Voyageur Suite

There are three movements in the Voyageur Suite.

1. Quand J’étais Chez Mon Père

2. Le Retour du Mari Soldat Duration

3. La Bergère Muette Duration

The voyageurs were French-Canadian men who guided and paddled the canoes of explorers and fur traders from Quebec and Montreal to the regions bordering the Great Lakes and on to the Mackenzie and Columbia Rivers during the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. While they paddled hour after hour in their cramped canoes, the voyageurs sang of their canoes, their country, their life and their loves. This suite is based on melodies of their songs.

At least two of my ancestors, both named Antoine Pepin, were voyageurs. This suite was commissioned by Dr. Gary Powell Nash of Fisk University and is dedicated to my nephew, Alexander Pepin Gilbert, on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah.

The premiere performance was given February 15, 2007, by the Alaska Brass of the United States Air Force Band of the Pacific in Anchorage.