Pierre-Joseph Amédée Tremblay (14 April 1876 - 1949) was a Canadian organist

Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...

, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, and music educator. A largely self-taught composer, his output includes several motet

Motet

In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...

s, two mass

Mass (music)

The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...

es, a few patriotic songs, works for solo organ, and the operetta

Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...

 L'Intransigeant (produced in Ottawa in 1906). His organ piece Suite de quatre pièces pour grand orgue is his most well known composition. Dedicated to Joseph Bonnet

Joseph Bonnet

Joseph Bonnet was a French composer and organist.One of the major French pipe organ players, Joseph Bonnet was born in Bordeaux. He first studied with his father, an organist at St. Eulalie. At the age of 14, he became official organist, first at St. Nicholas and almost immediately at St. Michael...

, it is noted for its "brilliant toccata" at the finale. His works have been published by Orme, Le Passe-Temps, and Archambault Musique. Composers Guillaume Couture

Guillaume Couture

Guillaume Cousture was a citizen of New France. During his life he was a lay missonary with the Jesuits, a survivor of torture, a member of an Iroquois council, a translator, a diplomat, a militia captain, and a lay leader among the colonists of the Pointe-Lévy in the Seigneury of Lauzon...

 and Vincent d'Indy

Vincent d'Indy

Vincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...

 were admirers of Tremblay's music.

Life and career

Born in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Tremblay, along with Alexis Contant

Alexis Contant

Joseph Pierre Alexis Contant was a Canadian composer, organist, pianist, and music educator. The first notable Canadian composer to be entirely trained in his native country, he stated "I write not for glory but rather to satisfy an irresistible need." Although he had considerable training as a...

, was one of the first major Canadian composers to be trained exclusively in his native country. At the age of 12 he began studying music with Father Sauvé, the organist at Saint Joseph's Church in Montreal. He later studied with Alcibiade Béique (piano and organ), Father Cléophas Borduas (Gregorian chant), and Romain-Octave Pelletier I

Romain-Octave Pelletier I

Romain-Octave Pelletier I was a Canadian organist, pianist, composer, writer on music, and music educator.-Early life and career:...

 (organ and fugue).

Tremblay became the organist at Saint Joseph's Church in 1892 after having turned down a similar position at the Dominican Church in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec

Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec

Saint-Hyacinthe is a city in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 55,823. The city is located in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality of the Montérégie region, and is traversed by the Yamaska River which flows...

. He remained in that post until 1894 when he became the organist at the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, Ottawa. He was the organist at that church for the next 26 years during which time he also worked as a prominent organist, composer, and teacher in Ottawa. His pupils in that city included Joseph Beaulieu

Joseph Beaulieu

Joseph Beaulieu was a Canadian composer, folklorist, and music educator. He traveled extensively throughout Canada collecting folk songs, which he compiled in several published books. As a composer, his works reflect his strong interest in folk music in there structure and melody. He wrote over...

, Wilfrid Charette, Oscar O'Brien

Oscar O'Brien

Oscar O'Brien was a Canadian folklorist, composer, pianist, organist, music educator, and Roman Catholic priest...

, and his own son, the composer George Tremblay

George Tremblay

George Amédée Tremblay was a Canadian composer who was active in the United States. Although his works display a broad range of stylistic influences, he is particularly associated with the twelve-tone technique...

.

In 1920 Tremblay moved to Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 to assume the post of organist at the Cathedral of the Madeleine

Cathedral of the Madeleine

The Cathedral of the Madeleine is a Roman Catholic church in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was completed in 1909, and currently serves as the cathedral, or mother church, of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. It is the only cathedral in the U.S. under the patronage of St. Mary Magdalene.The...

. He left there in 1925 to become the organist at St. Vincent de Paul Church

St. Vincent de Paul Church (Los Angeles, California)

St. Vincent de Paul Church is a Roman Catholic parish and Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in the West Adams section of Los Angeles, California. The church was built in the 1920s and designed by architect Albert C. Martin, Sr...

 in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. He remained at that church until his death in Los Angeles in 1949.