Organist
Was your ancestor an "organiste", or organist? Learn what this musical occupation was like in New France and Canada.
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L’Organiste | The Organist
"La Belle organiste" by Nicolas Arnoult, Bibliothèque nationale de France
An organist is a musician who plays an organ, normally in a church (a liturgical organist) or in a concert hall (concert organist).
As a musical instrument, the organ was closely linked with religious song; some priests even deemed it essential. And so, along with 17th-century French colonists, small musical instruments arrived in New France from Europe, including organs. The two first churches to have organs were in Québec: the Jesuit Chapel (before 1661) and the parish church of Notre-Dame (1657). The first written mention of an organ appeared in the Relations des Jésuites in 1661. In autumn 1664, Monseigneur de Laval wrote to Rome that "major holidays, mass, vespers and evening prayers were sung to music, with orchestra, and organs mixed their harmonious sounds with those of the singers". [our translation]
In Montréal, the first organ appeared between 1701 and 1705. It was a gift to the church of Notre-Dame from the Sulpician François Vachon de Belmont. By the end of the 18th century, there were a dozen organs in New France. Louis Jolliet and Jean Girard were the first well-known organists in the colony.
The first Canadian-manufactured organ was built in 1723, and the first Canadian-born professional organ builder was Joseph Casavant, whose first organ was delivered to the parish church of Saint-Martin-de-Laval in 1840.
The organ at Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal (copyright The French-Canadian Genealogist)
Known persons who had this occupation: Alcibiade Béique, John Bentley, J.-C. Brauneis II, Edward Arthur Bishop, George Carter, Stephen Codman, Alexis Contant, Charles-François Coron, Antoine Dessane, Pierre Duquet, Michel Feuillon, Ernest Gagnon, Gustave Gagnon, Jean Girard, F.-H. Glackemeyer, Charles A.E. Harriss, Percival Illsley, Louis Jolliet, J.-B. Labelle, Calixa Lavallée, George McNeil, Guillaume Mechtler, T.F. Molt, R.-O. Pelletier, Jean-Baptiste Poitiers du Buisson, Alfred Prieur, William Reed, F.H. Torrington
"L'Organiste moderne" (the Modern Organiste), 1870 Parisian publication, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
"L'organiste et sa femme" (the Organist and his Wife) by Israël van Meckenem, Bibliothèque nationale de France
Meet Danny Bélisle, organist at Saint-Jean-Baptiste church in Québec City
Sources and further reading:
Brault, L. (1956). “Les instruments de musique dans les églises de la Nouvelle-France”. Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique, 24, 91–101. https://doi.org/10.7202/1007435ar.
Bouchard, Antoine, "Orgue - Facture". Dans l'Encyclopédie Canadienne. Historica Canada. Article publié juin 15, 2010; Dernière modification janvier 20, 2014. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/fr/article/orgue-facture
Gallat-Morin, Elisabeth, "Dossier Jean Girard : une découverte récente". Cap-aux-Diamants no. 35 (1993) : 57–57.
Kallmann, Helmut, and John S. Mcintosh, and Frances Macdonnell, and Kenneth Winters, "Organ playing and teaching". In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published 7 Feb 2006; Last Edited 14 Dec 2013. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/organ-playing-and-teaching-emc.
“Basilique Notre-Dame”, Orgues en France et dans le monde, http://orguesfrance.com/MontrealBasiliqueND.html
“Culture en Nouvelle-France : Musique dans la Nouvelle-France”, Histoire du Québec, https://histoire-du-quebec.ca/histoire-musique-nouvelle-france/