Calixa Lavallée

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Calixa Lavallée, composer, pianist (b at Verchères, Canada E 28 Dec 1842; d at Boston, Mass 21 Jan 1891). Author of the music for O CANADA which became the Canadian national anthem, Lavallée was a pioneer in music both in Canada and the US. Taught first by his father, he studied in Montréal, then left for the US in 1857 and toured South America, the West Indies and Mexico.

After returning to Verchères in 1863, he gave concerts and taught. On 24 January 1864 he gave a concert in Montréal playing piano, violin and cornet. From 1865 to 1872 he again lived in the US and from 1873 to 1875 studied piano, harmony and composition in Paris; one of his piano studies composed at this time, Le Papillon, was particularly successful. He later opened a studio in Montréal with Frantz JEHIN-PRUME and Rosita del Vecchio, was twice president of the Académie de musique de Québec, and tried unsuccessfully to open a conservatory of music. In 1881 Lavallée's comic opera The Widow was presented in New Orleans.

Lavallée, Calixa
Lavallée, Calixa
Calixa Lavallée, composer of the National Anthem "O Canada" and one of a generation of pioneers who nourished the growth of music in early Canada (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-70448).
O Canada First Edition
O Canada First Edition
Calixa Lavallée appeared on the cover of the first edition of the words and music to "O Canada" (courtesy Musée du Seminaire de Québec).

Author HÉLÈNE PLOUFFE


Links to Other Sites
Les Voltigeurs
Historica’s acclaimed one-minute movies about Canadian history.

Calixa Lavallée
A biography of renowned Canadian musician Calixa Lavallée. From the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Calixa Lavallée
A biography of Calixa Lavallée, pianist, composer, and music teacher. From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.

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