Adélard Joseph Boucher
Encyclopedia
Adélard Joseph François-Arthur Boucher (28 June 1835 - 16 November 1912) was a Canadian publisher
, import
er, choir
master, organist
, conductor
, writer on music, composer
and numismatist. In 1865 he founded the A.J. Boucher Co. in Montreal which published the works of Canadian and foreign composers until it closed in 1975. In 1862 he founded the Société de numismatique de Montréal, serving as the organization's first president. He composed several works for solo piano, of which his most well known are Coecilia, a mazurka caprice; Les Canotiers du St-Laurent, a 'quadrille canadien'; Jolly Dogs Galop; and Souvenir de Sabatier, a suite of waltzes. Most of his compositions were written and published before 1866.
, Boucher's parents died in 1845 when he was 10 years old. He spent the next six years living and studying at the St. Joseph's College and Mother Seton Shrine
in Emmitsburg, Maryland
. He was particularly influenced by his music teacher at the school, Henry Dielman, who instructed him in the organ, piano, flute, violin, and singing. He then was a pupil at the Séminaire d'Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris where his foster father, Antoine LaRocque, enrolled him in September 1851. In March 1852 he became a novitiate in the Society of Jesus
in Amiens. He returned to Canada the following August where he continued to spend time with the Jesuits for the next six months.
During the 1850s, Boucher considered going into politics and also spent time studying genealogy, music, and numismatics; all of which remained lifelong interests. He taught part time at the Collège Sainte-Marie de Montréal and the school at the Villa-Maria Convent as in instructor in piano and voice. In 1853 he was appointed organist at St. Patrick's Basilica, Montreal where he remained until 1858 when he was appointed to the same position at Saint-Pierre Church. At Saint-Pierre he founded and directed a renowned choir school. In 1860 he founded the Société Ste-Cécile in 1860. That same year he became organist at Saint-Jacques Cathedral
, later adding the role of choirmaster to his responsibilities there in 1865.
In 1862 Boucher founded the Société de numismatique de Montréal, serving as the organization's first president. He later sold his collection of more than 1700 coins in 1866. In 1863 he founded the short lived monthly magazine Les Beaux-Arts with a Mr Manseau and Gustave Smith. In 1866 he founded the monthly periodical Le Canada Musical which was first published from 1 September 1866-1 August 1867 and later from 1 May 1875-1 April 1881. He also founded the Orphéon canadien and the Société Mozart in Montreal.
In 1865 Boucher disbanded Boucher et Manseau and founded his own publishing company under his own name, the "A.J. Boucher Co." Initially the company only sold sheet music, but expanded to include instruments in 1878. The instrument portion of the business was first run by René Hudon who later became the husband of his eldest daughter, Philomène. It was then taken over by Louis-Étienne-Napoléon Pratte in 1879. Pratte later married Boucher's daughter Cécile and became a highly successful piano manufacturer. The company established partnerships with several European and American publishers and published the works of Canadian and foreign composers until it closed in 1975. Among the Canadian composers Boucher published were Calixa Lavallée
, Alexis Contant
, Ernest Gagnon
, Jean-Baptiste Labelle
, Eugène Lapierre
, Roméo Larivière, Alfred Mignault
, Albertine Morin-Labrecque
, Joseph-Julien Perrault, and Charles Wugk Sabatier
.
In May 1867 Boucher acquired the Gould & Hill publishing company which he continued to operate independently of the A.J. Boucher Co. for a number of years. With violinist and music critic Arthur Lavigne he opened a music store in Quebec City in 1868. That same year he left the post of organist/choirmaster at Saint-Jacques Cathedral to become choirmaster at the Gesù Church where he remained until 1888.
During the 1860s and 1870s, Boucher conducted several public concerts in Montreal, many of them with orchestra. He notably presented performances of Gioachino Rossini's Stabat Mater
(1860, 1868), Sabatier's Cantata (1862), David's Le désert
(1866), Vincenzo Bellini
's La sonnambula
(1867), Michael William Balfe
's The Bohemian Girl
(1867), Gaetano Donizetti
's The Daughter of the Regiment (1867, 1882), and Charles Gounod
's Gallia (1879). He also conducted numerous choral concerts. In December 1870 he notably conducted a concert commemorating the centenary of Ludwig van Beethoven
's birth at St-Patrice Hall with a 100 voice choir and an orchestra of 30.
Philomène Rousseau with whom he had 15 children. She often performed as a soloist in his concert presentations, notably portraying Amina in performances of Vincenzo Bellini
's La sonnambula
under his baton. Their eldest son, François Boucher
, was a successful violinist, and their son Joseph-Arthur Boucher was a notable bassist, conductor, choirmaster, and bandmaster.
Having never retired, Boucher died in Outremont, Quebec in 1912. His eldest daughter Philomène took over the management of A.J. Boucher Co. after his death. She in turn was succeeded by her daughter Mme Joséphine Boucher-Ouimet, who led the company until her death in April 1975. A.J. Boucher Co. closed its doors in May 1975 after 113 years of business.
