Gustave Adolphe Mathurin Gagnon (6 November 1842 - 19 November 1930) was a Canadian 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...

, 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 music educator.

Family background and education

Born in Rivière-du-Loup, Gagnon was from a prominent family of musicians in Québec City. He is the younger brother of composer 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...

 and the father of composer Henri Gagnon

Henri Gagnon

Henri Gagnon was a Canadian composer, organist, and music educator. He spent 51 years playing the organ at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré where, according to music historian François Brassard, he earned "a prestige similar to that of the famous organists of Europe"...

. His sister Élisabeth was married to pianist Paul Letondal with whom he studied the piano in Montreal from 1960-1964. In 1870 he studied in Paris with Charles-Alexis Chauvet (organ), Antoine François Marmontel

Antoine François Marmontel

Antoine François Marmontel was a French pianist, teacher and musicographer.Marmontel entered the Paris Conservatory in 1827. His teachers were Pierre Zimmerman in pianoforte, Victor Dourlen in harmony, Jacques Fromental Halévy in fugue and Jean-François Le Sueur in composition...

 (piano), and Marie-Auguste Durand (harmony), and under Félix-Etienne Ledent (piano) and Jean-Théodore Radoux

Jean-Théodore Radoux

Jean Théodore Radoux was a Belgian composer and bassoonist. In 1859 he won the Belgian Prix de Rome for his cantata Le Juif errant which he had composed earlier that year...

 (harmony) in Liège. He pursued further studies in Dresden and Leipzig during the summers of 1871 and 1872 with Benjamin Robert Papperitz (organ) and Louis Plaidy

Louis Plaidy

Louis Plaidy was a celebrated German piano pedagogue and compiler of books of technical music studies....

 (piano).

Career

From 1864-1876, Gagnon was the organist of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church in Quebec City

Quebec City

Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

, having succeeded his brother in that position. He once again replaced his brother in 1876, taking over the role of organist at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

The Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré is a basilica set along the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, east of Quebec City. It has been credited by the Roman Catholic Church with many miracles of curing the sick and disabled. It is an important Catholic sanctuary which receives about a...

 where he remained through 1915. He was a founding member of the choral society Union musicale de Québec (1866) and of the Académie de musique du Québec (1868), a non-profit musical association and educational institution. He notably served several terms as president of the latter institution between 1878 and 1902.

From 1877-1917 Gagnon taught at both the École normale Laval and the Petit Séminaire de Québec

Petit Séminaire de Québec

Le Petit Séminaire de Québec is a private French-language Roman Catholic secondary school in the Vieux-Québec area of Quebec City which was originally part of the Séminaire de Québec...

 in addition to maintaining a private studio. He also played a role in establishing the Dominion College of Music in 1894. He became the first director of the music conservatory at Université Laval

Université Laval

Laval University is the oldest centre of education in Canada and was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French...

 in 1922, and taught at that school until his death in Quebec City in 1930. His pupils included Joseph-Arthur Bernier

Joseph-Arthur Bernier

Joseph-Arthur Bernier was a Canadian organist, pianist, composer, and music educator. Born in Lévis, Quebec, he was the senior member of a prominent family of musicians from Quebec City...

, Joseph-Daniel Dussault, Léo-Pol Morin

Léo-Pol Morin

Léo-Pol Morin was a Canadian pianist, music critic, composer, and music educator. He composed under the name James Callihou, with his most well known works being Suite canadienne and Three Eskimos for piano. He also composed works based on Canadian and Inuit folklore/folk music and harmonized a...

, and his son Henri.