Photo: Étienne Ficquet · Public domain · credits
Tier 3 · vertical & regionalfull biography
Nicolas Bernier
Person · male · France · Mantes-la-Jolie · born 1664 · died 1734 · recording since 1998
French composer
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Also known as ニコラ・ベルニエ
Timeline
7 events▣ Album 4◦ Birth 1† Death 1★ Debut release 1
1660s
1730s
1990s
· Debut release
Debut release: Deux motets: «Laudate Dominum» / «Misere mei Deus»
First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
source: musicbrainz
2000s
2010s
Biography
English biography1,000 words · 5 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1332172649
Biography
Nicolas Bernier (28 June 1664 – 5 September 1734) was a French Baroque composer.
Biography
He was born in Mantes-sur-Seine (now Mantes-la-Jolie), the son of Rémy Bernier and Marguerite Bauly. He studied with Antonio Caldara and is known for an Italian-influenced style. After Marc-Antoine Charpentier he is probably the most Italian-influenced French composer of this era, and replaced Charpentier as maître de musique des enfants (master of choristers) at the royal Sainte-Chapelle in 1704. He died in Paris.
"French composer, harpsichordist, theorist and teacher. He probably learnt music in the maîtrise of the collegiate church of Notre Dame, Mantes, and in that of Evreux Cathedral. According to the Etat actuel de la Musique du Roi (1773) he then studied with Caldara in Rome. In 1692 Bernier was living in the rue Tiquetonne in Paris and was teaching the harpsichord. On 20 November 1693 he failed to win the post of maître de musique at Rouen Cathedral in competition with Jean-François Lalouette. He was appointed head of the maîtrise of Chartres Cathedral on 17 September 1694 and remained there until 18 March 1698, when he obtained a similar position at St Germain-l'Auxerrois, Paris. A Te Deum performed before the king at Fontainebleau on 24 October 1700 was very successful, and was sung again in several Parisian churches in 1701 and 1704. On 5 April 1704 he succeeded Marc-Antoine Charpentier as maître de musique of the Sainte-Chapelle, resigning from this post on 18 September 1726 in favour of his friend François de La Croix. It had taken the patronage of Philippe, Duke of Orléans, for him to keep the position after his marriage to Marie-Catherine Marais on 20 June 1712, since the rule of the Sainte-Chapelle required its maître de musique to be ‘a celibate in clerical garb’. In spite of Le Cerf de La Viéville's claim, Bernier was not an abbé, but only an acolyte entitled to wear the clerical collar. In 1715 he took part in the divertissements organized by the Duchess of Maine at her château of Sceaux. In January 1723, at the request of the regent, Michel-Richard de Lalande gave up three of his four trimestrial periods of duty as sous-maître de musique at the Chapelle Royale. The posts thus created were allotted, without being thrown open to competition, to André Campra, Charles-Hubert Gervais and Bernier, who officiated during the summer term of duty until his death. In 1726 Lalande's term became vacant when he died, and was shared between the remaining sous-maîtres, with Bernier taking charge of the education of the Chapelle pages until 1733. He was in fact famous as a teacher. He wrote a treatise entitled Principes de composition and numbered Louis-Claude Daquin among his pupils.
Bernier offered a personal solution to the union of French and Italian tastes. He achieved equilibrium between the two styles in his first book of French cantatas, a genre of which he was one of the first creators together with Jean-Baptiste Morin. Vigorous recitatives and da capo airs, with or without an initial motto, follow each other freely, while the expressive melody, with few wide intervals or long melismas, is rooted more in the French tradition. Les nuits de Sceaux contains Bernier's only instrumental pieces: dances and two overtures which adopt the Lullian structure but are italianate in style. The 45 petits motets, the 36 grands motets and the 39 cantatas exhibit a stylistic feature peculiar to Bernier: the often systematic repetition of a motif, whether or not it is transposed. Bernier had a reputation as a contrapuntist, and the polished writing of fugal choruses in Beatus vir and Confitebor tibi Domine bear witness to his skill. Two of his grands motets were sung several times at the Concert Spirituel from 1725 onwards. Most of his Principes de composition is devoted to two-part counterpoint; the work resembles the treatises of Nivers and Masson."
