Omer Létourneau

Omer Létourneau

Joseph Hercule Omer Létourneau (born March 13, 1891 in Québec ; † August 14, 1983 ibid) was a Canadian organist and pianist, composer, music publisher and music teacher.

From 1904 Létourneau had organ and piano lessons with Joseph-Arthur Bernier and in 1907 he became organist at the Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes chapel . He studied at the Académie de musique du Québec until 1912 and went to Paris in 1913 with a Prix ​​d'Europe , where he was organ student of Louis Vierne and composition student of Félix Fourdrain .

The outbreak of the First World War forced him to return to Canada. He became organist at St-Sauveur Church in Quebec and founded the Journal La Musique in early 1919 . In October of the same year he continued his studies in Europe. He was an organ student of Abel Decaux at the Schola Cantorum in Paris , attended courses in Gregorian singing with Amédée Gastoué and in choral conducting with Marc de Ranse .

In 1920 he returned to Quebec, where he resumed his work as organist and editor and also performed as a pianist with Arthur LeBlanc , Paul Dufault , Théodore Botrel and his future son-in-law, the violinist Edwin Bélanger .

From 1925 to 1934 Létourneau taught at Laval University and gave courses at the Académie commerciale de Québec and the Ursuline Convents of Trois-Rivières and Rimouski . From 1935 to 1938 he was president of the Académie de musique du Québec. François Brassard and Rolland-Georges Gingras were among his students .

In 1934 he took over the publishing house Gauvin & Courchesne , which became Quebec's leading music publisher under the name Procure générale de musique . Numerous works by the composers Joseph-Arthur Bernier, François Brassard , Léon Destroismaisons and Joseph Vézina have appeared here .

Létourneau composed three operettas , seven masses , a cantata , songs , hymns and folk song arrangements as well as works for violin, piano and organ. He also published several works on music theory.

Létourneau's sister-in-law Clotilde Coulombe (April 4, 1892 - May 13, 1985) was a pianist. The student of Alfred Cortot and Alfredo Casella in Paris broke off her musical career as a concert pianist one year after her return to Canada and entered a religious order.

His sons were also known as musicians: Paul Létourneau as cellist, Jean Létourneau as horn player and Claude Létourneau as violinist. His daughter Madeleine, a pianist, married the violinist Edwin Bélanger in 1937. From their marriage u. a. the violinist and composer Marc Bélanger and the singer Guy Bélanger stand out.

Works

• Vive la canadienne , operetta, 1924
• Coup d'soleil , operetta, 1930
• Mam'zelle Bébé , operetta, 1933
• Dieu te garde, mon Canada , cantata, 1934

Fonts

• École de dictée musicale (2 volumes)
• Théorie de la musique
• Questionnaire de la théorie musicale