Alfred Montmarquette (6 April 1871 - 24 May 1944) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

folksong composer and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

ist.

Biography

Montmarquette was born in New York on 6 April 1871, and taught himself the accordion from the age of twelve, and had mastered it while still an adolescent. Unable to earn a living as a professional musician, he worked as a mason. He moved to Montreal in the 1920s, and was over fifty years old when

Conrad Gauthier Conrad Gauthier (8 August 1885 – 14 February 1964) was a Canadian singer, songwriter, actor, and folklorist from Quebec. He helped popularize French Canadian folk music in Canada. Life Gauthier was born in Montreal on 8 August 1885. After so ...

's ''Veillées du bon vieux temps'' made him well known. Between 1928 and 1932, he recorded more than 110 pieces for

Starr Records Starr Records was a record label founded by the Starr Piano Company of Richmond, Indiana. Gennett Records was also owned by Starr Piano. Starr's first discs were vertical-cut records in the mid 1910s based on Edison Records standard found in th ...

, and also recorded with

Ovila Légaré Ovila Légaré (21 July 1901 - 19 February 1978) was a French-Canadian actor and singer from Quebec. Life Légaré was born in Montreal on 21 July 1901, and died there on 19 February 1978. Career He was a folklorist, singer, actor, script-writer ...

Eugène Daigneault Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Mary Bolduc Mary Rose-Anne Bolduc, born Travers, (June 4, 1894 – February 20, 1941) was a musician and singer of French Canadian music. She was known as Madame Bolduc or La Bolduc. During the peak of her popularity in the 1930s, she was known as the ...

. He died in an insane asylum in Montréal on 24 May 1944.

Songs

* Rose Alma Polka * Marche des collégiens * Galop des pompiers

References

Discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montmarquette, Alfred 1871 births 1944 deaths Canadian composers Canadian male composers Musicians from Montreal Musicians from New York (state) Canadian accordionists Deaths in mental institutions American emigrants to Canada