Rhené Jaque

Jaque, Rhené

Rhené Jaque (pseud; b Marguerite Marie Alice Cartier). Composer, violinist, teacher, b Beauharnois, near Montreal, 4 Feb 1918, d Montreal 31 Jul 2006; B MUS (Montreal) 1949, L MUS (Montreal) 1955. Marguerite Cartier joined the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary and took her vows in 1938 as Sister Jacques-René [sic]. During this time she continued her studies at the École supérieure de musique d'Outremont (École Vincent-d'Indy). Her teachers were Claude Champagne and Marvin Duchow for theory and composition, Louis Bailly and Camille Couture for violin. In the summer of 1972 she took courses in composition with Tony Aubin at the Académie internationale in Nice. She joined the École Vincent d'Indy in 1943 as a teacher of violin and theory.

Rhené Jaque composed numerous atonal teaching pieces for young pianists and violinists, many of which were published by Berandol, Chanteclair, Thompson, and the Éditions de l'École Vincent-d'Indy. Her Rustic Dance/Fête champêtre and Deux Inventions à deux voix were recorded by pianist Rachel Cavalho (CCM-1). Her works also include two Suites for piano (BMIC 1961, 1964), the second of which was published by Leslie and recorded by Antonin Kubálek (Melbourne SMLP-4031) and by Allen Reiser (Signal Hill SHMW-CD-001, 2001). The pianist Elaine Keillor recorded Jaque's Toccate (Carleton Sound CSCD-1006) in 1999. Additional notable Jaque compositions were a Suite for strings (1967), Etude et fantaisie for piano (Thompson 1974), a Symphony for large orchestra (1975), Contrastes for organ (1986), and some chamber music, songs and choral pieces. Rhené Jaque was a member of the Canadian League of Composers, and in 2002 became a life member of the Association of Canadian Women Composers.