Suzanne Chaigneau

Who was Suzanne Chaigneau?

Suzanne Chaigneau was a French violinist and chamber musician, and a noted violin teacher.

She spent her childhood between Barbizon and Paris, receiving her musical education from her mother and family friends including Charles Lamoureux and Camille Chevillard. With her sisters she formed a piano trio which gave its first concert in Paris on 25 February 1895.

She was the daughter of painter Ferdinand Chaigneau and Louise Deger, the twin sister of the cellist Marguerite and the sister of pianist Thérèse, with whom she played as the Trio Chaigneau. In 1910 she married the son of violinist Joseph Joachim, Herman Joachim, an officer in the German army, and was the mother of the singer Irène Joachim. The Chaigneau home welcomed many artistic visitors and was also considered close to the Dreyfusard cause, with Georges Picquart among other visitors to the home.

The Trio Chaigneau played in London and Edinburgh and, with assistance from Joachim, undertook a tour of Germany in 1905. Their repertoire was both the Austro-German classics – Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart – and modern French composers. Apart from a few appearances in 1920, the Trio ended at the start of the First World War.