A painting of Joseph Quesnel, c. 1808 – 1809, by
Gerritt Schipper. Collection du Musée régional de Vaudreuil-Soulanges
Joseph Quesnel (15 November 1746 – 2 or 3 July 1809) was a French Canadian composer, poet and playwright. Among his works were two
operas, Colas et Colinette and Lucas et Cécile; the former is considered to be the first
Canadian opera and probably of North America.[1][2]
Early life and education
Quesnel was born in
Saint-Malo,
France, the third child of Isaac Quesnel de La Rivaudais (1712-1779), a prosperous merchant, and his wife Pélagie-Jeanne-Marguerite Duguen.[3] He studied at the Collège Saint-Louis (1766).
Life and career
Quesnel joined the French merchant marine and sailed to
Pondicherry and
Madagascar, travelled in
Africa, and the Caribbean.[4] He engaged in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1768, as a second-lieutenant on board the Mesny, he sailed to Cabinda (modern-day Angola) where 514 "Blacks of all ages" were purchased and taken to modern-day Haiti where they were sold, according to French archival sources quoted in a novel about him.[5] He carried with him his violin and read the works of French playwrights.[6]
In 1779, Quesnel sailed for New York in command of a French warship which was captured by the
British.[7] Quesnel was taken to
Halifax, Nova Scotia and allowed to settle in Boucherville, near
Montreal, Quebec.[3][8][6] He married Marie-Josephte Deslandes there and became partners in business with
Maurice-Régis Blondeau, his mother-in-law's new husband. He became wealthy by trading in slaves.[9][10]
Quesnel published a number of theatrical works, including Colas et Colinette, which was written in 1788 and first performed in 1790,[7] and Lucas et Cecile;[11][12] he also wrote poetry; his best known poem was titled "L'Épître à M. Labadie".[13]
Besides several songs, he composed sacred music for the parish church of Montreal,[6] and some motets, and wrote a short treatise on the dramatic art (1805). He founded and was part of the troupe of Montreal's Théàtre de Societé.[14][15][8]
He died of
pleurisy at Montreal in 1809 several months after he had dived into the
Saint Lawrence River to save a drowning child.[16]