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Pierre-Joseph Bernard (26 August 1708 – 1 November 1775), called Gentil-Bernard by

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

for the measured grace of his discreetly erotic verses, was a French military man and salon poet with the reputation of a rake, the author of several

libretti A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major l ...

for

Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and ...

Mme de Pompadour Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...

arranged to have him appointed a royal librarian, at the château de Choisy, where she had a little pavilion built for him. He was born in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

. He received a Jesuit education at

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

and joined the staff of Marshal François de Franquetot de Coigny, rising to become the Marshal's chief secretary and serving him in this capacity for a decade. On his return he was taken up by the young Mlle Poisson, not yet marquise de Pompadour. His libretto for Jean-Philippe Rameau's ''

Castor et Pollux ''Castor et Pollux'' (''Castor and Pollux'') is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 24 October 1737 by the Académie royale de musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris. The librettist was Pierre-Joseph-Justin Bernard ...

'' (1737), a resounding success, rendered him fashionable in the salons. He translated

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's ''

Ars amatoria The ''Ars amatoria'' ( en, The Art of Love) is an instructional elegy series in three books by the ancient Roman poet Ovid. It was written in 2 AD. Background Book one of ''Ars amatoria'' was written to show a man how to find a woman. In book tw ...

'' (''L'Art de l'Amour'') but never intended to publish it, or much else of his fugitive verses. The publisher Leroux noted it in the salons where Bernard often declaimed it, and printed it. Bernard was also known for his ''Epistle to Claudine''. For Rameau Bernard also provided libretti for the operas ''

Les surprises de l'Amour ''Les surprises de l'Amour'' is an ''opéra-ballet'' in two ''entrées'' (three or four in later versions) and a prologue by the French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. It was first performed in Versailles on 27 November 1748. The opera is set to ...

'' (1748) and '' Anacréon'' (1757). His poem "Ô! Fontenay" was set as a

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

by Joseph Denis Doche. In his book of biographical essays, Arsène Houssaye devoted a chapter to Gentil-Bernard, the " French Anacreon". After some years either senile or gently mad, he died at Choisy-le-Roi in 1775. Arsène Houssaye asserted that "the poor poet had a devout niece for his heir, who burnt everything as a sacrifice except the will."Houssaye.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Pierre-Joseph 1708 births 1775 deaths Military personnel from Grenoble French erotica writers French opera librettists 18th-century French poets French translators 18th-century French male writers 18th-century French dramatists and playwrights 18th-century French translators Writers from Grenoble