Calixa Lavallée

Musician

• Born: December 28, 1842
• Birthplace: Verchères, Quebec
• Died: January 21, 1891
• Place of death: Boston, Massachusetts

Contribution: Calixa Lavallée was a pianist, conductor, music instructor, and composer. A Canadian native, he moved to the United States in 1857; however, he is best known for writing “O Canada!,” which would eventually become the country’s official national anthem.

Early Life and Education

The oldest child in a family of musicians, Callixte Paquet dit Lavallée was born to Augustin Lavallée and Charlotte-Caroline Valentine on December 28, 1842, in Verchères, Quebec. His father, Augustin, was a woodcutter and blacksmith who later became a local bandleader and music teacher as well as an instrument maker and repairman. Lavallée’s brother Charles was a conductor and trombonist, his brother Joseph was a trombonist, and his sister Cordelia was a pianist and singer.

Lavallée expressed an interest in music at a young age. He particularly enjoyed studying the violin, piano, organ, and cornet. By age eleven, he was the organist at a local cathedral, and he gave his first piano recital when he was thirteen. In 1855, Lavallée studied piano in Montreal.

Musical Career

While in Montreal, Lavallée met Léon Derome, a wealthy butcher who later funded a number of Lavallée’s endeavors. In 1857, Lavallée moved to the United States and won first prize in an instrumental competition in New Orleans, Louisiana, that same year. This led to a tour of the continent as an accompanist for violinist Jacques Oliveira.

In 1859, Lavallée worked as the musical director for a traveling minstrel show. He lived in Baltimore, Maryland in 1860 and in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1861. At the outset of his career, Lavallée had to put his music on hold when he joined the Union Army in 1861 to fight in the American Civil War. He received his discharge papers in 1862, and, a year later, returned to the town of his birth, where he resumed his position as a minstrel show music director.

While in Montreal in 1864, Lavallée gave a piano, violin, and cornet concert. He stayed in Canada for only a short time, returning to the United States in 1865 until 1870. During this period, he taught, married, became a US citizen, and settled in New York, where he worked as the music director of the Grand Opera House. A tragedy in 1872 halted the performance of Lavallée’s comedic opera, Loulou, after the owner of the Grand Opera House was murdered.

After the incident, Lavallée returned to Montreal and set up a music studio with fellow musicians Frantz Jehin-Prume and Rosita del Vecchio. The funds from the studio, along with some monetary assistance from Derome, allowed Lavallée to travel to Paris and study piano, harmony, and composition from 1873 to 1875. During this time, several of Lavallée’s works were published, including Le Papillon, a much anthologized piano study.

Lavallée returned to Montreal in 1875, where he taught, performed, directed, and organized performances. In September of the same year, he became choirmaster of Saint James Church, a position he held until 1879. During his time as choirmaster, Lavallée hoped to convince the Quebec government to provide funds that would allow him to open a music conservatory, but he was unsuccessful in this endeavor.

In 1880, Lavallée composed the music for “O Canada!”, while Judge Adolphe-Basile Routhier wrote the song’s lyrics. The song was performed during the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day celebrations on June 24, 1880, in Quebec City. “O Canada!” would become hugely popular; it was first sung in English in 1901.

Later that same year, Lavallée returned to the United States and settled in Boston, Massachusetts, where he continued to teach and publish compositions. It was during this time that Lavallée also began to notice the first signs of tubercular laryngitis, the disease that would eventually claim his life.

While still in Boston, Lavallée opened a music studio in 1882, and two years later, he organized a concert for US composers. For the remainder of the decade, Lavallée taught and composed. In 1890, as a prominent member of the Music Teachers National Association, he organized the yearly convention held in Detroit, Michigan. Later that year, his illness caused him to remain bedridden.

Personal Life

Only a few months later, on January 21, 1891, forty-eight-year-old Calixa Lavallée died of tubercular laryngitis. He was buried in Mount Benedict Cemetery in Boston, but his remains were moved to Montreal in 1933. Although Lavallée composed a number of pieces during his lifetime, it is difficult to put a number on his compositions, since many were lost, destroyed, or never finished. “O Canada!” became the official national anthem of Canada on July 1, 1980.

Principal Works

Loulou, 1872

“O Canada!” 1880

Le Papillon, 1884

Bibliography

Charles, Charles E. “The Band Music of Quebec (I): Calixa Lavallée and Joseph Vézina.” Canadian Winds/Vents Canadiens 6.1 (2007): 17–23. Print.

“Introducing . . . Calixa Lavallée.” Composer Showcase. Canadian Music Centre, n.d. Web. 31 July 2013.

Kuitenbrouwer, Peter. “June 24, 1880: A National Anthem is Born.” Beaver 85.3 (2005): 9. Print.

Potvin, Gilles. “Lavallée, Calixa.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 12. University of Toronto, 1990. Web. 31 July 2013.

Potvin, Gilles, and Susan Spier. “Lavallée, Calixa.” Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica-Dominion, 2012. Web. 31 July 2013.