Jocelyne Binet facts for kids

Jocelyne Binet (born 27 September 1923 – died 13 January 1968) was a Canadian composer, pianist, and music educator. She studied music in Montreal, Canada, and Paris, France. After her studies, she returned to Canada to create music and teach.

Her Early Life and Studies

Jocelyne Binet was born in East Angus, a town near Sherbrooke, Quebec. She earned two music degrees in Montreal before traveling to Paris, France, to study piano.

In Montreal, she studied at the École Supérieure de Musique d'Outremont (now called École de musique Vincent-d'Indy). Her teachers there included Claude Champagne, Jean Dansereau, and Jean-Marie Beaudet.

In 1948, she went to the Paris Conservatory. She received special grants from the French and Quebec governments to help with her studies. In Paris, she learned from famous teachers like Tony Aubin, Noël Gallon, and Olivier Messiaen. Jocelyne Binet passed away in Quebec City in 1968.

Teaching and Performing Music

In 1946, Jocelyne Binet won a prize for her compositions from CAPAC. This group supports composers, authors, and publishers in Canada.

After returning from Paris, she became a music teacher. From 1951 to 1957, she taught at the École Vincent-d'Indy. She also taught at the Centre d'arts Orford from 1952 to 1961, and at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec from 1957 to 1959.

Jocelyne Binet also taught at summer camps for young musicians, run by Jeunesses musicales du Canada (JMC), from 1952 to 1961. From 1957 until her death in 1968, she taught music analysis and counterpoint at Laval University.

Her musical works were performed in concerts and on media across North America, South America, and Europe. The Canadian Trio, a group made up of Gilles Lefebvre, Colombe Pelletier, and Rafael Masella, especially enjoyed playing her music. Today, her original musical papers are kept safe at the Archives Nationales du Québec (ANQ) in Quebec City.

Her Musical Creations

Jocelyne Binet wrote many different types of music. She composed pieces for full orchestras, for smaller groups of instruments (called chamber ensembles), for choirs, and for solo singers.

Some of her works for orchestra include:

• Evocation (written in 1948)
• Danse (written in 1949)
• Un Canadien à Paris (written in 1951)
• L'Amour endormi

For chamber music (music for a small group of instruments), she wrote:

• Trio (1945) for violin, cello, and piano
• Suite (1946) for flute, piano, and strings

She also composed music for voices:

• Petite Suite Vocale (1945) for a solo singer, a female choir, and piano. The words for this piece were written by Jean-Henri Fabre.
• Nocturne (1946)

In 1955, a famous singer named Gérard Souzay performed her Cycle de Mélodies. These were songs based on seven poems by Paul Éluard.