Marie-Anne Asselin
Encyclopedia
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
and voice teacher. She came from a musical family, being the sister of Pierre-Aurèle Asselin
Pierre-Aurèle Asselin
Pierre-Aurèle Asselin was a French Canadian furrier and tenor singer. Asselin came from a musical family; he was the brother of mezzo-soprano Marie-Anne Asselin and great uncle of pianist André Asselin....
and the great aunt of André Asselin.
Asselin was born in the town of Sainte-Famille
Sainte-Famille
Sainte-Famille is a parish municipality in the L'Île-d'Orléans Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada, part of the administrative region of Capitale-Nationale...
on l'Île d'Orléans
Île d'Orléans
Île d'Orléans is located in the Saint Lawrence River about east of downtown Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The island was one of the first parts of the province to be colonized by the French, and a large percentage of French Canadians can trace ancestry to early residents of the island...
in 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....
on September 5, 1888. Around 1900, she moved with her family to 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...
, where she studied music with Miss Lemire and Béatrice Lapalme.
Asselin made her singing debut on April 25, 1919 in the role of Jeanne in La Basoche
La Basoche
La Basoche is an opéra comique in three acts of 1890, with music by André Messager and a French libretto by Albert Carré.-History:Messager's 1889 opérette Le mari de la reine at Bouffes-Parisiens was a disappointment, and the composer and his wife were struggling to afford even basic necessities...
by André Messager
André Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international...
, which was performed in the Théâtre Français in Montreal. In 1920, Asselin opened a vocal studio on Saint-Denis Street
Saint Denis Street
Saint Denis Street is a major north-south thoroughfare in Montreal, Quebec.The street itself extends from the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel on Saint Paul Street in Old Montreal to the bank of the Rivière des Prairies at the north end of the island...
in Montreal. That year she performed many concerts, featuring performances with Émile Gour, Germain Lefevbre, Hercule Lavoie and Blanche Gonthier.
A series of radio performances with José Delaquerrière, Jeanne Maubourg, Blanche Archambault, Germaine Lebel, André Durieux and Maurice Jacquet broadcast on CKAC were also heard in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, and as a result the group was invited to perform a concert broadcast on a new station in Springfield, Illinois
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
.
She remained a vocal teacher in Montreal for her life, moving studios to Saint Hubert Street in the 1930s and Saint-Joseph Boulevard East
Saint Joseph Boulevard
Saint Joseph Boulevard is a major boulevard located east of Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is mainly residential, but is nevertheless a major east-west artery. It is located in the Plateau Mont-Royal and the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie boroughs...
in the 1950s. She died in Montreal in 1971.