Louis Brassin (Composer, Arranger)

Born: June 24, 1840 - Aix-la-Chapelle, Belgium
Died: May 17,1884 - St. Petersburg, Russia

Louis Brassin was a Belgian pianist and composer. His father was a baritone singer of some renown, whose real name was de Brassine, and an uncle of his was Drouet, the famous flautist. To the fact that in 1847 his father was engaged at the opera in Leipzig, young Brassin owed the most important part of his education, for he entered the Conservatorium of Leipzig, and became a pupil of Moscheles, having some years previously appeared in public at Hamburg.

After five years in Leipzig, Louis Brassin undertook several concert tours with his two brothers, and in 1866 was appointed first pianoforte teacher in the Stern Conservatorium at Berlin. After a year's tenure of this post he resumed a more or less wandering life, and ultimately settled in Brussels (1869-1878) as professor in the Conservatoire. In 1878 he accepted a similar post at St. Petersburg, where he died.

A transcription of the Feuerzauber from Die Walküre was long a favourite, and his works include, beside many excellent pianoforte pieces, two German operettas, Der Thronfolger (Brussels, 1865) and Der Missionär.

Of his two younger brothers, one, Leopold Brassin (b Strassburg, May 28, 1843; d Constantinople, May 1890), who made his first appearance as a pianist at the ags of 5 under Louis Brassin's auspices, was pianist to the Duke of Saxe Coburg, and professor at Berne. The other, Gerhard Brassin (b Aix, June 10, 1844), a violinist of repute, was teacher at Berne (from 1863), Konzertmeister at Gottenburg in Sweden and teacher at the Stern Conservatorium from 1874-1875, when he was appointed to the direction of a musical society at Breslau. After 1880 he lived successively in St. Petersburg and Constantinople.

Source: Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1952 Edition; Author: J.A. Fuller Maitland)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (June 2007)

Louis Brassin: Short Biography | Piano Transcriptions: Works | Recordings

Links to other Sites

Louis Brassin (Wikipedia) [German]

Bibliography