Eva Gauthier

Sir Wilfrid Laurier promoted the musical education of Eva. He helped her cultivate her natural singing disposition. She started singing at age 10, and she traveled extensively. The newspaper " Le Droit" in Ottawa adds that during her long career she audaciously broke with the traditions of concert halls. Thus, she may have been the first to sing jazz during a concert.

Canadian-born mezzo-soprano who studied in London, Paris and Rome. She settled in New York some time after 1910, where she was known for her love of modern composers such as Schoenberg and Bartók.

Eva Gauthier first studied in Ottawa, then in Europe. In 1910, she was living in Java and soon made a name for herself throughout South-East Asia. In 1914, she came to New York where her innovative concerts brought her to the heights of a modern arts lyricist. She had hits of popular American melodies with George Gershwin. She ended her fruitful international career in 1937 but continued to defend the cause of modern music until her death.

Eva Gauthier (1885-1958) was one of the prominent figures of the first half of the 20th century and certainly one of the most flamboyant and innovative singers of her time. A great lover of the music of Poulenc, Milhaud, Debussy, Stravinsky and Ravel, she was also the first woman to introduce jazz and oriental music to America. Legend has it that she played a role in the birth of George Gershwin’s career.

After returning to London from his trip to Dublin, John Francis McCormack (1884-1945) received an invitation from the singer, Eva Gauthier, to accompany her to a party at the home of Sir John Murray Scott.

In 1910, the famous Canadian mezzo-soprano Eva Gauthier, a native of Ottawa, was replaced at curtain time in the role of Mallika in the opera "Lakme" at Covent Garden in London. The role was given to another singer because one of her co-stars thought Gauthier's voice was too powerful. The incident caused Gauthier to give up opera in favor of concerts and recitals.

It was also in 1923 that Eva Gauthier, with George Gershwin at the piano, introduced a group of popular and musical comedy songs at an Aeolian Hall recital. It included numbers by Gershwin, Kern, Berlin and Donaldson. Needless to say, this concert caused quite a commotion in musical circles.

A leading concert singer of the era, Eva Gauthier, decided to do a concert combining the works of Purcell, Schoenberg, Bartok, and Hindemith with selections from Berlin, Kern, and Gershwin. George Gershwin was asked to accompany the singer for the American composers’ segment. He played the Berlin and Kern pieces with perfection, but while playing one of his own pieces, Stairway to Paradise, he inserted a phrase from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade (Ewen 98). He was amazed at the tumultuous reception his improvisational playing received. When orchestra leader Paul Whiteman asked him to compose serious music for a 1923 concert tour, George declined. In 1958, Eva Gauthier died in New York at the age of 73. Gauthier presented an historic recital in New York in 1923 at which she sang the music of Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin and George Gershwin, with Gershwin at the piano. Whiteman, impressed with the talent of Gershwin, commissioned him to write a work for piano and orchestra. The result was "Rhapsody in Blue."

Eva Gauthier introduced Charles Tomlinson Griffes to Oriental music, which impressed him deeply. He composed several songs for her.

Eva Gauthier, she of the blue hair and endless supply of satin hats, inhabited a tiny flat in the now defunct Hotel Woodward on East fifty-third street, with an upright Knabe, ten crates of scores, and a yapping Pekingese. Madame Gauthier was four feet ten inches worth of experienced opinion, always precise, sometimes precisely wrong. Certainly, she was from an era of inexpert sight readers—from when prima donnas did not decipher. Debussy had taught her Yniold in Pelleas and Melisande, by rote she claimed. She also claimed intimacy with Ravel and Gershwin, showing us her programs devoted exclusively to this pair. During those programs she changed garb with each group, involving vast swatches of stuff from Java, where for years she had lived with her importer husband. Her tendency to the graphic, or to getting things slightly off center, titillated those youngsters who came to her after the war. To a young tenor after singing Faure’s “Prison”: "Keep in mind that this poem was conceived by Verlaine in jail where he was put for cutting off Van Gogh’s ear.” To another tenor excusing his high A’s because of a cold: “Be glad you don’t have to hit them during your period, with blood seeping onto the stage.”

But what a fantastic teacher, if “teacher” means one whose enthusiasm is transferable—who leads horses to water and lets them drink. Gauthier's enthusiasm was for the intelligence of music, and though she couldn’t read music she could talk it.

What students sought from Pierre Bernac in Paris and from Maggie Teyte in London—French repertory from someone who knew the words—they could find from Gauthier in New York, plus the bonus of native literature. The songs Fairbank discovered in the early forties, Gauthier was now teaching in the late forties; so far as she was concerned those songs were a "fait accompli", as normal and needed as Schubert. After her death, Jennie Tourel remained the only active singer in New York (the musical center of the world!) equipped to coach Franco-American repertory.

Eva Gauthier told of an experience she once had in Paris when she was singing Der Erlkönig in a friend’s drawing-room. As she was singing the cries of the child, suddenly and entirely without warning, for she was unaware of the presence of any animal, a tiny Siamese kitten, a tawny taut ball, bounded from the next room and sprang at her throat into which he dug his claws.

