Oscar O'Brien

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Oscar O'Brien (born September 7, 1892 in Ottawa , † September 20, 1958 in Montreal ) was a Canadian arranger, composer, organist, pianist and music teacher.

O'Brien studied at the De La Salle Academy and the University of Ottawa and also took piano and organ lessons from Amédée Tremblay . At the age of sixteen he became Temblay's deputy as organist at the Notre-Dame Basilica . From 1917 he worked as a teacher, orchestral pianist and piano accompanist in Montreal.

From 1915 to 1930 O'Brien worked as an accompanist, arranger and composer with the folk singer Charles Marchand . They gave concerts together, made recordings and performed at the CPR festivals in Québec in 1927 and 1928. After Marchand's death in 1930, O'Brien became Artistic Director of the Alouette Vocal Quartet . In 1945 he entered the monastery of St-Benoît-du-Lac , where he was ordained a priest in 1952.

In addition to stage works such as Scène des voyageurs (1928), Une Noce canadienne-française en 1830 (1929), À Saint-Malo (1930), Dix Danses limousines (1930), Pastorale (1930), Philippino (1931-3), La Passion (1935) and La Belle du Nord (1938) composed O'Brien a. a. Chamber music such as the trio for piano, violin and cello and a sonata (1927) for cello and piano, around sixty songs as well as a Mass de Requiem (1934–5) and a Mass de Saint Joachim (1935–6). He wrote the piano accompaniment for the three-volume collection Chansons d'Acadie (1942-48) and worked on the Canadian Folk Songs Old and New (1927, 1949) and Twenty-one Folk Songs of French Canada / Vingt-et-une Chansons canadiennes ( 1928) with. He appears as arranger or piano accompanist on numerous recordings by Starr, Victor, Brunswick, Columbia, and Bluebird.

In addition, O'Brien gave lectures on Canadian musical folklore and published articles on the subject. His students included u. a. Lionel Daunais , Hector Gratton , Jacques Labrecque and Lucien Sicotte .

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