthem by Jersey and is still a regional favorite in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. More than a million copies were printed during his lifetime, and it continues to be reissued periodically.Théophile Marion Dumersan
Chansons nationales et populaires de France, accompagnées de notes historiques et littéraires
', Éditions Garnier frères, Paris, 1866. He was interred at the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise. A street and a plaza in Rouen have been named after him. In 1905, a monument dedicated to him and his brother Eustache was erected in Rouen's . It was designed by .

References

External links

Musical Manuscripts Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berat, Frederic 1801 births 1855 deaths Musicians from Rouen French male composers Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians

Biography

References

Further reading

External links