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Auguste Descarries at the piano

Black and white picture of Auguste Descarries at the piano; he looks thoughtfully at the keyboard with one hand on his forehead and the other on the keyboard.

Source: Auguste Descarries fonds P0325, Archives Division, Université de Montréal

Auguste Descarries was born in Lachine on November 26, 1896. His father was a lawyer and politician.

He studied classics at Collège Saint-Laurent and Collège Sainte-Marie (Montréal). He then began studying law at the Université de Montréal but pursued music at the same time.

In 1921, he married Marcelle Létourneau. From their union three children were born: Michel, Laurent and Francine.

Descarries gave several recitals during his career, despite the difficult context of the 1929 stock market crash. In the 1930s, he founded the Société de musique de chambre Euterpe, which presented radio concerts.

In addition to playing and improvising music, he taught it, first at the Conservatoire national de musique, then at the Sœurs de Sainte-Anne (Lachine) and the Sœurs de la Présentation de Marie (Saint-Hyacinthe) and lastly, at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec (Montréal).

In 1945, he founded the Entraide de l’école Auguste Descarries to encourage his students to perform in public.

In his lifetime, Descarries composed several dozen works for the piano, including instrumental, chamber and religious music, all of which soothed the community.