Charles-Désiré-Joseph Wugk Sabatier (1 December 1819 – 22 August 1862) was a Canadian

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, and

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

of French birth.

Early life and career in Europe

Born Charles Wugk in

Tourcoing Tourcoing (; ; ; ) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a commune within the department of Nord. Located to the north-northeast of Lille, adjacent to Roubaix, Tourcoing is the chef-lieu of two ca ...

, Sabatier was the son of an immigrant from

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. He enrolled at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

under his birth name in 1838, studying there through 1840. He adopted the last name of Sabatier some time during his early career. An article in the ''

Toronto Globe ''The Globe'' was a Canadian newspaper in Toronto, Ontario, founded in 1844 by George Brown as a Reform voice. It merged with ''The Mail and Empire'' in 1936 to form ''The Globe and Mail''. History ''The Globe'' is pre-dated by a title of the s ...

'' published on 25 September 1856 claimed that Sabatier was pianist to the

Duchess of Montpensier Countess of Montpensier House of Valois, 1362?–1434 House of Bourbon-Montpensier, 1434–1523 Duchess of Montpensier House of Bourbon-Vendôme, 1561–1627 House of Bourbon-Orléans House of Bourbon-Orléans (in pretence) ...

and that he had conducted opera in Brussels. The former account is most likely accurate but music historians largely reject the latter claim.

Life and career in Canada

Sabatier most likely arrived in Canada in 1848, although an exact year is not definitely substantiated. He first resided in the city of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and then lived in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

from 1854 to 1856. During these years he worked as a music teacher, church organist, and concert pianist for both public and private performances. He played concerts of his own work as a guest artist at St Lawrence Hall in Toronto in 1856. His composition ''Le Drapeau de Carillon'' was published in the Journal de Québec for St Jean-Baptiste Day in 1858. He lived in a variety of cities over the next several years, first in St-Jean-Chrysostome-de-Lévis and then in St-Gervais and Chambly. In the latter city he was employed at a convent as an instructor in music. Sabatier ultimately settled in Montreal where he remained for the rest of his life. In that city he worked as a private music teacher and counted pianist Dominique Ducharme, organist Ernest Gagnon, and composer

Calixa Lavallée Calixa Lavallée (; December 28, 1842 – January 21, 1891) was a Canadians, Canadian musician and Union Army band musician during the American Civil War. He was born in the Province of Canada. He is best known for composing the music for "O Can ...

among his students. He founded the short-lived journal ''L'Artiste'' with Paul Stevens and Édouard Sempé in May 1860. On 24 August 1860 his ''Cantata'' (with words by Sempé) was premiered under his direction on the occasion of the visit of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

. For the performance he conducted the 250 voice Montreal Musical Union Choir and a full orchestra. The soloists for the cantata included

Adelina Patti Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was a Spanish-Italian opera singer. At the height of her career, she was earning huge fees performing in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, a ...

and

Emma Albani Dame Emma Albani, DBE (born Marie-Louise-Emma-Cécile Lajeunesse; 1 November 18473 April 1930) was a Canadian-British operatic coloratura soprano, later spinto soprano and dramatic soprano of the 19th and early 20th century, the first Canadian ...

. Sabatier died in Montreal in 1862 at the age of 42.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabatier, Charles 1819 births 1862 deaths People from Tourcoing Canadian classical composers Canadian male classical composers Canadian classical organists Canadian male classical organists Canadian classical pianists Canadian male classical pianists Canadian music educators Conservatoire de Paris alumni 19th-century classical composers French emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec 19th-century classical pianists Immigrants to Lower Canada 19th-century Canadian male musicians French people of German descent Canadian people of German descent 19th-century organists