Frédéric Pelletier (1 May 1870 – 30 May 1944) was a Canadian

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

conductor, music educator,

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 def ...

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 m ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

, and

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

. He was one of the principal music critics in Montreal during the first half of the 20th century, having worked in that capacity for every major publication in Montreal at one time or another. He was also a professor of

music history Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of ...

at several institutions and worked as a choirmaster in several Montreal churches. His compositional output was mainly dedicated to sacred choral works, including several

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 preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

s and carols, 2

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

s, a ''Requiem Mass'', and a ''Stabat Mater''. He also wrote some works for solo organ, some songs, and a number of harmonizations of Canadian folk tunes.

Life and career

Born in Montreal, Pelletier was part of a prominent musical family in Quebec. He was the son of musician Romain-Octave Pelletier I, the brother of organist, composer and conductor Romain Pelletier, and the father of violinist Romain-Octave Pelletier II. His other brother Victor was a cellist in J.-J. Goulet's Montreal Symphony Orchestra of which he also served as music librarian. He began his musical education as a boy studying the piano under his father. He later was a pupil of Guillaume Couture (singing) and

Achille Fortier Achille Fortier (23 October 1864 – 19 August 1939) was a Canadians, Canadian composer and music educator. His compositional output includes a modest amount of choir, choral and chamber music, chamber works, several songs and motets, and a small ...

(harmony and counterpoint). In c. 1887 Pelletier entered the

Royal Military College Saint-Jean The Royal Military College Saint-Jean (), commonly referred to as RMC Saint-Jean and CMR, is a Canadian Military academy, military college and university. It is located on the historical site of Fort Saint-Jean (Quebec), Fort Saint-Jean, in Sai ...

and after graduating served as a captain in the Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal. He then entered the medical school at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) 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-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

where he earned his MD in 1895. He operated a medical practice in Montreal for a little while, but abandoned it in favour of a career as a journalist and musician. He worked as a reporter and editor for various daily newspapers in Montreal up until 1914. He also was a music columnist for various periodicals from 1900 up until the end of his life; including '' La Patrie'' (1904–1910), '' La Presse'' (1904–1910), ''La Musique'' (1919–1921), ''

Musical America ''Musical America'' is the oldest American magazine on classical music, first appearing in 1898 in print and in 1999 online magazine, online, at musicalamerica.com. It is published by Performing Arts Resources, LLC, of East Windsor, New Jersey. ...

'' (1923–1925), '' Association française d'action artistique'' (1920–1944), '' L'Art musical'', '' La Lyre'', '' Musical Canada'', and the '' Quinzaine musicale et artistique'' among others. For ''

Le Devoir (, ) is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. is one of few independent large-circulation newspapers in Quebec ...

'' he authored a dozen reviews between 1911 and 1913 before being appointed its long-time music editor and critic (1916–1944). As a musician, Pelletier was primarily active as a choir conductor. He held the post of choirmaster at several churches in Montreal, including Saint-Léon de Westmount Church (1909), St James-the-Less (1910–1936), and Sainte-Brigide de Kildare Church (1923–1924). In 1922 he founded the Saint-Saëns Choral Society, notably conducting performance that year of ''

Samson et Dalila ''Samson and Delilah'' (), Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at the (Grand Ducal) Theater (now the Staatskapelle Weimar) on 2 ...

'' with Cédia Brault and Émile Gour. In 1931 he coordinated the first Canadian tour of the Paris children's choir Petits Chanteurs à la croix de bois, who included within their repertoire his Canadian folksong harmonizations. From 1932-1935 he served as the president of the Académie de musique du Québec and in 1933-1934 he taught music history at the École de musique Vincent-d'Indy. He also taught that subject at the Conservatoire national de musique for a number of years. In addition to his work as a writer and musician, Pelletier served the city of Montreal as the secretary of the department of health from 1914-21. He then took the post of librarian and publicist for Quebec province's department of health in 1922, a position he held until his death in Montreal in 1944. His book ''Initiation à l'orchestre in Montreal'' was published posthumously in 1948, but his memoirs, ''Montréal, fin de siècle'', which were intended for publication upon his death, have never been printed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelletier, Frederic 1870 births 1944 deaths Université de Montréal alumni Academic staff of the Conservatoire national de musique Academic staff of the École de musique Vincent-d'Indy Canadian music educators Canadian composers Canadian male composers Canadian male conductors (music) Canadian music critics Canadian choral conductors Journalists from Montreal Musicians from Montreal Physicians from Montreal Quebec civil servants Royal Military College Saint-Jean alumni Military personnel from Montreal Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal officers