Élisabeth Brasseur


Élisabeth Brasseur was a French choral conductor. In 1920 she founded a choir which has borne her name since 1943.

Biography

Marie Josèphe Jeanne Élisabeth Brasseur was born in Verdun in Lorraine, to Jean Marie Joseph Brasseur, transport entrepreneur, and Marguerite Maria Grosjean. Élisabeth taste for music came from her maternal line: her grandfather Ernest Grosjean was organist of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Verdun and it was with him that she started studying music. She continued her singing and piano studies at the.
In 1920, Brasseur founded the women's Choir of the, which later became mixed and took the name in 1943. This 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. 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.
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, the location of the Sainte-Jeanne d'Arc church where she founded her first choir.

Recordings

See the recordings with the in the dedicated article.