Bernard Heidsieck was a banker by day and a poet by night, until he retired, without either career explaining the other. Born in 1928, he judged poetry moribund as long as it stayed on the page: he made poems meant to be spoken and recorded, and became one of the pioneers of sound poetry. He died on 22 November 2014, and the artist Françoise Janicot, his wife, joined him three years later.
The story
Sound poet in the evening, banker by day. Bernard Heidsieck carried both careers side by side until he retired, without either explaining the other: he ended as vice-president of the Banque française du commerce extérieur.
Born in Paris on 30 November 1928, he published Sitôt dit in 1955 and saw then the moribund state of poetry, confined to the blank page. The concerts of Boulez's Domaine musical revealed to him how far poetry lagged behind musical experiment: he became a pioneer of action poetry and sound poetry — the poem made to be spoken and recorded rather than read — and took part from 1962 in the sessions of the Domaine poétique.
He died on 22 November 2014. His wife, the performance artist Françoise Janicot Heidsieck, joined him in 2017. The stone in Division 10 gives each of them one line and one word: “poète” for him, “artiste” for her. Nothing of the Domaine poétique — and nothing of the bank.
The grave
A grave shared with his wife, where each is given one line and one word of profession: “Bernard HEIDSIECK, 1928-2014, poète” and “Françoise JANICOT HEIDSIECK, 1929-2017, artiste” — poet, artist. Nothing of the sound poetry he pioneered, nothing of the Domaine poétique — and nothing, above all, of the banking career he pursued alongside it all his life.
On site, do not miss
Two lines, two one-word professions: “Bernard HEIDSIECK, 1928-2014, poète” and “Françoise JANICOT HEIDSIECK, 1929-2017, artiste” — poet, artist.
Visitors' questions
Where is Bernard Heidsieck's grave?
In Division 10, chemin du Coq, first row, in the same grave as his wife: “Bernard HEIDSIECK, 1928-2014, poète” and “Françoise JANICOT HEIDSIECK, 1929-2017, artiste” — poet and artist. He died in Paris on 22 November 2014, eight days short of his eighty-sixth birthday.
Françoise JanicotWas he really a banker?
Yes: he kept a banker's career going — thirty-five years at the Banque française du commerce extérieur, rising to vice-president — the whole time he was inventing sound poetry. It is the unlikeliest double life in the French avant-garde, alongside that of Michel Vinaver, playwright and chief executive of Gillette.
Michel VinaverWhy did he leave the printed page behind?
Because he had taken its measure: after Sitôt dit (1955), he judged poetry moribund, penned inside the blank page. The concerts of Boulez's Domaine musical showed him how far poetry had fallen behind what music was already attempting.
Serge PerettiWhat is sound poetry?
The form he pioneered, along with poésie-action: a poem made by and for the tape recorder, spoken and recorded rather than read. He composed his first “poèmes-partitions”, poem-scores, from 1955, joined Jean-Clarence Lambert's Domaine poétique, where he discovered Fluxus in 1962, and his wife Françoise Janicot performed to his texts.
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