ANTOINE DESSANE (1826-1873) was studying at the Paris Conservatoire by age ten and became a favourite of the director Luigi Cherubini. After a concert tour in Europe and the USA, he returned to France to pursue compositional studies with George Onslow. In 1849 he accepted the position of organist at Notre-Dame Basilica in Quebec City, succeeding T. F. Molt. He worked as a cellist, pianist, and organist and his wife, a singer, quickly became involved in the city's musical life. Until 1865 when the Dessanes moved to New York for four years, he not only taught but conducted members of the Société harmonique in orchestral works by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and others and founded the Septett Club, a string and wind ensemble.