Pierre Brabant (26 August 1925 – 28 August 2014) 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 ...

and

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, ...

. He appeared in concerts and recitals throughout Canada and performed numerous times on Canadian television and radio. He wrote music for a number of programs for the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

and worked as a composer, arranger, and music director for numerous recordings by a variety of Canadian artists. Starting in 1987 he performed regularly in concerts and recitals as the accompanist for

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer

Joseph Rouleau Joseph A. Rouleau, (February 28, 1929 – July 12, 2019) was a French Canadian Bass (voice type), bass opera singer, particularly associated with the Italian and French repertoires. Life and career Born in Matane, Quebec, he studied privately w ...

Life and career

Brabant was born 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 ...

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, ...

, he began his studies in piano as a child and gave his first public recital while a teenager. In 1942 he appeared on the

program ''Young Artists of Tomorrow''. The following year he was awarded first prize in the CBC radio competition ''Les Talents de chez-nous''. From 1942 to 1943 he was a piano student of Raymond David and Joseph-Élie Savaria. In 1947-1948 Brabant took a sojourn in Paris, after which he embarked on a Canadian recital tour; giving a total of 78 recitals. He notably included some of his own compositions in his recital program, including ''Sonatine en do, Caprice laurentien'', ''Cinq Cantilènes'' and ''Cinq Églogues''. In his review of Brabant's 1948 recital at Plateau Hall in Montreal

Jean Vallerand Jean Vallerand, CQ (December 24, 1915 – June 24, 1994) was a composer, music critic, violinist, conductor, arts administrator, writer, and music educator from Quebec. As a composer he was active from 1935 to 1969. An associate of the Canadian ...

wrote, "Pierre Brabant is a splendid pianist and a fine artist. He also is a very intelligent, sensitive composer, with a solid technique and something to say."Jean Vallerand. ''

Le Devoir (, ) is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. is one of few independent large-circulation newspapers in Quebec ...

'', 20 November 1952. In 1949 Brabant studied the

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

with

Marcel Dupré Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré (; 3 May 1886 – 30 May 1971) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue. Early life and education Born in Rouen into a wealthy musical family, Marcel Dupré was a child prodigy. His father Aimable Albert Dupré ...

in Paris. That same year his

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

''La Gaspésienne'', which was choreographed by Ruth Sorel, premiered in Montreal. The ballet was given performances in Toronto, New York City, and at the

Great Theatre, Warsaw The Grand Theatre, Warsaw (), or the Great Theatre—National Opera ( Polish: ''Teatr Wielki—Opera Narodowa''), is a theatre and opera complex situated on the historic Theatre Square in central Warsaw, Poland. The Warsaw Grand Theatre is hom ...

in 1950. He entered the

Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal The Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal (, CMQM) is a music conservatory located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In addition to the Montreal region, the school takes in students from nearby cities, including Granby, Joliette, St-Jean ...

in 1951 where he studied for two years. In 1954 he appeared as a soloist on several

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

programs, including ''L'Heure du concert''. In 1957 he pursued studies in the organ with

Eugène Lapierre Eugène Lapierre (8 June 1899 – 21 October 1970) was a Canadian organist, composer, journalist, writer on music, arts administrator, and music educator. He was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935 and the King George VI Corona ...

. In the early 1960s Brabant developed an interest in expanding his compositional repertoire into the

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

genre. One of his earliest forays into this area was the music for

Jean-Pierre Ferland Jean-Pierre Ferland, (; June 24, 1934 – April 27, 2024) was a Québécois singer and songwriter. He was noted for writing over 450 songs and releasing more than 30 albums. He was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007. ...

's program ''Feuilles de gui'', which was awarded prizes in 1962 from the CBC and in Brussels. Several

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

s for CBC children's programs followed, including ''Tour de terre'', ''Au clair de soleil'', and ''Soleil et jours de pluie''. He also composed music for a number of albums for children, including ''20 Contes pour enfants par Tante Lucille'' for

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

. He also recorded the theme song and played the background music for the popular TV series ''

Rue des Pignons ''Rue des Pignons'' was a Canadian French-language TV series which ran from 1966 to 1977. Radio-Canada Radio-Canada may refer to: * CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation *Ici Radio-Canada Télé, the CBC's main French-language te ...

'' from 1967 to 1978, and composed music for the TV show ''La Semaine verte''. Brabant served as music director and arranger for several recordings during the 1960s through the 1980s, including ones by Jean-Paul Filion, Hervé Brousseau,

Georges Dor Georges Dor (March 10, 1931 – July 24, 2001) was a Canadian author, composer, playwright, singer, poet, translator, and theatrical producer and director. Early life Dor was born Georges-Henri Dore in Drummondville into a large family. As a yo ...

and

Félix Leclerc Félix Leclerc (August 2, 1914 – August 8, 1988) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, writer, actor and political activist. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 20, 1968. Leclerc was posthumously inducted into ...

. In 1987 he began working regularly with bass

as an accompanist. Many of their recitals together have been devoted to Leclerc's music.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brabant, Pierre 1925 births 2014 deaths Canadian male classical pianists Canadian male composers Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal alumni Musicians from Montreal 20th-century Canadian male musicians 20th-century Canadian classical pianists