Calixa lavallee biography examples

LAVALLÉE, CALIXA (baptized Callixte), pianist, composer, and music teacher; b. 28 Dec. 1842 in Verchères, Lower Canada, son of Augustin Lavallée* and Charlotte-Caroline Valentine; d. 21 Jan. 1891 in Boston.

Calixa Lavallée, whose ancestors came from Poitou in France and from Scotland, showed musical talent at an early age.

His father, a blacksmith who was also a maker of stringed instruments, a voicer of organs, and a bandmaster, provided his basic musical training and taught him to play the piano, organ, cornet, and violin.

Calixa lavallee biography examples

Around 1850 the family settled in Saint-Hyacinthe, where Augustin Lavallée worked as a voicer with organmaker Joseph Casavant*. Young Calixa was enrolled in 1852 in the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe. In the spring of 1855 a wealthy Montreal butcher, Léon Derome, took him under his wing, inviting him to stay in his home.

Piano lessons with Paul Letondal and Charles Sabatier [Wugk*], both of whom had come from France several years