Jean Papineau-Couture, was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 composer and academic.

Born in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Papineau-Couture is the grandson of conductor and composer Guillaume Couture

Guillaume Couture (musician)

Guillaume Couture was a Canadian choir conductor, composer, music critic, and music educator. Although he never pursued a performance career, he is particularly remembered for his work as a voice teacher; having taught many notable Canadian singers...

. As a child he studied piano with his mother. He first studied privately in Montreal with Gabriel Cusson

Gabriel Cusson

Gabriel Cusson was a Canadian composer and music educator. As a composer, his music was heavily influenced by the style of early 20th century French composers...

 before entering the Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf

Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf

Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf is a private French-language educational institution offering secondary school and CEGEP college-level instruction in Montreal, Quebec. It is a co-ed establishment for students in their final year of secondary school and in college. It is boys-only in the first four years...

 where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1937. He then attended the New England Conservatory of Music

New England Conservatory of Music

The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent school of music in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of...

 in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 where he received a Bachelor of Music in 1941. He studied with Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...

 at the Longy School of Music

Longy School of Music

The Longy School of Music of Bard College is a conservatory located near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston region along with the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and Boston...

 in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

.

Returning to Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Papineau-Couture's teaching career started in 1946 when he joined the faculty of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he stayed until 1962. He also taught in the Faculty of Music at the Université de Montréal

Université de Montréal

The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...

. He was named vice-dean in 1967 and dean from 1968 until 1973. Two of his notable pupils were François Morel

François Morel

François Morel is a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and music education. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1994 and was awarded the Prix Denise-Pelletier in 1996...

 and Pierre Rolland

Pierre Rolland (musician)

Pierre Rolland is a Canadian oboist, english horn player, radio broadcaster, music critic, music educator, and arts administrator. He is the father of cellist Sophie Rolland and violinist Brigitte Rolland.-Life and career:...

.

In 1962 Papineau-Couture was awarded the Calixa-Lavallée Award

Calixa-Lavallée Award

The Calixa-Lavallée Award is a music award created in 1959. It is granted by the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montreal to a Quebecer having distinguished himself or herself in the field of music...

. In 1968, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada

Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

 and was promoted to Companion in 1993. In 1989, he was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec

National Order of Quebec

The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...

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