An extensive archive of the music of Eva Gauthier is located at the Music Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Interestingly, Ravel's fifty-third birthday fell on March 7, 1928, the night before his Carnegie Hall debut. The composer's friend, mezzo-soprano Eva Gauthier, while organizing a dinner in his honor for the occasion, asked him if he had any special requests; Ravel replied that he would like to meet George Gershwin. At the party, Gershwin thoroughly impressed Ravel with an impromptu performance of "Rhapsody in Blue" and "The Man I Love." Ravel apparently had such deep respect for Gershwin's natural melodic gift that he turned down Gershwin's request for composition lessons, telling him "it is better to write good Gershwin than bad Ravel, which is what would happen if you worked with me." Their mutual admiration would be curiously mirrored by the circumstances of their deaths, within five months of each other, less than ten years later.

Internet site presenting songs by Eva Gauthier http://www2.biblinat.gouv.qc.ca/musique_78trs/mi76.htm

The newspaper « Le Droit » of Ottawa announced on 27 December 1958, the news that, Eva Gauthier, meso-soprano, originally of Ottawa, had died at the University Hospital in New York where she had resided for many years.

The paper added : « Her father descended from the direct line of the discoverer Pierre Gauthier de La Vérendrye ».

Eva Gauthier, born in 1885, was the daughter of Louis Gauthier and Parmélia Laporte. Her father, a civil engineer, was an employee of the Ottawa Obervatory for many years.

This family traces its ancestry back to Charles Gauthier dit Jolicoeur, its ancestor in Canada.

I – Charles Gauthier dit Jolicoeur, son of Jean and Jeanne Bastard of Saint-Martial in Angoulème, married Marie-Joseph L`Hermite¹on 3 May 1756, in Montreal.

He had later married, on 29 August 1768, in Quebec City, Marie-Angélique Normand. His marriage contract (notary Sanguinet, 28 August 1768) states that Charles Gauthier was the widower of Marie-Joseph L`Hermite and that he married Marie-Angélique Normand. She is the daughter of François Normand, a farmer, and of Thérèse Parent, born in Quebec City².

II – Pierre Gauthier, son of Charles Gauthier and Angélique Normand of Quebec, married, on 18 May 1795, in Notre-Dame church, Montreal, Marie-Elisabeth Varin, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Varin and the late Marie-Elisabeth Desnoyers. They had three sons :

III – Séraphin Gauthier, a shoe maker, son of Pierre Gauthier and Marie-Elisabeth Varin, married on 24 September 1821, in Notre-Dame church, Montreal, Marie-Josette Auclair, daughter of André Auclair, a bricklayer, and Marie-Marguerite Robert.

Later on, Seraphin was a merchant in association with Saint-Jean and Boyer on Saint-Paul Street in Montreal. He also had a grocery store on Dorchester Street.

Séraphin died in Montreal. His widow and two sons, Henri and Séraphin, survived him.

Henri married Eléonore Villebon, daughter of Jacques, who died soon after without issue to the marriage.

Henri then wed Clorinde Bourassa, daughter of Louis-Joseph Bourassa and Elisa Cyr in Saint-Martin (Laval), on 19 May 1856. Seven children were born to the couple: Clorinde (died in July 1822); Hortense (died on 11 July 1881); Henri (died at sea on 26 February 1879)³; Emma; Corinne; Séraphin (died on 12 August 1880); and Louis.

IV-A – Séraphin Gauthier (1824-1849), son of Séraphin Gauthier and Marie-Jsephte Auclair married on 6 February 1845, in Notre-Dame church in Montreal, Phoebé Lyons, daughter of Lewis Lyons and Fanny Levi. Of the Israelite religion, she was baptized into the Catholic Church on the same day at Notre-Dame church. She was originally from Manchester, England.

Séraphin was the son of a doctor. He started his career in Saint-Lin. Wilfrid Laurier had a weak heath and was threatened with tuberculosis. The doctor took care of him and helped him overcome the deadly illness⁴.

After a few years, doctor Gauthier established himself in Montreal, where he died in 1849. His widow Phoebé Lyons and two daughters, Emma and Anna survived him.

Emma, born on 2 February 1847 in Montreal, married on 12 September in Montreal, Louis-Ernest Gauvreau, notary, son of doctor Honoré Gauvreau, MLA for Maskinongé (1858), Union Party, and ...Dumoulin. From this marriage a son Ernest, was born on 14 July 1866 in Montreal.

The notary Gauvreau died on 2 October 1866 in Montreal, at the age of 24 years.

Emma then wed, on 13 May 1868, in Montreal, François-Xavier-Aristide Coutu, an associate of Lanctôt, a merchant in church ornaments. He was the son of Pierre Coutu, a farmer of Berthier and Geneviève Dostaler. They had seven children :

In 1896, Sir Wilfrid Laurier became Prime Minister of Canada. To his home, he brought Yvonne Coutu, as secretary to lady Lady Laurier. He considered her as a salaried employee yet as a family member. After both died, she remained in Ottawa where she died⁵.

