Two Key Figures

Something in the air or landscape of the Grondines shoreline nurtured the finesse of two key cultural figures of the early 20th century. Grondines was the birthplace of Rodolphe Mathieu, one of the most promising Quebec composers of the early 20th century, and Sir Lomer Gouin, Premier of Quebec and father of government support for music.

Rodolphe Mathieu, 1890 – 1962

Caricature of Rodolphe Mathieu by Robert LaPalme (1934).

At the end of the 19th century, the province of Quebec experienced an unprecedented wave of French-Canadian emigration to New England, particularly to Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1892, Octave Mathieu (1849–1925), a navigator and farmer who lived on the 2nd Line in Grondines, left Grondines by train along with his wife Olivina with the hopes of finding employment in large American textile factories, which at the time were already hiring thousands of French Canadians. The Mathieu family stayed there for two years, earning enough money to return with full suitcases and a 12-foot table grand piano, no less!

Rodolphe Mathieu and his son André at the piano, circa 1935.

This piano turned out to be a defining instrument for one of the family’s children, four-year-old Rodolphe. He learned music with his older sister Florida and his father, a renowned fiddler. In 1906, aged 16, the young musician moved to Montreal where he furthered his musical knowledge through self-tutoring and private instruction. In 1920, the young man, who already had all the potential of a great composer, left to perfect his skills in Paris. In 1923, he became the first composer to be awarded a European Scholarship [1].

The Grondines countryside had a major influence of Mathieu’s creative work. For him, the rich heritage of the landscape was essential to the emergence of music “that sets us apart.” Referred to as “the most cultivated and the most original of our composers” in 1920 by composer and organist Henri Gagnon, Mathieu put his music career on hold to focus on his son, the piano prodigy André Mathieu (1929–1968).

Sir Lomer Gouin (1861-1929)

Lomer Gouin, circa 1900.

On March 23, 1905, Lomer Gouin was elected Premier of Quebec, a position he held until 1920. A native and frequent visitor of Grondines, Gouin also left his mark on Quebec’s cultural landscape. In 1911, he pushed through the Act to Encourage the Development of Musical Art, which led to the creation of the Prix d’Europe. In doing so, Gouin was the first to make music one of the priorities of the Quebec government.

In 1920, the Gouin government created the Europe Scholarships to help artists and young graduates pursue their studies in Europe or the United States.