Frederick Glackmeyer - first professional musician in Canada
During the American War of Independence (1775-1783), the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel, the Principality of Wolfenbüttel, the Electorate of Hanover, Saxony-Anhalt, and other regions in present-day German rented soldiers to the British on subsidiary contracts.
One of the former mercenaries who stayed in Quebec was Frederick Glackmeyer, who was born in Hanover in 1759. He married Marie-Anne O’Neil in Quebec City on September 25th, 1784. They had 16 children, and he died in Quebec on January 13th, 1836. Not much is known about his life before his marriage in Quebec. In 1777, he was hired as the music director of a German military contingent under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Johann Gustav von Ehrenkrok. It is unclear when exactly he arrived in Quebec. Upon his release from his military contract in 1783, General Major Friedrich Adolph Riedesel offered him a position as a pianist in his native Germany, but Glackmeyer decided to stay in Quebec.
Glackmeyer is mentioned as the first music teacher in Quebec in the writings of the nuns of the Ursuline order. However, the fact that the family often moved house suggests that Glackmeyer faced financial problems in spite of his numerous engagements and activities as a musician, teacher, and merchant. He also suffered from domestic troubles and poor health from 1822.