Élisabeth Brasseur

Élisabeth Brasseur (8 January 1896 – 23 November 1972) was a French choral conductor. In 1920 she founded a choir which has borne her name since 1943.

For other uses, see Brasseur.

Biography
Église Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc de Versailles, Place Élisabeth-Brasseur.

Marie Josèphe Jeanne Élisabeth Brasseur was born in Verdun[1] in Lorraine, from Jean Marie Joseph Brasseur, transport entrepreneur, and Marguerite Maria Grosjean. It is from the maternal side that the taste for music came to her, since her grandfather Ernest Grosjean was organist of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Verdun.[2] He's the one she started studying music with.[2] She continued her studies of singing and piano at the Versailles conservatory.

In 1920, she founded the women's Choir of the Église Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc de Versailles which later became mixed and took the name Chorale Élisabeth Brasseur in 1943.[2] This formation was to become one of the most famous choir formations of the post-war period.

Under the direction of André Cluytens, she directed the choir of the Aix-en-Provence Festival in a production of Mireille by Charles Gounod.[3] With Pierre Dervaux, she directed the Chœur du Conservatoire de Paris in a production of Dido and Æneas by Henry Purcell at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1960, which was recorded on disc.[4]

For her long contribution to choral music, the city of Versailles, where she remained until her death on 23 November 1972, aged 77, named a place in her honour, Place Élisabeth-Brasseur, where the Sainte-Jeanne d'Arc church is located, where she founded her first choir.

Recordings

See the recordings with the Chorale Élisabeth Brasseur in the dedicated article.

  • Charles Gounod: Mireille, choirs of the Aix-en-Provence Festival, choral conductor: Elisabeth Brasseur, Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire, dir. André Cluytens (Grand Prix du disque of the Académie Charles-Cros)
  • Henry Purcell: Dido and Æneas, Orchestre de la société des concerts du conservatoire, dir. Pierre Dervaux, Choir of the Conservatoire de Paris directed by Élisabeth Brasseur, Aix-en-Provence Festival, ed. Walhall; 1960
  • Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie, Orchestre de la société des concerts du conservatoire, dir. Jacques Jouineau, artistic direction Gabriel Dussurget, choirs Elisabeth Brasseur, dir. Élisabeth Brasseur. Cour d'honneur du Palais Soubise Festival du Marais 1964.

References
  1. Archives of Meuse online, birth certificate n°9 9/1/1896, view n°3
  2. Dictionnaire de la musique; under the direction of Marc Vignal (in French). Éditions Larousse. 2011. p. 169. ISBN 978-2-0358-6059-0.
  3. on Discogs
  4. on Amazon

Bibliography
  • Vignal, Marc (1988). Dictionnaire de la musique française. Larousse. ISBN 2-03-720038-2.
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