Sacred Vocal
[26] Motets, 1–3vv, bc, some with insts, op.1 (1703)
16 for 1v, 7 for 2vv, 3 for 3vv
[15] Motets, 1–3vv, bc, some with insts, op.2 (1713)
11 for 1v, 3 for 2vv, 1 for 3vv
3 motets, 1v, and 1 motet, 3vv, in Motets ... par Mr. de la Croix, 1–3vv, bc, some with insts, op.1 (1741)
Grands motets, all SATBB, str: Beatus vir,
F-Pc; Benedic anima mea,
Pc; Cantate Domino,
LYm; Confitebor tibi Domine,
Pc; Cum invocarem,
LYm; Deus noster refugium,
Pc; Lauda anima mea Dominum,
Pc; Lauda Jerusalem,
Pc; Laudate Dominum quoniam,
Pc; Miserere mei,
Pc; Venite exultemus,
Pc
[9] Leçons de Ténèbres, S, bc,
LYm,
V
Mass; Te Deum: both lost
Chants des offices de différents Saints nouveaus, cited in Privilège Général, 3 March 1724, lost
Motets attrib. Bernier, all doubtful authenticity: Quis habitat, Resonate, Salve regina, Sicut cervus, all
Pn; Haec dies quam fecit Dominus,
LYm
Secular Vocal
[24] Cantates françoises ou musique de chambre, 1–2vv, bc, some with insts, bk 1–4 (1703)
repr, in The Eighteenth-Century French Cantata, vi–vii (New York, 1990)
21 for 1v, 3 for 2vv
Les nymphes de Diane, cantate françoise, 2vv, bc (1703)
repr. in The Eighteenth-Century French Cantata, vi (New York, 1990)
Les nuits de Sceaux, concerts de chambre, ou cantates françoises, solo vv, bc, insts, bk 5 (1715)
repr. in The Eighteenth-Century French Cantata, viii (New York, 1990)
2 divertissements
[6] Cantates françoises, ou musique de chambre, 1v, bc, some with insts, bk 6 (1718)
repr. in The Eighteenth-Century French Cantata, viii (New York, 1990)
[6] Cantates françoises, ou musique de chambre, 1v, bc, some with insts, bk 7 (1723)
repr. in The Eighteenth-Century French Cantata, viii (New York, 1990)
1 air in Recueil d'airs sérieux et à boire (1706)
several airs in Nouvelles poésies, bk 1–8 (1703–7)
1 air in Nouveau recueil de chansons choisies, bk 7 (1736)
Works in Pc attrib. Bernier, all doubtful authenticity: Polyphème, cantata, B, insts [2 copies, 1 without insts]; 3 duos and 1 air in Recueil d'airs choisies
Writing
Principes de composition de Mr Bernier (MS, F-Pn, n.d.); Eng. trans. in P.F. Nelson, Nicolas Bernier: Principles of Composition (Brooklyn, NY, 1964)
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 11 | 61.8th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 4 | 78.1th |
| Studio albums | 4 | 82.8th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 7 | 82.6th |
| Recording span (years) | -264 | 2.2th |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (4 release groups · 4 studio albums)
Albums · 4
Deux motets: «Laudate Dominum» / «Misere mei Deus»
1998 · studio album
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Tracklist · 15 tracks · 45:58
1Laudate Dominum (Récit tenor et petit chœur)3:092Aedificans Jerusalem (Chœur)3:233Qui Sanat contritos corde (Récit soprano)3:164Magnum Dominus (Trio haute-contre, ténor, baryton)1:345Suspiciens mansuetos Dominus (Récit baryton)2:426Precinite Domino (Chœur, ténor et duo haute-contre - baryton)2:557Non in fortitudine (Récit baryton)2:178Bene placitum est (Chœur)3:299Miserere mei Deus (Récit baryton)3:4410Clamabo ad Deum (Chœur)4:0911Misit Deus misericordiam (Récit haute-contre)3:4012Filii hominum (Chœur)1:5613Paratum cor meum (Récit soprano)2:3914Exurge gloria mea (Récit soprano et petit chœur)2:2515Exaltare super coelos (Chœur)4:402004 · studio album
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Tracklist · 31 tracks · 1:11:52
1Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: Ouverture3:032Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: “Paisible nuit”2:033Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: “N’usurpez pas un temps”4:554Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: “Pourquoy donc chassez-vous”3:265Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: “C’est une autre minerve”5:026Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: Air, gravement1:387Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: Menuet0:468Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: Rondeau, gracieusement1:499Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: Reprise du menuet0:4610Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: “Verrons-nous pour ses jeux”3:3211Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: “La scène aura sont temps”1:0812Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: “Honore Comus”1:5613Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: “Nos jardins”3:2714Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: “Unissons-nous”2:3515Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: Sarabande, gravement2:1916Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: Rigaudon, gayement0:5817Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: “Premier passe-pied - Second passe-pied”1:5218Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: Musette1:0019Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: Menuet de musette0:3720Les nuits de Sceaux: Apollon ou le Dieu du jour: Reprise du choeur0:5221Les nuits de Sceaux: L’aurore: Ouverture1:5922Les nuits de Sceaux: L’aurore: Sommeil “Verse, verse, divin sommeil”5:1523Les nuits de Sceaux: L’aurore: Air tendre “Dormez oiseaux”4:0124Les nuits de Sceaux: L’aurore: “Verse divin sommeil”1:3825Les nuits de Sceaux: L’aurore: “Quelle clarté nouvelle”1:5826Les nuits de Sceaux: L’aurore: “Muses, vous dormez encore!”3:3827Les nuits de Sceaux: L’aurore: “Ah! Laissez reposer”1:4528Les nuits de Sceaux: L’aurore: “Que des honneurs” (1)1:0829Les nuits de Sceaux: L’aurore: “Que des honneurs” (2)1:1430Les nuits de Sceaux: L’aurore: “Vous dont la clarté”2:0531Les nuits de Sceaux: L’aurore: Symphonie: “Que des honneurs”3:272008 · studio album
