Berceuse

Gounod was born in Paris, the son of a pianist mother and an artist father. His mother was his first piano teacher. Under her tutelage, Gounod first showed his musical talents. He entered the Paris Conservatoire where he studied under Fromental Halevy and Pierre Zimmermann. �In 1839, he won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Fernand. He was following his father, �Francois-Louis Gounod (d. 1823), who had won the second Prix de Rome in painting in 1783.