Louis Bouhier

Bouhier, Louis

(Joseph Marie Emmanuel) Louis Bouhier. Teacher, choirmaster, b La Marne, France, 8 Nov 1867, d Magog, near Sherbrooke, Que, 22 Jun 1949. Ordained a priest 219 Jun 1893, he joined the Sulpicians. He studied in Nantes, in Paris, and at the Benedictine monastery in Solesmes. He arrived in Canada in 1896, and his appointments as music teacher at the Collège de Montréal in that year and at the Notre-Dame choir school in 1906 shaped his career and made him one of the best-informed pioneers in the use of Gregorian chant in Montreal. He was rector 1929-39 at Notre-Dame Church, and his effectiveness lay in his self-effacing, artistic commitment.

Bouhier's publications include Quatre-vingts Motets en chant grégorien et en musique moderne pour les saluts du Saint-Sacrement (Montreal 1907) and 300 Cantiques anciens et nouveaux (Montreal 1907, 1916, 1931; over 100,000 copies were printed). It was Bouhier who initiated the Théodore Botrel concerts in Montreal, presented in collaboration with L.-H. Bourdon; he also arranged for the distribution of the best works of this 'Bard of Pont-Aven,' collected in the volume Chansons de Botrel pour l'école et le foyer (Montreal 1903). The collection was immensely successful and enriched the repertoire of popular ballads in French Canada. Bouhier was named Chevalier de la légion d'honneur, Officier d'Académie, and Officier de l'Instruction publique de France.