Tag: Pierre Bernac

I had difficulty accessing my website this morning, from whence I’ve been sending my posts of late. So I’ll save what I wrote for tomorrow, perhaps, lest nobody see it. In its place, here’s a quick acknowledgment of Francis Poulenc’s birthday, by way of a photo of the composer, flanked by tenor Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten.

Britten and Poulenc were friends and knew one another quite well. I read a charming anecdote somewhere that Britten and Pears were present at a recording session of Pierre Bernac singing Poulenc’s songs, and that Britten himself turned the pages – but now I can’t remember where I read it!

Britten did turn pages for Bernac and Poulenc at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, when they performed “Le Bestiaire.” The recording at the link was made in London in 1945.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF0wjmzAZeo

Happy birthday, Francis Poulenc!