Champagne was an important Canadian composer. He was a link between
the old school of music and the new school of music. He studied violin with Albert Chamberland, and piano with R.O. Pelletier. In 1921 he went straight to Paris to study music. By then he was drawn into
modality, which stayed with him the rest of his life. At his return to Canada he became heavily involved with teaching. He was attached to
the Montreal Catholic School Commission as co-ordinator of solfége in
elementary schools, and he was at the same time professor at the McGill Cons. After that he mainly taught many of the countrys most promissing composers.