Remembering Calixa Lavallée and "O Canada": January 21: Snapshots in History

On January 21 and beyond, take a moment to remember Calixa Lavallée (born: December 28, 1842 as Calixte Paquet dit Lavallée at Verchères, Lower Canada (now Québec); died: January 21, 1891 at Boston, Massachusetts) who composed the music for "O Canada" in 1880. O Canada became Canada’s national anthem on July 1, 1980. The website of Canada’s Department of Canadian Heritage has provided historical information on the French and English lyrics (written by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier and the Honourable Robert Stanley Weir respectively) and the music composed by Lavallée. (Pour afficher la même information en langue française du ministère du Patrimoine canadien, s'il vous plaît cliquez ici.)

Calixa Lavallée began his musical education with his father Augustin and studied in Montréal with Charles Wugk Sabatier. In 1857, Lavallée moved to the United States and enlisted in the Union Army in Rhode Island during the American Civil War. Following an apparent wound at the Battle of Antietam, Maryland in 1862, Lavallée received an honourable discharge. He returned to Lower Canada in January 1864 and gave a concert after some rest. The desire to travel returned and Calixa went back to the United States, spending time in New Orleans, San Diego and New England. He married Josephine Gentilly (Gently) in Lowell, Massachusetts and they subsequently raised a family in Boston where he worked as a teacher and virtuoso performer. His opera, TIQ: The Indian Question settled at last, is thought to have been composed around this time. Lavallée became director of the Grand Opera House in New York in 1870. He composed the operetta Loulou but its production and Calixa’s employment ended with the death of the theatre’s owner. Following a brief return to Montréal, he went to Paris to continue his musical education during 1873-1875 after which he returned to participate in a music studio but made his living from teaching and as a church choirmaster.

Lavallée became involved with a committee mandated with planning music for the national convention of French Canadians organized for the end of June 1880 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de la Cité de Québec. Given that there was insufficient time to hold a competition to determine a national song, Lavallée was entrusted with writing music to fit with a patriotic poem, thereby resulting in "O Canada" with French lyrics written by Judge Adolphe-Basile Routhier. Despite the success of "O Canada", Lavallée’s financial situation remained tenuous and he returned to work in the United States, once again as a teacher and a choirmaster but also as an influential member of the Music Teachers’ National Association. His health declined as a result of chronic throat problems, necessitating a halt to his work in autumn 1890, and he died in January 1891 in Boston. His remains were returned to Canada for re-burial in July 1933. Lavallée’s work remained largely unknown for several decades after his death although admiring musicians such as Jean-Josaphat Gagnier and Eugène Lapierre sought to change that.

Consider the following items for borrowing from Toronto Public Library collections:

Books:

Sheet Music:

Music CDs:

O Canada! the perfect anthology and history of our national anthem [1 sound disc] / Calixa Lavallée, Adolphe-Basile Routhier, Robert Stanley Weir, Canadian Brass, Canada. Armed Forces. Voltigeurs de Québec et al., 2008. CD. Music. NATIONAL ANTHEMS LAV [Recorded between 1908 and 2004]

O Canada! the national anthem: the perfect anthology and history of our national anthem = l'hymne national: l'histoire et l'anthologie musicale de l'hymne national [1 sound disc] / Calixa Lavallée, Adolphe-Basile Routhier, Robert Stanley Weir, L'orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police band & soloists, Le choeur et L'orchestre de Vic Vogel, Steve Barakatt, Roger Doucet et al., 2004. CD. Music. NATIONAL ANTHEMS LAV