Claude Champagne

Between 1910 and 1921 Champagne taught piano, violin, and other instruments at the Varennes and Longueuil colleges. He performed on viola and saxophone with the Canadian Grenadier Guards Band directed by J.-J. Gagnier and gave private lessons in theory and harmony. He accompanied choirs, including that of the Maisonneuve district, and played violin during intermissions at the National, a variety theatre.

In 1921 Champagne went to Paris to study music. By then he had developed an interest in modality, which stayed with him the rest of his life.[2]

Claude Champagne (left) and Wilfrid Pelletier, 1943

At his return to Canada, Champagne became heavily involved in teaching. HIn 1932 he joined the Faculty of Music at McGill University, where he taught until 1941.[3]

He played an instrumental role in establishing the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec in 1942.[4] In 1943 he was appointed the first assistant director of the Montreal Conservatoire. In the 1950s, with Boris Berlin, he published a series of sight reading exercise books for students. In 1950 his post-romantic work Concerto was recorded by BMI Canada,[5] and in about 1955 his First String Quartet was performed by the Montreal String Quartet, and recorded by the CBC Transcription Service.[6]

He was attached to the Montreal Catholic School Commission as co-ordinator of solfége in elementary schools, and he was at the same time professor at the McGill Conservatory. After that, he taught many Canadian composers including Jean Vallerand and François Morel.