Joseph Georges-Émile Gaston Allaire (18 June 1916 – 15 January 2011) was a Canadian musicologist,
organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
,
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
,
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
, and
music educator
Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original ...
of American birth."Gaston Allaire, un musicologue qui pursuit son oeuvre à 72 ans", Montreal, '' La Presse'', 18 December 1988 His compositional output includes several preludes for organ, an organ work on French carols, some
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...
s and other choral works, a communion service, a prelude and fugue for string orchestra, and a polyphonic mass. He also wrote ''Suite laurentienne'' for orchestra from which the ''Poème'' and the ''Menuet'' were premiered by the
Quebec Symphony Orchestra
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
in 1949, and composed the music for the 1953 film ''The Man on the Beach''. His ''Marche'' (1964) and ''Petite Suite'' (1965) were both written for the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps Band.
Early life and education
Born in
Berlin, New Hampshire
Berlin ( ) is a city along the Androscoggin River in Coös County in northern New Hampshire, United States. It is the northernmost city in New Hampshire. The population was 9,425 at the 2020 census, down from 10,051 at the 2010 census.
It ...
to parents Marie and Xavier, Allaire moved with his family to
Danville, Quebec
Danville is a city in the administrative region of Estrie, in the Canadian province of Quebec. As of the 2016 Canadian Census, the population was 3,836.
History
Danville is on a stretch of the Chemin Craig, a road built in the 19th century connec ...
when he was just two years old. His mother was a homemaker and his father was the station master for the Danville train station. The eldest of 9 children, he began studying the organ and piano as a child. He began professional studies in the organ in Victoriaville in 1934, continuing with his education in Quebec City in 1936. He entered the Conservatoire national de musique in Montréal in 1940 where he was a pupil of
Auguste Descarries Auguste may refer to:
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(piano) and
Eugène Lapierre
Eugène Lapierre (8 June 1899 – 21 October 1970) was a Canadian organist, composer, journalist, writer on music, arts administrator, and music educator. He was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935 and the King George VI Corona ...
(organ). After earning a
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...
from the conservatoire in 1947, he pursued further studies in
fugue
In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...
,
orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...
, and
music composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...
with
George Rochberg
George Rochberg (July 5, 1918May 29, 2005) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Long a serial composer, Rochberg abandoned the practice following the death of his teenage son in 1964; he claimed this compositional technique ...
in Philadelphia from 1948 to 1950.
In 1953 Allaire entered the
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...
where he earned a
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in music history and composition in 1956. He went on to earn a PhD in musicology from
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
in 1960 after writing a doctoral thesis entitled ''The masses of Claudin de Sermisy''. He pursued further studies in musicology in Europe and the United States through grants from the Canada Council (1961-2), a
Fulbright Fellowship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
(1962), and a grant from the
Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec
The Ministry of Culture and Communications (french: Ministère de la Culture et des Communications ) is responsible for promoting and protecting the culture in the Canadian province of Quebec. The current Minister is Nathalie Roy.
Career
From 1962 to 1967 Allaire taught on the music faculty of Loyola College in Montreal. He then served on the music faculties of the
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...
(1966–1967) and the
Université de Moncton
The Université de Moncton is a Canadian francophone university in New Brunswick. It includes campuses in Edmundston, Moncton, and Shippagan.
The university was founded in 1963 following the recommendations of the royal commission on higher ed ...
(1967–1984). At the latter institution he served as a research officer from 1969 to 1973, president of the Canadian Folk Music Association in addition to being a lecturer. After his retirement from teaching in 1984 he was named professor emeritus at the Université de Moncton. He continued to research and publish articles on renaissance polyphonic vocal music with the Revue Belge de Musicologie, and on his website allairefictamusic.com which he kept up until 2010
As a performer, Allaire toured as both an organ and piano recitalist throughout Canada. A number of these recitals were nationally broadcast on
CBC Radio
CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
between 1967 and 1970. As a writer and musicologist he contributed articles to several musical journals, including the ''Revue de musicologie'' (Paris), the ''Music Scene'', ''EMC'', the Boston University Journal, and the journal of the University of Moncton. He also served as president of the Canadian Society for Traditional Music from 1968 to 1971 and was editor of that organization's newsletter from 1969 to 1971.