Louis-Édouard Desjardins | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Louis-Édouard Desjardins

Louis-Édouard (pseudonym 'Bon vieux temps') Desjardins. Physician, folklorist, bass, choirmaster, teacher, composer, b Terrebonne, near Montreal, 10 Sep 1837, d Montreal 2 Mar 1919; MD (Victoria College, Cobourg, Ont) 1872.

Desjardins, Louis-Édouard

Louis-Édouard (pseudonym 'Bon vieux temps') Desjardins. Physician, folklorist, bass, choirmaster, teacher, composer, b Terrebonne, near Montreal, 10 Sep 1837, d Montreal 2 Mar 1919; MD (Victoria College, Cobourg, Ont) 1872. He took his academic studies at the Collège Masson in Terrebonne and at the Nicolet Seminary, where he taught singing and instrumental music. He settled in Montreal in 1865 and became choirmaster at the cathedral, which was then in temporary premises. He pursued medical studies in Europe in 1870 and 1872, became a surgeon at the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Montreal, and taught 1872-1908 at that hospital's school of medicine and surgery. In 1873 he founded the Ophthalmic Institute of the Asile Nazareth. For several years he held musical evenings at his home and in 1895 he staged and conducted Ferdinand Poise's comic opera L'Amour médecin. His four-voice folksong harmonizations, Chansons populaires du Canada, were published under the pseudonym 'Bon vieux temps' by Tremblay & Dion and were performed in 1912 at the French Language Congress in Quebec City. His Messe de minuit, based on Christmas airs, was published by the Compagnie d'Imprimerie moderne (Montreal 1902). He also composed some Motets (Montreal ca 1917) under the pseudonym 'Ancien maître de chapelle' and other choral works.

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