Introduction

Biography

Calixa was the son of Au­gus­tin La­val­lée and Char­lotte-Ca­rol­ine Val­en­tine.

Calixa’s fa­ther was origin­al­ly a wood cut­ter and black­smith, but even­tu­al­ly be­gan rep­air­ing mu­sic­al in­stru­ments and teach­ing mu­sic in his lo­cal com­mu­ni­ty. After mov­ing to St. Hy­a­cinthe, his fa­ther worked for or­gan build­er Jo­seph Ca­sa­vant.

Calixa was play­ing the or­gan by age 11, and at age 13 gave a pi­ano re­cit­al in the Thé­âtre Roy­al in Mont­ré­al.

In 1857, La­val­lée moved to Am­er­ica and lived in Rhode Is­land. He toured the world as a mus­i­cian and ac­com­pan­ist to Span­ish vio­lin­ist Ol­i­ve­ra, in­clud­ing vis­its to Bra­zil and Me­xi­co.

After re­turn­ing to Am­er­ica, he en­list­ed in the 4th Rhode Is­land Vol­un­teers as a cor­net play­er dur­ing the Am­er­ican ci­vil war. He reached the rank of lieu­ten­ant, and was woun­ded in bat­tle.

During and af­ter the war, he tra­veled be­tween Ca­na­da and the Unit­ed States, build­ing his ca­reer in mu­sic. In the 1860s, La­val­lée lived brief­ly in Mont­ré­al, Chi­ca­go, Phi­la­del­phia, and New York Ci­ty, but spent most of his time tra­vel­ing with min­strel shows.

He was al­so a pi­an­ist, or­gan­ist and mu­sic teach­er. In 1887, he be­came pre­si­dent of the Mu­sic Teach­ers’ Na­tion­al As­so­cia­tion.

During the lat­er years of his life, he was choir mas­ter at the Ca­thed­ral of the Ho­ly Cross in Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

Works

Lavallée wrote op­er­et­tas, a sym­pho­ny, and var­ious oc­casion­al piec­es and songs. The Con­grès Na­tion­al des Ca­na­diens-Fran­çais com­miss­ioned La­val­lée to com­pose O Ca­na­da for St. Jean-Bap­tiste Day in 1880.