Calixa Lavallée (; December 28, 1842 – January 21, 1891) was a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

musician and Union Army band musician during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. He was born in the

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

. He is best known for composing the music for "

O Canada "O Canada" () is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée composed the music, after which French- ...

", which officially became the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

of Canada in 1980, after a vote in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. The same 1980 Act of Parliament also changed some of the English lyrics. A further alteration to the English lyrics was made again in 2018. The original French lyrics and the music, however, have remained unchanged since 1880.

Early life and education

Lavallée was born Calixte Paquet dit Lavallée, the son of Jean Baptiste Paquet and Charlotte Valentine. He was born near Verchères, a village near present-day

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in the

(now the Canadian province of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

). He was a descendant of Isaac Pasquier, from Poitou, France, who arrived in Nouvelle-France in 1665 as a soldier in the Carignan-Salières regiment. Lavallée's father Augustin Lavallée, worked as a blacksmith, logger, bandmaster, self-taught

luthier A luthier ( ; ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments. Etymology The word ' is originally French and comes from ''luth'', the French word for "lute". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be ...

and

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...

, and also worked for the pipe organ builder Joseph Casavant. Calixa Lavallée's mother was Charlotte-Caroline Valentine, descendant of James Valentine, a soldier from Montrose, Scotland who married a Quebecer by the name of Louise Leclerc and then settled down in Verchères, Québec. Lavallée began his musical education with his father (Eli Grande), who taught him organ by age 11. Lavallée also studied in Montréal with Paul Letondal and Charles Wugk Sabatier.Slemon, Peter
"Montreal's musical life under the Union"
McMaster University, 1845. via Library and Archives Canada

Career

Lavallée gave his first performance at Montreal's Theatre Royal (on Côté Street) on 28 February 1859 and later that year he was hired by Charles Duprez to play violin, cornet, and piano in a travelling minstrel troupe. With this company, the New Orleans Minstrels, Lavallée travelled through much of the United States in the years leading up to the outbreak of the Civil War. On September 17, 1861, Lavallée enlisted in the 4th Rhode Island Infantry Regiment in Providence, as a private and a

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

in the regimental band. He served with the 4th in the

until he was mustered out on October 3, 1862. He then rejoined Duprez's company and continued to tour until the fall of 1863, when he returned to Montreal. Between December 1863 and the early months of 1866 Lavallée organized concerts, composed and taught. In 1866, he was hired once again by Duprez and left for the US, where he would remain until 1872. In December 1867, he married an American woman, Josephine Gentilly, while in Lowell, Massachusetts. After two years in Paris, Lavallée returned to Montreal in July 1875, where he continued to perform and compose. Between 1875 and 1880, he lived in Montreal and Quebec City, where he worked as a pianist, organist and music teacher, and also conducted orchestral and operatic productions in concert halls, including the Montréal Academy of Music in Montréal, Quebec City and in many U.S. cities. Among his pupils was composer Alexis Contant. To celebrate St. Jean-Baptiste Day in 1880, the Lieutenant Governor of Québec,

Théodore Robitaille Théodore Robitaille, (; 29 January 1834 – 17 August 1897) was a Canadian physician, politician, and the fourth Lieutenant Governor of Quebec. Biography Born in Varennes, Lower Canada, the son of Louis-Adolphe Robitaille (pronounced ...

, commissioned Lavallée to compose "

" to a patriotic poem by Adolphe-Basile Routhier. After some financial difficulties in Canada, Lavallée again moved to the United States. In his later life he promoted the idea of union between Canada and the U.S.

Later life and death

During the later years of his life, Lavallée was the choirmaster at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, and he died penniless in that city in 1891. As the result of the campaign by the Montréal-based music director of the Victoria's Rifles, Joseph-Laurent Gariépy, his remains were returned to Montréal and reinterred at Côte-des-Neiges Cemetery in 1933.

Selected musical works

*''Peacocks in Difficulties/Loulou'',

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 ...

*''The Bridal Rose Overture'',

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

*''The King of Diamonds'', overture *''L'Absence'', lyrics by Remi Tremblay, 1882–1885Petrucci Music Library IMSLP Forum
including public domain scores *''L'Oiseau Mouche'', Bluette de Salon, Op.11, 1865? *''La Rose Nuptiale'', brass quintet *''Une Couronne de Lauriers'', Caprice de Genre, Op.10, 1865 *''Le Papillon'' (The Butterfly) Étude de Concert for piano, 1874/1884 *''La Patrie'' (1874). *''Marche funèbre'', 1878 *''Violette'', cantilène, lyrics by Napoleon Legendre and P.J. Curran, 1879 *"

", 1880 *''The Widow'', 1881, comic opera (known in French as ''La veuve'') * ''TIQ (The Indian Question), Settled at Last'', 1882, comic opera

Legacy

The village of Calixa-Lavallée, southeast of Montreal, is named after him. The professional training schoo
Calixa-Lavallée
in Quebec also bears his name. The following roads were named to honour Calixa Lavallée: *Avenue Calixa-Lavallée, located in

Shawinigan Shawinigan (; ) is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,620 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) ...

, Quebec, Canada. *Avenue Calixa-Lavallée, located in

, Quebec, Canada. *Rue Calixa-Lavallée, located in Magog, Quebec, Canada. *Rue Calixa-Lavallée, located in

Boucherville Boucherville () is a city in the Montérégie region in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of Montreal on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Boucherville is part of both the urban agglomeration of Longueuil and the Montreal Metropolitan ...

, Quebec, Canada. *Rue Calixa-Lavallée, located in Repentigny, Quebec, Canada. *Rue Calixa-Lavallée, a dead-end street entering into Lafontaine Park,

, Quebec, Canada. *Avenue Calixa-Lavallée located in Laval, Québec, Canada. *Calixa-Lavallée Privée (Calixa-Lavallée Pvt.) a small dead-end laneway on th
University of Ottawa campus

Bibliography

Notes References * - Total pages: 608 *

External links

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
* *
Doctoral dissertation by Brian C. Thompson''Anthems and Minstrel Shows: The Life and Times of Calixa Lavallée'' (2015) biography by Brian C. ThompsonThe Canadian Sheet Music Collection from the [University of Toronto Libraries
hosted at the [Internet Archive">niversity of Toronto Libraries">The Canadian Sheet Music Collection from the [University of Toronto Libraries
hosted at the [Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Lavallee, Calixa 1842 births 1891 deaths 19th-century Canadian composers 19th-century Canadian musicians 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Canadian male musicians Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery Canadian choral conductors Canadian classical composers Canadian male songwriters Canadian military musicians Canadian musical theatre composers Canadian opera composers Canadian people of the American Civil War Emigrants from pre-Confederation Quebec to the United States Male musical theatre composers Canadian male opera composers Military music composers Musicians from Quebec National anthem writers People from Verchères, Quebec People of Rhode Island in the American Civil War Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Romantic composers United States military musicians