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Tracklist · 24 tracks · 53:54
1Livre d'airs et de simphonies meslés de quelques fragmens d'opéra: March0:532Livre d'airs et de simphonies meslés de quelques fragmens d'opéra: Air de Violon1:393Livre d'airs et de simphonies meslés de quelques fragmens d'opéra: Petits Oiseaux1:274Livre d'airs et de simphonies meslés de quelques fragmens d'opéra: Bourrée0:325Livre d'airs et de simphonies meslés de quelques fragmens d'opéra: Air de Violon en Rondeau2:216Livre d'airs et de simphonies meslés de quelques fragmens d'opéra: Prelude - Sombres Déserts2:267Livre d'airs et de simphonies meslés de quelques fragmens d'opéra: Prelude - Chaconne (Tendrement): Récit de l'amour.3:518Air de Mr. le duc d'Orléans1:449Sonata for violin and cello continuo in F major, op. 1 no. 1: I. Adagio2:2710Sonata for violin and cello continuo in F major, op. 1 no. 1: II. Allegro1:5511Sonata for violin and cello continuo in F major, op. 1 no. 1: III. Allegro1:0512Sonata for violin and cello continuo in F major, op. 1 no. 1: IV. Adagio2:3913Sonata for violin and cello continuo in F major, op. 1 no. 1: V. Allegro assai - Adagio2:3814Sonata for two violins, cello and basso continuo in A minor, op. 1 no. 8: I. Un poco Andante2:0115Sonata for two violins, cello and basso continuo in A minor, op. 1 no. 8: II. Allegro2:2316Sonata for two violins, cello and basso continuo in A minor, op. 1 no. 8: III. Adagio2:1817Sonata for two violins, cello and basso continuo in A minor, op. 1 no. 8: IV. Allegro.2:0418Cantata: Le caffé: I. Prélude1:3819Cantata: Le caffé: II. Récitatif: Agréable café (Charming coffee)0:4320Cantata: Le caffé: III. Air gracieux: Favorable liqueur dont mon âme est ravie (Wonderful liquid which ravishes my soul)4:4921Cantata: Le caffé: IV. L'Astre dont chaque nuit la clarté douce et pure (That star, whose soft, pure radiance each night)0:5722Cantata: Le caffé: V. Air gai: Café, du jus de la bouteille (Coffee, of the draught in the bottle)4:1823Cantata: Le caffé: VI. Récitatif: Quand une habille main t'apprete (When a skilful hand prepares you)0:3424Cantata: Le caffé: VII. Air gai: Ô toi, liqueur que j'aime (O thou, liquid that I love)6:322019 · studio album
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Tracklist · 27 tracks · 1:11:36
1Taksim ney2:402Rast Dilârâ Peşrev1:183Le Caffé: I. Prélude1:314Le Caffé: II. Récitatif0:425Le Caffé: III. Air4:566Le Caffé: IV. Récitatif0:557Le Caffé: V. Air gay4:238Le Caffé: VI. Récitatif0:309Le Caffé: VII. Air gay5:0810Taksim oud1:0911Rast Dilârâ Saz Semâî4:1212Taksim ney0:5613Troisième livre de viole: Saillie du caffé2:2714Taksim kaman2:3915Wahda Sarabande3:5216Consort of Fower Parts: Fantasia en ré mineur4:4917Taksim & Mahur Peşrev3:4518Cantate du café “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”, BWV 211: I. Récitatif0:3919Cantate du café “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”, BWV 211: II. Air2:5720Cantate du café “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”, BWV 211: III. Récitatif0:3821Cantate du café “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”, BWV 211: IV. Air4:2222Cantate du café “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”, BWV 211: V. Récitatif1:0923Cantate du café “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”, BWV 211: VI. Air3:0524Cantate du café “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”, BWV 211: VII. Récitatif0:4825Cantate du café “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”, BWV 211: VIII. Air6:4726Cantate du café “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”, BWV 211: IX. Récitatif0:4827Cantate du café “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”, BWV 211: X. Chœur4:31
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Nicolas Bernier head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 11 | 61.8th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 4 | 78.1th |
| Studio albums | 4 | 82.8th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 7 | 82.6th |
| Recording span (years) | -264 | 2.2th |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Awards & honours
Where this record comes from
portrait—Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bernier.jpgaliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/e6890f46-57b4-4eab-9fcd-bad94cb899c6discography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/e6890f46-57b4-4eab-9fcd-bad94cb899c6core—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q428547genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q428547seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Bernierbiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Bernier
Why this artist is in the database
- List of composers by name
Tier rule: curated genre/region list
Image: Étienne Ficquet · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata: Q428547 · MusicBrainz: e6890f46-57b4-4eab-9fcd-bad94cb899c6
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