Article

Procure générale de musique Ltée

Procure générale de musique Ltée. A music firm established in Quebec City by Omer Létourneau. After acting as an unofficial adviser to the firm of Gauvin & Courchesne (founded in 1914 by the impresario J.-A.

Procure générale de musique Ltée

Procure générale de musique Ltée. A music firm established in Quebec City by Omer Létourneau. After acting as an unofficial adviser to the firm of Gauvin & Courchesne (founded in 1914 by the impresario J.-A. Gauvin and the cellist Hermann Courchesne), Létourneau purchased it in 1934 and renamed it Procure générale de musique. The offices and retail store were located at Place d'Youville above the Lindsay department store. Working with his son Paul, Omer Létourneau offered a selection of sheet music as well as string and wind instruments. He also established the Éditions de la Procure générale de musique Enr'g, which published many of his own works and pieces by J.-Arthur Bernier, François Brassard, Léon Destroismaisons, and Joseph Vézina. Scores and educational texts continued to be published until the mid-1940s, but the retail business was always the firm's main activity. In 1945 the firm moved to new premises on D'Aiguillon St, and in 1966 Edwin Bélanger, Létourneau's son-in-law, became the proprietor. At this time the company began to sell popular music. After its premises were destroyed by fire in 1977, the business moved to the Côte d'Abraham and in 1990 it moved to St-André Street East.