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
, import
Import
The term import is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country. The buyer of such goods and services is referred to an "importer" who is based in the country of import whereas the overseas based seller is referred to as an "exporter". Thus...
er, choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
master, organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
, conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
, writer on music, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and numismatist. In 1865 he founded the A.J. Boucher Co. in Montreal which published the works of Canadian and foreign composers until it closed in 1975. In 1862 he founded the Société de numismatique de Montréal, serving as the organization's first president. He composed several works for solo piano, of which his most well known are Coecilia, a mazurka caprice; Les Canotiers du St-Laurent, a 'quadrille canadien'; Jolly Dogs Galop; and Souvenir de Sabatier, a suite of waltzes. Most of his compositions were written and published before 1866.
Early life and education
Born in Maskinongé, QuebecMaskinongé, Quebec
Maskinongé is a municipality in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada.- References :...
, Boucher's parents died in 1845 when he was 10 years old. He spent the next six years living and studying at the St. Joseph's College and Mother Seton Shrine
St. Joseph's College and Mother Seton Shrine
St. Joseph's College and Mother Seton Shrine are two closely related campuses in Emmitsburg, Maryland.-St. Joseph's College:The campus is the original site of Saint Joseph’s Academy, a Catholic school for girls from 1809 until 1973. The St...
in Emmitsburg, Maryland
Emmitsburg, Maryland
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 2,290 people, 811 households, and 553 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,992.9 people per square mile . There were 862 housing units at an average density of 750.2 per square mile...
. He was particularly influenced by his music teacher at the school, Henry Dielman, who instructed him in the organ, piano, flute, violin, and singing. He then was a pupil at the Séminaire d'Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris where his foster father, Antoine LaRocque, enrolled him in September 1851. In March 1852 he became a novitiate in the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
in Amiens. He returned to Canada the following August where he continued to spend time with the Jesuits for the next six months.
Early career
Although interested in the religious life, Boucher eventually decided to abandon this career path in order to pursue other interests. After pursuing professional studies in law, he became an employee of the Montreal and Bytown Railway where he was eventually appointed the company's secretary-treasurer in 1854. From 1855-1858 he worked for the Commission seigneuriale as a registrar. He then worked for the Trust & Loan Co. as a broker from 1855-1859.During the 1850s, Boucher considered going into politics and also spent time studying genealogy, music, and numismatics; all of which remained lifelong interests. He taught part time at the Collège Sainte-Marie de Montréal and the school at the Villa-Maria Convent as in instructor in piano and voice. In 1853 he was appointed organist at St. Patrick's Basilica, Montreal where he remained until 1858 when he was appointed to the same position at Saint-Pierre Church. At Saint-Pierre he founded and directed a renowned choir school. In 1860 he founded the Société Ste-Cécile in 1860. That same year he became organist at Saint-Jacques Cathedral
Saint-Jacques Cathedral (Montreal)
Saint-Jacques Cathedral was the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Montreal from 1825 to 1852, named for St. James the Greater....
, later adding the role of choirmaster to his responsibilities there in 1865.
In 1862 Boucher founded the Société de numismatique de Montréal, serving as the organization's first president. He later sold his collection of more than 1700 coins in 1866. In 1863 he founded the short lived monthly magazine Les Beaux-Arts with a Mr Manseau and Gustave Smith. In 1866 he founded the monthly periodical Le Canada Musical which was first published from 1 September 1866-1 August 1867 and later from 1 May 1875-1 April 1881. He also founded the Orphéon canadien and the Société Mozart in Montreal.
Work in publishing and later career
In 1861 Boucher made his first forray into the music publishing business when he joined the staff of Laurent et Laforce (later Laurent, Laforce & Bourdeau), a newly established publishing and importing house in Montreal. At that time published French music was particularly difficult to obtain in Canada and Boucher joined the company in hopes of remedying this problem. In 1862 he and Manseau established their own publishing company, "Boucher et Manseau", after purchasing a controlling interest in Laurent et Laforce. The two companies shared premises through 1864.In 1865 Boucher disbanded Boucher et Manseau and founded his own publishing company under his own name, the "A.J. Boucher Co." Initially the company only sold sheet music, but expanded to include instruments in 1878. The instrument portion of the business was first run by René Hudon who later became the husband of his eldest daughter, Philomène. It was then taken over by Louis-Étienne-Napoléon Pratte in 1879. Pratte later married Boucher's daughter Cécile and became a highly successful piano manufacturer. The company established partnerships with several European and American publishers and published the works of Canadian and foreign composers until it closed in 1975. Among the Canadian composers Boucher published were Calixa Lavallée
Calixa Lavallée
Calixa Lavallée, , born Calixte Lavallée, was a French-Canadian-American musician and Union officer during the American Civil War who composed the music for O Canada, which officially became the national anthem of Canada in 1980.-Biography:Calixa Lavallée was born at Verchères, a suburb of...
