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Legendre, Napoléon
Napoléon Legendre. Writer, lawyer, civil servant, b Nicolet, Canada East (Quebec) 13? Feb 1841, d Quebec City 16 Dec 1907; D LITT (Laval) 1888. He was educated at Ste-Marie College in Montreal and in 1865 was called to the bar of Lower Canada. In 1876 he became clerk of the Legislative Council of Quebec and six years later he became a founding member of the Royal Society of Canada.
Legendre published a biography, Albani - Emma Lajeunesse, in Quebec City in 1874, when the singer was beginning her career. He also published a novel and numerous essays, and contributed to several magazines, including Le Canada artistique (1890), for which he wrote the articles 'Le piano' and 'Le chant dans les écoles'.
Legendre was the author of two poems, 'Violette' and 'Nuit d'été,' which were set to music by Calixa Lavallée. He also wrote the words to Lavallée's Cantata (1879), a work presented in Quebec City to mark the visit of the governor general, the Marquess of Lorne, and Princess Louise.
A street in Montreal was named after Legendre in 1912.
