Claude Thompson

Career Highlights

Claude Thompson first studied music with his father, Joseph-Antonio Thompson. He was ordained as a priest in 1951, then taught theology and sacred music at the Grand séminaire de Trois-Rivières. In Europe he studied organ with Ferrucio Vignanelli, and Gregorian chant and composition at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome (1953–56). He also worked under the direction of Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory of Fontainebleau (summers 1955, 1956).

Upon his return to Quebec, Thompson resumed his duties at the Grand séminaire de Trois-Rivières (1956–61) and taught (1962–66) at the Petit séminaire St-Joseph where he had become choirmaster in 1957. In 1956, he became the director of the Petits chanteurs trifluviens (now Petits chanteurs de Trois-Rivières) with whom he made recordings.

A second stay in Rome (1961–62) allowed him to pursue organ studies and to complete the course requirements for his doctoral studies. In 1966, he founded the École des Petits chanteurs which he continued to direct in 1990. Having taught music history (1973–79) at the Conservatoire de Trois-Rivières and at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (1973–86), he began teaching at the Cégep de Drummondville in 1988 (see Music at CEGEPs). He became choirmaster at the Trois-Rivières Cathedral in 1963 and founding president of the Fédération québécoise des Pueri Cantores in 1983.

Thompson composed some 50 choral works (masses and motets) and two important works for choir and orchestra: “Cantate pour un anniversaire – Psaume 23” for the centennial of the St-Joseph Seminary (1960) and the cantata “D'âge en âge ô Seigneur tu as été notre refuge” for the 350th anniversary of the city of Trois-Rivières (1984). He has also harmonized several folksongs from Quebec and elsewhere. In 1986, the organist Suzanne Bellemare premiered on the CBC his “Scherzo en mode éolien”, which is dedicated to her.

Class Action Lawsuit Against the Diocese of Trois-Rivières

In 2022, the Diocese of Trois-Rivières faced a class action lawsuit composed of around 60 alleged victims (among them radio host Dominic Maurais, the plaintiffs’ spokesperson) of sexual abuse from members of the clergy or any staff under their authority since 1940.

Claude Thompson, who died in 2013, was faced with charges of touching and masturbating in front of one of the victims who was 11 years old at the time. The incidents are said to have taken place between 1981 and 1983. (See: Sexual Assault; Sexual Abuse of Children.)

Honours

Claude Thompson received the gold medal from the sovereign pontiff in 1970 and was made an honorary citizen of the city of Carcassonne, France, in 1987. He won the Arlequin trophy for his conducting in 1981, the Ordre de la Vérendrye for the flourishing Petits chanteurs choir school in 1988, and the Prix du patrimoine Benjamin-Sulte for his artistic influence in 1990, all awarded by the city of Trois-Rivières. In 1995 he was made Chevalier of the National Order of Quebec.

(See also Marcel Thompson.)