J. & O. Crémazie

J. & O. Crémazie

J. & O. Crémazie. Quebec City booksellers and music publishers. The partnership between the brothers Joseph (1812-80) and Octave (1827-79) began in 1844 and lasted until 1862. Octave, whose spiralling debts drove him first to extravagant borrowing and then to fraud, was forced to flee the country and live in France under an assumed name (Jules Fontaine). Until its dissolution the Crémazie shop on Fabrique St had been a meeting place for literati. The firm's musical interests were concentrated in a very small amount of sheet music bearing its imprint, notably three settings of poems by Octave: 'Le Drapeau de Carillon' and 'L'Alouette' by Sabatier, and 'Chant du vieux soldat' by Dessane (the three songs are reprinted in CMH vol 7). The firm also issued Chants canadiens (1856?), one of the earliest Canadian collections of songs. Among the seven songs it contained were 'En roulant ma boule,' 'Ah! Qui me passera le bois,' 'A la claire fontaine', and 'J'ai cueilli la belle rose'. None of the music so far discovered actually was printed by the publishers. Three of the pieces were produced in Paris and two others probably were printed locally by a job-printer. A manuscript copy of a hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary by Octave Crémazie (composed 22 Jul 1862) is held at the ANQ in Montral.