Jean Girard (8 August 1696 – 23 February 1765) was a French

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 ...

, serpent player, and schoolmaster who was primarily active in Canada. He was one of the first professional musicians living and working in the city of Montreal. Born in

Bourges Bourges ( ; ; ''Borges'' in Berrichon) is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre (Cher), Yèvre. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Cher (department), Cher, and also was the capital city of the former provin ...

, Girard initially intended to become a priest and entered the seminary of the

Society of Saint-Sulpice The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (; PSS), also known as the Sulpicians, is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where it was founded. The members of the Society add the ...

in his native city in 1720. However, he was never ordained and instead began his career as a singing master at the seminary at the

Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris The Church of Saint-Sulpice () is a Catholic church in Paris, France, on the east side of Place Saint-Sulpice, in the 6th arrondissement. Only slightly smaller than Notre-Dame and Saint-Eustache, it is the third largest church in the city. ...

in 1724. The following July he sailed across the Atlantic to Canada where he remained for the rest of his life. From 1724 until his death in 1765 he served as the organist of the Notre-Dame Church in

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 ...

. He also was active as a teacher. He is mainly known for the voluminous book of French organ music he collected and brought with him from Paris; an anonymous collection known as the ''

Livre d'orgue de Montréal Livre may refer to: Currency * French livre, one of a number of obsolete units of currency of France * Livre tournois, one particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Livre parisis, another particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Fre ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Girard, Jean 1696 births 1765 deaths Canadian organists Canadian male organists