, Alexis Contant
Alexis Contant
Joseph Pierre Alexis Contant was a Canadian composer, organist, pianist, and music educator. The first notable Canadian composer to be entirely trained in his native country, he stated "I write not for glory but rather to satisfy an irresistible need." Although he had considerable training as a...
, Ernest Gagnon
Ernest Gagnon
Ernest Gagnon was a Canadian folklorist, composer, and organist. He is best known for compiling a large amount of French Canadian folk music which he published as Chansons populaires du Canada in 1865-1867...
, Jean-Baptiste Labelle
Jean-Baptiste Labelle
Jean-Baptiste Labelle was a Canadian composer, organist, pianist, and conductor. He is best known for composing the music to the song Ô Canada! mon pays, mes amours with words by George-Étienne Cartier. He also used words by Cartier for the song Avant tout je suis Canadien...
, Eugène Lapierre
Eugène Lapierre
Eugène Lapierre was a Canadian organist, composer, journalist, writer on music, arts administrator, and music educator. He was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935 and the King George VI Coronation Medal in 1937...
, Roméo Larivière, Alfred Mignault
Alfred Mignault
Alfred Joseph Édouard Mignault was a Canadian organist, composer, and music educator. A largely self-taught composer, his compositional output includes both vocal and instrumental works such as songs, works for solo piano, choral works, and works for orchestra. Some his compositions were published...
, Albertine Morin-Labrecque
Albertine Morin-Labrecque
Albertine Morin-Labrecque was a Canadian pianist, soprano, composer, and music educator. Her compositional output includes 4 ballets, 2 comic operas, the Chinese Opera Pas-chu, 2 concertos for two pianos, the symphonic poem Le Matin, numerous symphonic works, and compositions for band...
, Joseph-Julien Perrault, and Charles Wugk Sabatier
Charles Wugk Sabatier
Charles-Désiré-Joseph Wugk Sabatier was a Canadian pianist, organist, composer, and music educator of French birth.-Early life and career in Europe:...
.
In May 1867 Boucher acquired the Gould & Hill publishing company which he continued to operate independently of the A.J. Boucher Co. for a number of years. With violinist and music critic Arthur Lavigne he opened a music store in Quebec City in 1868. That same year he left the post of organist/choirmaster at Saint-Jacques Cathedral to become choirmaster at the Gesù Church where he remained until 1888.
During the 1860s and 1870s, Boucher conducted several public concerts in Montreal, many of them with orchestra. He notably presented performances of Gioachino Rossini's Stabat Mater
Stabat Mater (Rossini)
Rossini composed his Stabat Mater late in his career after retiring from the composition of opera. He began the work in 1831 but did not complete it until 1841.-Composition:...
(1860, 1868), Sabatier's Cantata (1862), David's Le désert
Le désert
Le désert is an 'ode-symphonie' in three parts by the French composer Félicien David with words by Auguste Colin, written after the composer’s stay in Egypt and the Holy Land....
(1866), Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's La sonnambula
La sonnambula
La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
(1867), Michael William Balfe
Michael William Balfe
Michael William Balfe was an Irish composer, best-remembered for his opera The Bohemian Girl.After a short career as a violinist, Balfe pursued an operatic singing career, while he began to compose. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he composed 38 operas, almost 250 songs and other works...
's The Bohemian Girl
The Bohemian Girl
The Bohemian Girl is an opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Cervantes tale, La Gitanilla.The opera was first produced in London at the Drury Lane Theatre on November 27, 1843...
(1867), Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's The Daughter of the Regiment (1867, 1882), and Charles Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Gallia (1879). He also conducted numerous choral concerts. In December 1870 he notably conducted a concert commemorating the centenary of Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's birth at St-Patrice Hall with a 100 voice choir and an orchestra of 30.
Personal life
In 1854 Boucher married sopranoSoprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Philomène Rousseau with whom he had 15 children. She often performed as a soloist in his concert presentations, notably portraying Amina in performances of Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's La sonnambula
La sonnambula
La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
under his baton. Their eldest son, François Boucher
François Boucher (violinist)
François Boucher was a Canadian violinist and music educator. Born in Montreal, Boucher was the son of Canadian publisher and musician Adélard Joseph Boucher and the brother of conductor Joseph-Arthur Boucher. His initial violin studies were with Jules Hone and Frantz Jehin-Prume. In 1876 he went...
, was a successful violinist, and their son Joseph-Arthur Boucher was a notable bassist, conductor, choirmaster, and bandmaster.
Having never retired, Boucher died in Outremont, Quebec in 1912. His eldest daughter Philomène took over the management of A.J. Boucher Co. after his death. She in turn was succeeded by her daughter Mme Joséphine Boucher-Ouimet, who led the company until her death in April 1975. A.J. Boucher Co. closed its doors in May 1975 after 113 years of business.