Joseph Bonnet

Bonnet, Joseph

Joseph (Élie Georges Marie) Bonnet. Organist, teacher, composer, b Bordeaux 17 Mar 1884, d Ste-Luce, near Rimouski, Que, 2 Aug 1944; premier prix (Paris Cons) 1906. He studied organ with Guilmant, Tournemire, and Vierne and was organist at St-Eustache Church in Paris from 1905 until the beginning of World War II. He toured Europe often and visited North America for the first time in 1916. He taught for several years at the ESM, Rochester. In 1920 he inaugurated the organ of St-Stanislas Church in Montreal during a Canadian tour. When the CMM opened in 1943, he was appointed to its teaching staff. Conrad Bernier, Henri Gagnon, Magdeleine and Marcelle Martin, and D'Alton McLaughlin were among his Canadian pupils. He edited numerous classical works for Durand, Sénart, G. Schirmer, and Fischer. He is buried in the cemetery of the Benedictine Abbey in St-Benoit-du-Lac, Quebec. His Année liturgique au grand orgue was published by Fides (Montreal 1948). Some of his organ works were recorded by André Laberge and Richard Gagné on the cassette Tribute to Joseph Bonnet (1984, St-Benoît-du-Lac SBL-5-01184).