J.-G. Yon

Yon, J.-G.

Yon, J.-G. (Joseph-Georges). Publisher, music dealer, b Montreal 25 Jan 1857, d there 11 May 1945. In 1885 in Montreal he founded the publishing house and music- and instrument-importing firm bearing his name, and managed it until 1921, when his son-in-law, Louis-Joseph Doucet (1874-1950), became the owner. In 1906 Doucet, a poet and writer, had married Yon's daughter Yvonne, a pupil of Alexis Contant.

As a publisher, Yon was active chiefly in the 1890s and 1900s. He published the collection Chants des patriotes (1893, 1903, a collection of songs by Canadian and French composers) which eventually sold 8000 copies. He also published the popular song folios L'Écrin musical (1899), L'Écrin du chanteur (1901), L'Écrin lyrique (1901), La Gerbe mélodique (ca 1901), and La Rigolade (1902), all containing compositions, patriotic and other, by Canadians. He published separately works by Contant, Charles Tanguy, and Georges Milo. In 1926 the firm opened a phonograph and record department. After the owner's death in 1950, the business was unable to find a purchaser and liquidated its stock before closing its doors in 1952.