Reaching for the Sky

The carillon of Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal is celebrating its 70th anniversary. This second article introduces us to the carillonneurs who have made the bells sing for pilgrims and visitors since 1955.

The Inaugural Carillonneur

Émile Vendette

Émile Vendette was born in Ottawa in 1919. He began learning the carillon in 1936 and gave his first concerts at the Peace Tower of the Canadian Parliament in 1938. He honed his skills and deepened his knowledge in Belgium until the war forced him to return to Canada. By the time the Oratory entrusted him with its inaugural concert, Vendette was already a renowned carillonneur at Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church in Ottawa.

In addition to his performance at the inauguration, he was also the first to record music on the Oratory’s carillon. Around 1955, he recorded a vinyl record featuring Silent Night and Angels We Have Heard on High (1). Émile Vendette passed away in 1992.

The Star Carillonneur

Émilien Allard

Émilien Allard had a remarkable musical career as a clarinetist, orchestra conductor, and organist at Saint-Paul Church in Grand-Mère, Mauricie. From 1946 to 1948, he studied carillon at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium. He was hired by the Oratory as carillonneur in January 1956.

On December 30, 1957, the Oratory’s council agreed—“after discussion on the matter”—to grant Allard a six-week leave so he could participate in the carillon competitions at Expo 58 in Brussels. A wise decision, as he went on to win the International Carillon Prize in Mechelen (2).

In the early 1960s, Allard recorded the album Christmas Carols on the Carillon of Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal. He stepped down on September 15, 1975, to take a position at the Peace Tower. He died a few months later in November 1976.

The Oratory can be proud to have had a musician of Allard’s calibre in its history. A major figure in 20th-century carillon music, he composed and arranged more than 400 pieces and even built his own silent practice keyboard.

The First Female Carillonneur

Andrea McCrady

Finding a replacement for Émilien Allard proved difficult. In October 1976, after several months of silence, the Oratory granted “a young American musician” permission to play the carillon on Sunday afternoons. That young woman was Andrea McCrady (3).

Andrea McCrady was first introduced to the carillon in 1971 during her studies in Connecticut. In 1975, she received a scholarship that allowed her to continue her training and perform on dozens of carillons in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, where she met some of the greatest experts in the art of bell music.

While enrolled in medical school at McGill University, McCrady personally wrote to Émilien Allard before returning to Canada to request permission to play at the Oratory. Thanks to Brother Bernard Lafrenière, C.S.C., her wish came true.

Although her demanding medical studies limited her to Sunday afternoon performances, her skill and deep knowledge of the instrument made her an exceptional addition to the Oratory. Thanks to her, the future of the carillon was assured, as she began training a young Holy Cross religious brother, Claude Aubin.

The Familiar Carillonneur

Claude Aubin

Claude Aubin held a music degree when he began studying carillon under Andrea McCrady. He continued his training in the United States and became a member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in 1979 (4). Though he left religious life in 1986, he remained in service at the Oratory as its carillonneur.

Under his leadership, the carillon became a familiar and cherished part of the pilgrimage experience. Between 1979 and 2009, he organized numerous concerts and carillon festivals.

In 1985, to celebrate the carillon’s 30th anniversary, Claude Aubin invited none other than Jacques Lannoy from Douai, France—the very first player of the bells before they were shipped to Canada.

During his years at the Oratory, Aubin recorded the album Christmas Carols with the Saint Joseph’s Oratory Adult Choir, which he also conducted.

A 21st-Century Carillonist

Andrée-Anne Doane

Montreal native Andrée-Anne Doane was appointed principal carillonist on October 5, 2009 (5). Trained in piano, flute, and voice, Andrée-Anne studied in Montreal (UQAM), the United States, and Italy. She led liturgical music at the Oratory for five years and also served as an organist in several Montreal parishes. She studied the carillon under both Claude Aubin and Andrea McCrady. In 2013, she was admitted to the Guild of Carillonneurs.

Andrée-Anne has continuously worked to make the vast carillon repertoire better known and appreciated. In recent years, she has even begun teaching her son, Gabriel Doane-Picard, the art of carillon playing. Both are now students at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium—the same school that once trained Émilien Allard and Émile Vendette.

On your next visit to the Oratory, it may be her—or her son, now studying alongside her—whom you’ll hear playing!

Carillonneur? Carillonist? Carillonneuse?
When Andrée-Anne Doane took her place at the carillon console in 2009, it raised the question of what term to use for a woman playing the carillon professionally. Together with Claude Aubin, she considered the options and chose carillonist—a rarer, but accepted French term.

NOTES

(1) See the article by Denise Ménard on Émilien Allard, available on The Canadian Encyclopedia website: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/allard-emilien

(2) Local Council, December 30, 1957.

(3) Dr. Andrea McCrady is the Dominion Carillonneur at the Peace Tower of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa.

(4) The Oratory magazine, September–October 1977, p. 18.

(5) “Andrée-Anne Doane at the Carillon,” L’Oratoire magazine, January–February 2010, p. 26.