His father, Antoine Gauthier was a brother of my paternal grand-father, Toussaint Gauthier. He descends from Pierre Gauthier and Charlotte Roussel, pioneers of Lachine.

Mme Emma Gauthier-Coutu repeatedly told her children that her father Séraphin, (son of Séraphin), claimed to be a descendant of Gauthier de la Vérendrye. Their daughter Ernestine, wife of Joseph-Stanislas Gauthier, my relative, believed it firmly. This belief was perpetuated in the family.

IV-B – Phoebé Lyons, a widow, agreed in 1854, to wed the cousin and homonym of her first husband, doctor Séraphin Gauthier (1832-1912).

Séraphin, the son of Charles Gauthier and Louise Derome-Descarreaux, was born on 5 October 1832 in Montreal. He completed his classical studies at the College of Montreal. In 1864, ten years after his marriage, he became a doctor; he practiced in Montreal, one year on his own then seven years in association with doctor d`Orsonnens. In 1870, il visited London and Paris in order to perfect his medical knowledge. At his return, he practiced medicine in the USA, first in Worchester then in Springfield. In 1880, he returned to Canada where he practiced until 1883 with his son in Upton. Again, he re-established himself in Montreal⁶.

He had ten children : five sons and five daughters. Two of his sons were doctors, one a civil engineer and another a merchant.

1 .– Adèle, married Joseph Lozeau; They are the parents of Albert Lozeau, the poet.

2. – Séraphin, married to Émélie Saint-Germain, established his medical practice in Upton (Bagot). Their son, a member of the White Fathers of Africa, had an honorable godfather, the honorable Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

4. – Dora, married to Dosithée Séguin, father of the notary Henri Séguin of Montreal.

5. – Gertrude, married to Charles Gauvreau, member of parliament (1901 etc) for Témiscouata.

6. – Létitia, became a nun, Sister Sainte-Gertrude of the Soeurs de la Présentation de Marie in Saint-Hyacinthe.

7.– Arthur, first married to Rose Rivest then to Malvina Brien dit Desrochers, and thirdly to Yvonne Lafrenière. He was a traveling salesman.

9. – Wilfrid-Lyons, married to Alice Emond, was an ophthalmologist. He died in Minnesota in 1957.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier always maintained close relations with these two Gauthier families. It is while he was staying with one of them that he met his future wife, Zoé Lafontaine, a student at the University of Ottawa. He boarded for a time with the family of Emma Gauthier-Coutu.

V – Louis Gauthier, a civil engineer, son of Séraphin (son of Charles) and Phoebé Lyons, married, on 6 October 1884, at the Basilica of Ottawa, Parmélia-Agnès Laporte, daughter of Joseph-Hercule Laporte and the late Agnès Goulet. James Smith and Albert-Olivier Mousseau were the witnesses; Father Georges Bouillon, vicar of the Archdiocese, blessed the marriage.

3.- Juliette; the provincial government, during its initiative to promote craftsmen, employed her to mime scenes of folklore during conferences, etc…

Sir Wilfrid Laurier became interested in the musical education of Eva, the eldest. He provided her with tools to facilitate her predisposition for the song. She started to sing at the age of ten, and she traveled extensively. The newspaper « Le Droit » adds that she audaciously broke ground, during her long career, with the traditional concert hall music. Thus, she became the first to sing jazz during a recital.

She died at the age of 73, on 27 December 1958, at the New York University. Her funeral service was held on Monday the 29th of December at 2:30, in the Frank Campbell chapel, corner of Madison and 81st in New York.

1 - Tanguay, (Dict. IV, p. 217), shows the following note: Charles Gauthier dit Jolicoeur « who came over with monsieur Rémond's Company. He returned to Rochefort in 1760. In 1763, he went to Martinique and there lost his wife in 1766. He came from Santo-Domingo to Quebec, by way of Boston, on the ship commanded by captain Boucher. He was a knife-maker on Couillard Street in Quebec in 1769 ».

3 - Henri was an adept flutist. He gave music lessons. He employed at the court in Montreal.

4 – Note by Jean-Jacques Lefebvre, archivist: « Doctor Séraphin Gauthier was the one who assisted the mother of Sir Wilfrid Laurier on her death bed in Saint-Lin in 1845 ».

5 – Wilson published a book in London on Wilfrid Laurier. During a parliamentary session in Ottawa, circa 1930, a deputy asked for information on some sections of this book. Miss Coutu, disagreeably surprised, was linked to the affair. The author had relayed parts of a private conversation.

6 - Rev. Wm. Cochrane : Men of Canada (The Canadian album) ; volume IV, p. 284.

Charcoal made on 1 November 1923 by the critique J. Watts during a performance Eva gave at Aeolian Hall.

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