Edmond McMahon

McMahon, Edmond

Edmond McMahon. Choirmaster, singer, lawyer, coroner, b Ste-Rose (later Laval), near Montreal, 18 Oct 1852, d Westmount, Montreal, 2 Feb 1942. He was called to the bar in Montreal in 1881, becoming coroner in 1892 and justice of the peace in 1894 of the City of Westmount. He was choirmaster at St-Joseph Church, 1888-93 at the Montreal Cathedral, and 1897-1906 at Notre-Dame Church. He was chief editor of the Album littéraire et musical de La Minerve and wrote articles for L'Art musical (1896-9). His Méthode élémentaire de plainchant romain (Montreal 1880) was praised by Ernest Gagnon: 'On every page of your book it is evident that you possess the necessary learning to give your work far larger dimensions, but that you decided quite intentionally to stay within your own prescribed framework. You did the right thing in limiting yourself to an elementary treatise: it is essential to popularize the study and practice of plainsong, and this aim will not be achieved by lengthy studies' (letter to the author, dated 25 Aug 1880 and published in Le Canada musical, 1 Apr 1881).