![Schipper Painting of Joseph Quesnel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Schipper_Painting_of_Joseph_Quesnel.jpg)
Joseph Quesnel (15 November 1746 – 2 or 3 July 1809) was a
French Canadian
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...
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 ...
,
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
,
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
and
slave-trader
The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and Slavery and religion, religions from Ancient history, ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The socia ...
. Among his works were two
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
s, ''Colas et Colinette'' and ''Lucas et Cécile''; the former is considered to be the first
Canadian opera and probably of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
Early life and education
Quesnel was born in
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast.
The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the third child of Isaac Quesnel de La Rivaudais (1712-1779), a prosperous merchant, and his wife Pélagie-Jeanne-Marguerite Duguen.
He studied at the Collège Saint-Louis (1766).
Life and career
Quesnel joined the French merchant marine and sailed to
Pondicherry
Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...
and
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
, travelled in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, and the Caribbean.
He engaged in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1768, as a second-lieutenant on board the ''Mesny'', he sailed to Cabinda (modern-day Angola) where 514 "Blacks of all ages" were purchased and taken to modern-day Haiti where they were sold, according to French archival sources quoted in a novel about him. He carried with him his violin and read the works of French playwrights.
In 1779, Quesnel sailed for New York in command of a French warship which was captured by the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
.
Quesnel was taken to
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...
and allowed to settle in Boucherville, near
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...
.
He married Marie-Josephte Deslandes there and became partners in business with
Maurice-Régis Blondeau Maurice-Régis Blondeau (23 June 1734 13 July 1809) was a fur trader, militia officer, and office holder in Canada.
Blondeau was born into a merchant family from Montreal in New France. He became associated with the fur trade and spent his early ...
, his mother-in-law's new husband. He became wealthy by trading in slaves.
Quesnel published a number of theatrical works, including ''Colas et Colinette'', which was written in 1788 and first performed in 1790,
and ''Lucas et Cecile'';
he also wrote poetry; his best known poem was titled "L'Épître à M. Labadie".
Besides several songs, he composed sacred music for the parish church of Montreal,
and some motets, and wrote a short treatise on the dramatic art (1805). He founded and was part of the troupe of Montreal's Théàtre de Societé.
He died of
pleurisy
Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant dull ache. Other sy ...
at Montreal in 1809 several months after he had dived into the
Saint Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...
to save a drowning child.
[Contemporary Canadian Composers ed. by Keith MacMillan and John Beckwith. Toronto : Oxford University Press, 1975]
Quesnel was the subject of the
comic opera
Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue.
Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...
''Le Père des amours'', written by
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 Coron ...
in 1942.
Family
Quesnel's son
Jules Maurice Quesnel
Jules-Maurice Quesnel (October 25, 1786 – May 20, 1842) was a fur trader, member of the Beaver Club, businessman and political figure in Canada East.
He was born Julien-Maurice Quesnel in Montreal in 1786, the son of Joseph Quesnel, and st ...
travelled with
Simon Fraser on his journey to the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
; the town of
Quesnel, British Columbia
Quesnel (Kee-nel in French) is a city located in the Cariboo Regional District of British Columbia, Canada. Located nearly evenly between the cities of Prince George and Williams Lake, it is on the main route to northern British Columbia and the ...
is named for him. Another son
Frédéric-Auguste became a lawyer and politician; his daughter Mélanie married lawyer
Côme-Séraphin Cherrier.
Works
*''Colas et Colinette'', a vaudeville (1788)
*''Lucas et Cecile'', an operetta
*''L'Anglomanie'', a comedy in verse
*''Les Républicains Français'', a comedy in prose, afterward published in Paris
*"L'Épître à M. Labadie" – poem
See also
*
Music of Canada
The music of Canada reflects the diverse influences that have shaped the country. Indigenous Peoples, the Irish, British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The music has also subsequently been ...
References
External links
Canadian Theatre EncyclopediaBiography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''Entry from the Encyclopedia of Music in CanadaFonds Joseph Quesnel (R5990)at
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...
Colas et Colinette ou le Bailli dupé, comédie-vaudeville by Joseph Quesnel. file (R12428)at
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...
. The file contains an annotated copy of the piano-vocal score (65 p.) and a text concerning the reconstruction of the work by Godfrey Ridout.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quesnel, Joseph
1746 births
1809 deaths
Canadian poets in French
Canadian classical composers
Canadian male classical composers
Canadian opera composers
18th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
18th-century classical composers
18th-century male musicians
19th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
19th-century classical composers
Canadian dramatists and playwrights in French
Canadian male poets
Canadian male dramatists and playwrights
19th-century Canadian male writers
19th-century male musicians
18th-century Canadian male writers