BY JUANITA SIMMONDS
Thanks to a lifetime of harpsichord concert performance, Huguette Brassine knows the logistics required to put these instruments on the stage.
Although she is unfazed by hard work, Huguette, who turns 80 this year, has nevertheless made a plan for the future: “In my next life, I will play the triangle.”
“I won’t have to tune it, and I carry it in my pocket,” Huguette says. “Must be practical, isn’t it?”
Huguette is a Queensland musical figure who has given generously through her music and teaching. She was born in a small Belgian village and, as a young woman, worked in her home country. But Huguette and her husband, musicologist Philip Truman, were keen to venture further afield, so in the 1970s they left their small hamlet to teach and lecture in music and piano at universities in South Africa and Nigeria.
Two years in Los Angeles followed, for Philip to do research, before the couple settled with their family in Brisbane.
“I’m extremely happy to have had opportunities to work on several continents, because you learn so much,” Huguette says.
It was Huguette’s work that brought them to Australia. In LA, Huguette had been a piano accompanist at the University of California, and also worked full-time in translation. Then she applied for a music lecturing position at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, which required her to travel to Brisbane to give a recital, masterclass, and interview.
Huguette asked for days off from her job, and, never a slouch, she promised to make up the time.
“I travelled for two days; I was here for two days, during which I couldn’t sleep,” Huguette recalls.
“And then two days to return. I was a real zombie after that.”
Despite the long-haul flight and short turnaround, she was successfully appointed. And, since a conservatorium staff member was due for a sabbatical, Philip gained employment alongside her. The pair moved with their family to Brisbane and started at the con in 1982.
Huguette made important contributions to the Queensland Conservatorium’s aural and keyboard musicianship courses, harpsichord, and early music. While she retired from the con in 2013, performance remained an important part of Huguette’s musical life.
A return to J.S. Bach’s triple harpsichord concertos was, like so many other concerts in 2020, shelved due to the pandemic. But for decades, Huguette has appeared in South-East Queensland as harpsichordist in chamber, concerto, and solo settings. And, in 2006, Naxos released a recording of Francesco Barsanti sonatas performed by Huguette with recorder soloist Barnaby Ralph and cellist Louise King; and Dolce published Huguette and Barnaby’s edition of the score.
For each solo recital, Huguette drew from the full gamut of harpsichord repertoire, from monuments such as J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations through to lesser-known gems.
“Occasionally, I have put a piece that I have that I especially like, but otherwise I have always had different programs. But for that, one has to work,” Huguette says.
“And of course, the general repertoire of harpsichord is relatively well known, but […] you have to go out of Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, and then the French of course. You have to go to much more early music – Chambonnières, or Dandrieu, Froberger […] which means there is a lot to read, and a lot to be curious about.”
Beside the demands of tertiary-level teaching and raising a family, Huguette kept up her practice by spending most evenings at the keyboard.
“I used to close all windows and doors, even in summer, to make sure that I was not playing lullabies for neighbours,” Huguette says.
“It’s a hard work. It’s pleasurable work, but you have to put the time.”
In her 32 years at the Queensland Conservatorium, hundreds of students have learnt with Huguette. Some sent me anecdotes while I prepared this article; con students were awed by her fast, fluent, and accurate solfege demonstrations. Even if the appreciation came in hindsight, they gained valuable skills from the breadth and depth of the aural and keyboard musicianship courses.
“I have never taught something which was useless for me,” Huguette says.
“Whatever I have [taught] was based on what I have to do – not just for teaching, but in any professional career in music. I definitely didn’t want to insist on things which would never be useful.”
The con’s harpsichord program grew from Huguette’s willingness to give through music.
“It developed well, and I was very pleased that it developed well. But that was off my own back, and it was not part of my normal [workload] – that was on top of what I had to do. But it was fine; I enjoyed that.”
Huguette always encouraged her harpsichord students, organised concerts and performance opportunities for them, and continues to mentor those who remain in contact with her long after lessons and degrees are completed.
In spite of what she has achieved and experienced, and helped her students to attain, Huguette remains modest.
“I can’t really extoll my virtues without laughing,” she says.
Nonetheless, she is happy with her life in music.
“As you know, I’m reaching an insulting birthday,” Huguette says.
“And it is really an insult because at that time, you are very old.
“But anyway, I have not been a ‘big shot’, I haven’t been an extraordinary person, I haven’t changed the life of everyone – certainly not – but I think I have done what I could.”
Before our interview, Huguette looked at some of her old concert programs, and told herself: “Well, it has been positive, after all!”
“I am fully aware that I am not exactly a great master in the world. But, I have learnt a lot.”
Huguette and Philip had moved from Brisbane to a quieter regional area several years prior to his passing in 2015.
Although Huguette has lived in diverse places around the world, she remains settled in Australia, with family, friends, and good neighbours, her harpsichord, and a living room lined floor to ceiling with music and literature.
“I don’t want to go anywhere,” Huguette says.
“People say, ‘are you going to go home?’, and I say, ‘I am home’.
“Home is where my instrument is, and my books are. That’s home.”
