Joseph Lajeunesse

Joseph Marie Lajeunesse (also called Saint-Louis ; born November 6, 1818 in St. Martin , † July 30, 1904 in Chambly ) was a Canadian musician and music teacher .

biography

Lajeunesse, the first of seventeen children of Charles Lajeunesse, began studying at the Séminaire de Ste-Thérèse in 1839 . Nothing is known about his musical training; The instruments he played included the organ and the piano, the violin and the harp. From 1842 to 1846 he probably lived in the USA, from 1849 to 1853 he was a church organist in Chambly. His six children were born there, only three of whom reached adulthood, including daughters Emma and Cornélia , both of whom became known as singers.

After the death of his wife in 1856 he taught his daughters at home, from 1858 at the Sacré-Coeur Convent in Sault-au-Récollet, where he worked as a teacher. He also worked temporarily as a teacher and choirmaster at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Ottawa. As early as 1856–1857 he organized concert tours through Québec for his daughter Emma, ​​and more later for both daughters together. In September 1862 he organized a benefit concert in Montreal, which should enable his daughters to study at the Paris Conservatory .

Since the concert did not bring the hoped-for profit, the family first went to the USA in 1865 and settled in Albany. Emma Lajeunesse traveled to Paris in 1868, Cornélia Lajenunesse and her father followed in 1870. In 1879 Joseph Marie Lajeunesse returned to Canada and spent the rest of his life in Chambly, where his daughter Emma had a house built for him.

source

• Joseph Lajeunesse in The Canadian Encyclopedia