[1] Fernand Ansseau was born 6 March 1890 in Boussu-Bois near Mons, Belgium, the younger son of the organist at St. Joseph's parish church.

While a student at St. Charles, Monsieur Tellier, one of his teachers, recognized his voice and occasionally had him sing short solos in the children's choir.

On the advice of "kindly persons" he auditioned for Jean Vanden Eede, director of the Mons Conservatory, who admitted him to the class for solfeggio but not singing or piano.

After two years of study Ansseau won only second prize, leading Lucien Solvay to write in L'Étoile belge, "the one who is perhaps the most promising has not been the best rewarded."

An unidentified critic wrote, "The great principal actor in this triumph is without doubt Fernand Ansseau...." Later in the 1913–1914 season he sang in Carmen, Sigurd, Faust, and Louise, among other works.

In the 1925–1927 season Ansseau participated in a cross-country tour that took him from San Francisco to Miami, by way of Los Angeles, Denver, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, and Buffalo, appearing chiefly in Louise and Carmen.

At the end of 1928 Ansseau returned to Europe, where he appeared at Covent Garden, La Monnaie, the Paris Opera, and the theaters of Antwerp, Charleroi, Ghent, and Liège.

After 1930 Ansseau decided not to travel abroad, and from then until the end of his career confined his activities to the principal Belgian and French opera houses.