AMONG THE EARLIEST KNOWN BANDS in Seattle were those led by Mr.
H. Charles Legourgue (1875-????). A Frenchman who was an accomplished clarinetist, Legourgue seems to have arrived in town around 1909, when he performed as a soloist under Michael Kegrize and the
Seattle Symphony Orchestra in a June 13th concert at the Auditorium on the grounds of the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition (AYPE) -- Seattle's first World's Fair.
Over the following several years -- and as a member of Seattle's AFM Local No. 76 Musicians' Union -- he remained quite active locally, forming and leading his own
Legourgue Chamber Music Society Quartet, the
Legourgue Chamber Music Orchestra, and the
Legourgue Concert Band. He also directed the Northwest Conservatory of Music and was the conductor of the
Standard [Theatre] Grand Opera Company orchestra.
In addition, Legourgue was the composer of songs his ensembles performed including "L'Angelus Sonna," "Chanson d'Automne op. 47 no. 1," "La Ronde sans Fin du bel Oiseau," "2 Melodies Viellottes," "Premiere Chanson," and "Potlatch Spirit."
On July 31, 1916, the French Consul helped organize a reception at the Washington Annex in Legourgue's honor as he prepared to head off to Chicago where he was to open a music school on, as
The Seattle Times noted, "the Paris Conservatory" model. "Later he plans to have a school in each large city of the United States. ... The Seattle school will be in charge of Ethel Murray."
