Achille Fortier

Achille Fortier (born October 23, 1864 in Saint-Clet / Québec , † August 19, 1939 in Viauville ) was a Canadian composer and music teacher.

Fortier was a student of Guillaume Couture and Dominique Ducharme in Montreal . From 1885 he studied harmony at the Conservatoire de Paris with Théodore Dubois and singing with Romain Bussine , in 1888 he was accepted (as the first Canadian) in the composition class of Ernest Guiraud . After his return he studied singing, harmony and counterpoint in Montreal from 1890 at the Institut Nazareth , the Dames du Sacré-Coeur Convent , the Villa-Maria Convent and at the Conservatory of the Canadian Artistic Society . His students included Jean-Noël Charbonneau , Gabriel Cusson and Édouard LeBel .

From 1892 to 1893 Fortier was choirmaster at the Notre-Dame de Montréal church . From 1900 he worked as a translator for the provincial government of Ottawa. The first performance of Fortier's works took place in 1893 under the direction of his teacher Guillaume Couture. In 1896 his mass for four male voices, organ and orchestra was premiered under his own direction. Fortier also composed a marche solennelle and a waltz for orchestra, a meditation for cello and piano and a meditation for violin, piano and organ, numerous songs (including Mon Bouquet based on a poem by Louis-Honoré Fréchette and Qui saurait? Based on a poem by Armand Sylvestre ), arrangements of 20 Chansons populaires du Canada (1893), and Ô Canada! mon pays! mes amours! (1928) and the motets Haec dies (1900), Tantum ergo , O salutaris hostia and Ave verum . Other unpublished original scores are in the possession of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec , some of his works were destroyed in a fire.

source

• The Canadian Encyclopedia - Achille Fortier