Romain-Octave Pelletier II (sometimes spelled Peltier) (26 August 1904 - 11 January 1968) was a Canadian

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

, music producer, and violinist.

Early life and career

Born in Saint-Lambert, Quebec, Pelletier was a member of a prominent musical family in Montreal. Named after his grandfather, musician

Romain-Octave Pelletier I Romain-Octave Pelletier I (sometimes spelled Peltier) (9 September 1843 – 4 March 1927) was a Canadian organist, pianist, composer, writer on music, and music educator. Early life and career Born in Montreal, Pelletier was a member of a prom ...

, he was the son of conductor, composer, and music critic

Frédéric Pelletier Frédéric Pelletier (1 May 1870 – 30 May 1944) was a Canadian choir conductor, music educator, composer, music critic, journalist, civil servant, military officer, and physician. He was one of the principal music critics in Montreal d ...

. His uncles

Romain Pelletier Romain Pelletier (sometimes spelled Peltier) (22 August 1875 – 24 November 1953) was a Canadian organist, choir conductor, composer, and music educator. His compositional output consists entirely of works for solo organ and motets. He was ...

and Victor Pelletier were also successful musicians. He had his earliest musical training from the men in his family and was a violin student of Albert Chamberland. Pelletier initially intended to become a lawyer and accordingly pursued law studies at the Université de Montréal where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1924 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1927. While a student he began working as a music critic in 1922 for publications like '' Le Devoir'' and ''

La Revue moderne LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

''. From 1928-1933 he worked as a notary in Montreal. In 1933 Pelletier began working for the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission as a host and commentator for the Canadian national broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. In 1939 he joined the staff of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Montreal as a radio producer where he also served as the assistant record librarian from 1941-1944. He continued to work as a producer for the CBC through 1964 where he was responsible for many programs, including ''Festivals du Mercredi'' and '' The Little Symphonies''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelletier, Romain-Octave 1904 births 1968 deaths Canadian music critics Canadian classical violinists Male classical violinists Université de Montréal alumni Canadian Broadcasting Corporation people People from Saint-Lambert, Quebec 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century Canadian male musicians 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers