Émery Lavigne

Lavigne, Émery

Lavigne, (Tessier dit Lavigne), (Horace) Émery. Pianist, organist, teacher, b Montreal 27 Jan 1859, d there 2 Jul 1902. The brother of Arthur and Ernest Lavigne, he studied with Romain-Octave Pelletier. After a sojourn in Paris in 1877 he served for five years as organist at St John's Church in Oswego, NY. Returning to Montreal, he demonstrated pianos for Lavigne & Lajoie and taught. He was organist 1887-1902 at the Church of the Messiah.

Lavigne was acknowledged as an exceptional sight-reader and participated in the concerts of the Montreal Philharmonic Society, the Mendelssohn Choir of Montreal, and Couture's MSO, with which he played Saint-Säens' Rhapsodie d'Auvergne in 1894. He was the accompanist for numerous touring musicians: the violinists Camilla Urso, Sam Franko, and Ovide Musin, the cellists Anton Hekking, Jean Gérardy, and Joseph Hollman, the baritone Sir Charles Santley, and others.

With J.-J. Goulet and J.-B. Dubois, Lavigne founded the Haydn Trio (1896-8). His gavotte for piano, Les Ondes, was included in the collection L'Écrin musical (1887). He served 1892-3 and 1900-1 as president of the AMQ and held the distinction of the Palmes académiques, conferred by the French government. A collection of his papers is held at the NL of C.