Jocelyne Binet (27 September 1923 – 13 January 1968) was a Canadian

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 ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, and

music educator 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 ...

. She studied in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, and returned to compose and teach music in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Biography

Binet was born in East Angus, near

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, and obtained two music degrees in Montreal before traveling to Paris, France, for studies in piano. She studied under Claude Champagne, Jean Dansereau and

Jean-Marie Beaudet Jean-Marie Beaudet (20 February 1908 – 19 March 1971) was a Canadian conducting, conductor, organist, pianist, radio producer, and music educator. He had a long career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, serving variously as a music prod ...

at the École Supérieure de Musique d'Outremont (

École de musique Vincent-d'Indy The école de musique Vincent-d'Indy is a subsidized private music college situated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the Outremont, Quebec, Outremont district, that specializes in music education. The school was named after the French composer, Vin ...

). She continued her studies at the

Paris Conservatory The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

in 1948 and 1949 on a grant from the French government and again in 1949 and 1951 on another grant from the Quebec government, where her teachers were Tony Aubin, Noël Gallon and

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

. Binet died 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 ...

in 1968.

Music career

In 1946 Binet was awarded a CAPAC (Association des compositeurs, auteurs et éditeurs du Canada Ltée) prize for composition. After returning from Paris to Canada, she taught from 1951 to 1957 at the École Vincent-d'Indy, from 1952 to 1961 at the Centre d'arts Orford, and from 1957 to 1959 at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec. From 1952 to 1961, she taught at the Jeunesses musicales du Canada (JMC) summer camps. She also taught analysis and counterpoint at

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxe ...

from 1957 to 1968. Binet's works have been performed in the media and in concert in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. They were favored in particular by the Canadian Trio (1948), including Gilles Lefebvre, Colombe Pelletier and Rafael Masella. Her papers are held at the Archives Nationales du Québec (ANQ) in Quebec City.

Works

Binet composed works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, choir and solo voice. Her works include four pieces for orchestra: ''Evocation'' (1948), ''Danse'' (1949), ''Un Canadien à Paris'' (1951) and ''L'Amour endormi''. Her chamber music includes ''Trio'' for violin, cello and piano (1945) and ''Suite'' for flute, piano, and strings (1946). She also composed ''Petite Suite Vocale'' (1945) for solo voice, female choir, and piano, with words by

Jean-Henri Fabre Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre (; 21 December 1823 – 11 October 1915) was a French naturalist, entomologist, and author known for the lively style of his popular books on the lives of insects. Biography Fabre was born on 21 December 1823 in Saint- ...

, and ''Nocturne'' (1946). Gérard Souzay sang her ''Cycle de Mélodies'' on seven poems by

Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...

in a 1955 recital program.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Binet, Jocelyne 1923 births 1968 deaths 20th-century Canadian classical composers École de musique Vincent-d'Indy alumni Canadian music educators Musicians from Quebec Canadian women classical composers 20th-century Canadian classical pianists Canadian women music educators Canadian women classical pianists 20th-century Canadian women composers Academic staff of Université Laval French expatriates in Canada Canadian women composers 20th-century Canadian women pianists