François Joseph Brassard (6 October 1908 in Métabetchouan – 26 April 1976 in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

) was a Canadian

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

music teacher Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

. Brassard studied piano with Rolland-Georges Gingras, organ with Omer Létourneau and harmony with Robert Talbot. As a scholarship student of the Académie de musique du Québec he was a student of Léo-Pol Morin and

Claude Champagne Claude Champagne (27 May 1891 – 21 December 1965) was a French Canadian composer, teacher, pianist, and violinist. Early life and education Born as Joseph-Arthur-Adonaï Claude Champagne in Montreal, Quebec, Champagne began piano and the ...

in Montreal in 1930. He finished his training in 1933–34 in Paris with Albert Bertelin and Guy de Lioncourt and in 1935 at London's

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

with

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

. Brassard was an organist from 1930 to 1970 at the Church of Saint-Dominique in

Jonquière Jonquière (; ; Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 60,250) is a List of boroughs in Quebec, borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay, Quebec, Saguenay in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Sag ...

, (Quebec). Starting in 1940, he collected more than 1200 French-Canadian folksongs on journeys throughout Canada, and published a series of articles and essays. His arrangements were broadcast in two series on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

. He also taught at

Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...

beginning in 1946 and worked at the folklore archives there. One of his notable pupils was composer Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux. His composition ''Panis angelicus'' won a prize in 1942 from the Société des musiciens d'église de la province de Québec. The concert hall of the

Cégep de Jonquière The Cégep de Jonquière is a public French-language college located in the Jonquière borough of Saguenay, Quebec, Canada. It is one of four pre-university colleges in the Saguenay – Lac-St-Jean region. It is the largest college in the r ...

was named Salle François Brassard in his honour in 1965.

References

External links

Pianopedia – François Brassard - Suite "Orléanaises"
Piano solo 1908 births 1976 deaths People from Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean Alumni of the Royal College of Music Canadian ethnomusicologists Canadian music educators Canadian classical organists Canadian male classical organists Musicians from Quebec 20th-century Canadian classical musicians 20th-century Canadian organists 20th-century Canadian musicologists 20th-century Canadian male musicians {{ethnomusicologist-stub