Wellie Ringuette

Ringuette, Wellie

Wellie or Willy Ringuette. Violoneux, composer, b Franklin, NH, 6 Feb 1898, d Trois-Rivières, Que, 10 Sep 1969. At eight he began playing a violin made by his father. After the family moved to the Trois-Rivières area in 1915 Ringuette worked as a lumberjack but continued to play, his popularity growing with his appearances at dances and fiddling contests throughout the province and, after 1927, with his recordings for Starr and Columbia (the latter made in New York). The extent of his discography is not clear; Pionniers du disque folklorique québécois lists 12 78s made in the late 1920s, but Phil Hresko, in his liner notes to Jean Carignan (Philo FO-2001), suggests there may be about 100. Considered by Carignan, who perpetuated the Ringuette repertoire, to be with Joseph Allard the finest violoneux of the day, Ringuette was known especially for his interpretation of waltzes. He composed such classics of French-Canadian fiddling as Valse joyeuse, Les Pionniers (Marche Lancier), Yvon Valse, and Ronfleuse Gobeil.