{{Short description|French musician (1931–2022)}} {{About|the musician|the film producer and literary agent |Alain Bernheim (producer)}} {{Infobox person | name = Alain Bernheim | image = Alain Bernheim.jpg | image_upright = 1.2 | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1931|05|23|df=y}} | birth_place = Paris | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2022|12|26|1931|05|23}} | death_place = Montreux, Switzerland | education = Paris Conservatory | occupation = {{ubl| Classical pianist | Historian }} | organization = | awards = | website = {{url|https://alainbernheim.wixsite.com}} }}
'''Alain Bernheim''' (23 May 1931 – 26 December 2022) was a French classical pianist who performed internationally. In 1980, he turned to research of the history of Freemasonry in France, Switzerland, and Germany. He published books and encyclopedic entries in the field.
== Life == Bernheim was born in Paris, on 23 May 1931, the son of André Bernheim, the owner and manager of the Théâtre de la Madeleine.<ref name="Munzinger">{{cite encyclopedia |title= Alain Bernheim / französischer Pianist und Historiker |url=https://www.munzinger.de/search/portrait/Alain+Bernheim/0/14965.html |access-date=1 January 2023 |encyclopedia=Munzinger Archive |date=3 March 2003}}</ref> At the age of twelve he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the internment camp Drancy.<ref name="450fm">{{cite news |title=Passage à l'Orient Éternel du Très Illustre Frère Alain Bernheim |url=https://450.fm/2022/12/27/passage-a-lorient-eternel-du-tres-illustre-frere-alain-bernheim/ |access-date=28 December 2022 |publisher=450.fm |date=27 December 2022}}</ref><ref name="CMN">{{Cite web |url=https://www.classicalmusicdaily.com/2022/12/obits.htm |title=January Newsletter and December Obituaries |access-date=2 January 2023 }}</ref> At fifteen he was chosen to represent the ''Lycée Janson-de-Sailly'' at the ''Concours Général'' of philosophy competition.<ref name="450fm" /> He studied at the Paris Conservatory, receiving a first prize in piano in 1953.<ref name="Munzinger" /> Bernheim was among the first French music students to receive a Fulbright scholarship, which allowed him to study further at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.<ref name="450fm" /><ref name="CMN" /> He also studied with Hans Richter-Haaser in Detmold and with Magda Tagliaferro in São Paulo.<ref name="Munzinger" /> In the 1953 international piano competition in Bucharest, he was awarded a second prize together with Vladimir Ashkenazy.<ref name="450fm" />
Bernheim made his Carnegie Hall debut in New York City on 25 February 1960 as a charity for the Red Cross.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/01/20/archives/feb-25-concert-will-be-benefit-for-red-cross-debut-recital-by-alain.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 1960 |page=34 |title=Feb. 25 Concert Will Be Benefit For Red Cross; Debut Recital by Alain Bernheim, a French Pianist, Planned}}</ref> He performed around 2,000 concerts until 1980, but then gave up his musical career for health reasons. He turned to Masonic research.<ref name="450fm" /><ref name="CMN" />
A Freemason since 1963, he belonged to the Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium and to the Grand Lodge Alpina of Switzerland. He was awarded the 33° by the Supreme Council of the United States (Southern Jurisdiction), elected a Chapter Knight of the Great Priory of Belgium and was a member of the Royal Order of Scotland. He is also the first French Freemason who was elected a full member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 (United Grand Lodge of England) from which he demitted in 2014. The Supreme Council of France made him a Member of Honour in 2014 and awarded him the distinction of Grand Commander Honoris Causa in 2018.<ref name="450fm" />
In 1986 and 1993, he was awarded the Norman Spencer Award by the English premier Lodge of Research Quatuor Coronati Lodge N° 2076, 1997 the Certificate of Literature by the Philalethes Society (US), 2001 the Albert Gallatin Mackey Scholar Award by the Scottish Rite Research Society (Washington, D.C.), which elected him a Fellow, and 2007 was selected a member of The Society of Blue Friars.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20000929233650/http://bessel.org/sbf.htm "Society of Blue Friars"]}} bessel.org, retrieved 28 March 2008.</ref>
Bernheim wrote ''Les Débuts de la Franc-Maçonnerie à Genève et en Suisse'' (Slatkine, 1994),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rene-guenon.net/bibliographie.htm |title=Loge maçonnique René Guénon |issue=76 |website=rene-guenon.net |language=fr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080315174949/http://rene-guenon.net/bibliographie.htm |archive-date=2008-03-15 }}</ref> many entries of the ''Encyclopédie de la Franc-Maçonnerie'' (Pochotèque, 2000), ''Réalité Maçonnique'' (Alpina Research Group, Lausanne, 2007) and some 150 papers published in French, English and German masonic magazines. His book ''Une certaine idée de la franc-maçonnerie'', was published September 2008 by Dervy, Paris, and ''Le rite en 33 grades - De Frederick Dalcho à Charles Riandey'', in September 2011, also by Dervy.<ref name="450fm" />
Bernheim died in Montreux<ref name="CMN" /> on 26 December 2022, at the age of 91.<ref name="450fm" />
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{official|https://alainbernheim.wixsite.com/alain-bernheim/bio-e}} * {{discogs artist|Alain Bernheim}} * [https://www.academia.edu/19508262/United_Grand_Lodge_and_United_Grand_Lodges_of_Germany_1946_1961 United Grand Lodge and United Grand Lodges of Germany, 1946-1961] academia.edu * Bernheim, Alain: [http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/bernheim3.html The Blue Forget Me Not, Another Side of the Story] freemasons-freemasonry.com * Bernheim, Alain: [http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/bernheim12.html German Freemasonry and its Attitudes towards the Nazi Regime] freemasons-freemasonry.com * {{YouTube|nhZ0ws-Cgp8|Chopin - Alain Bernheim (1958) Polonaise-Fantaisie in a flat major op. 61}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernheim, Alain}} Category:1931 births Category:2022 deaths Category:20th-century French male classical pianists Category:20th-century French classical pianists Category:21st-century French male musicians Category:Lycée Janson-de-Sailly alumni Category:French expatriates in Switzerland Category:People from Montreux Category:Swiss Freemasons Category:French people of Jewish descent