View source for Joseph-A. Fowler

{{Short description|Canadian musician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=February 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
'''Joseph-A. Fowler''' (14 November 1845 – 4 January 1917) was a Canadian [[composer]], [[organist]], [[choirmaster]], [[pianist]], and [[music educator]]. His compositional output mainly consists of sacred music, although he did compose some secular songs for voice and piano and a number of works for solo piano. He wrote two [[mass (music)|mass]]es for choir and orchestra: ''Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary'' (published by [[I. Suckling & Sons]], 1893) and ''Mass of the Sacred Heart'' (published by [[Whaley Royce]], 1898).<ref name="CE">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0001271|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103171537/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0001271|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 January 2006|title=Joseph-A. Fowler|author=[[Gilles Potvin]]|encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]}}</ref>
==Life and career==
Born in [[Montreal]], Fowler was the son of an Irish father and a French-Canadian mother. He studied the piano with [[Paul Letondal]] and was notably one of his first students. He visited Europe three times during his life, experiences which enriched his musical life. At the age of 16 he began teaching at the [[Collège Sainte-Marie de Montréal]] where he worked for seven years. From 1868 to 1890 he taught at the Sacré-Coeur Convent at Sault-au-Récollet just outside Montreal. Among his notable pupils were [[Alexis Contant]] and Arthur Pépin. He also occasionally organized concerts and promoted artists in Montreal, notably bringing Irish baritone [[William Ludwig (singer)|William Ludwig]] to the city among other performers.<ref name="CE"/>
An active recitalist and accompanist on the piano, Fowler notably performed [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]'s Variations on ''[[God Save the Queen]]'' in an 1870 concert organized by [[Adélard Joseph Boucher]] on the occasion of composer's centenary birth. He also served as the organist/choirmaster at [[St. Patrick's Basilica, Montreal]] from 1868 until his retirement in 1908. He was named an organist emeritus by St. Patrick's and in 1915 he donated an organ to the church's Lady Chapel.<ref name="CE"/>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Joseph}}
[[Category:1845 births]]
[[Category:1917 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century classical composers]]
[[Category:19th-century classical pianists]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian pianists]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian classical composers]]
[[Category:Canadian classical organists]]
[[Category:Canadian male classical organists]]
[[Category:Canadian classical pianists]]
[[Category:Canadian male classical pianists]]
[[Category:Canadian male conductors (music)]]
[[Category:Canadian music educators]]
[[Category:Canadian male classical composers]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Université du Québec à Montréal]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian conductors (music)]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian male musicians]]
[[Category:19th-century Canadian male musicians]]