Ernest Lavigne

Tchaikovsky Research
Ernest Lavigne (1851-1909)

Canadian bandmaster, cornettist, composer and publisher (b. 17 December 1851 [N.S.] in Montreal; d. 18 January 1909 [N.S.] in Montreal).

After successful tours of western Europe and the United States in the 1870s, Lavigne became the leader of Montreal's Bande de la Cité, and in 1881 he went into partnership with the music publisher Louis-Joseph Lajoie as Lavigne & Lajoie. In 1889, Lavigne encouraged the firm to acquire a large piece of land on the St. Lawrence River, and there he set up an amusement park known as Sohmer Park, in which he also sought to establish a music conservatory. It was in this connection that he wrote to invite Tchaikovsky to become an honorary member of the Comité de Patronage du Conservatoire de Montréal au Canada — a proposal which Tchaikovsky was glad to accept [1], although he played no active role in the project (which ultimately failed in its objective) [2].

Correspondence

One letter has survived from Tchaikovsky to Ernest Lavigne, and has been partly translated into English on this website:

External Links

Notes and References

  1. See Letter 4358a to Ernest Lavigne, 26 March/7 April 1891.
  2. See also Čajkovskijana aus alten Auktionskatalogen (2015), p. 115-117.