Eugene Chassaignac

Eugène Chassaignac (1820 – January 25, 1878) was a French-American musician, professor, composer, and music critic. Eugene was a prominent member of the New Orleans community and is known for desegregating Scottish Rite Freemasonic lodges in New Orleans in 1867. Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi personally sent Eugene a letter of praise for his courageous act of kindness towards people of color. His son Charles Louis Chassaignac became a prominent doctor in New Orleans and worked for Charity Hospital and was a humanitarian. His daughter Marie Chassaignac married Baron Randolph Natili. Natili's parents were involved in an interracial marriage and he was a member of the prominent Creole Dimitry Family. Natili became closely associated with Italian American composer Giuseppe Ferrata because of the marriage of his first cousin's daughter Alice. Natili's relationship with his father-in-law Eugene, benefited Ferrata because of Natili's knowledge and appreciation for musical composition.

Eugène was born in Nantes, France, in 1820. He studied music with French author and playwright Ludovic Halévy in Paris, France. Eugène eventually settled in New Orleans, Louisiana where he wrote about theater and music for the French-language newspapers Le Moniteur du Sud, La Chronique, Le Meschacébé, and Le Louisianais. He taught music in New Orleans and created a significant number of musical compositions, including a comic opera entitled La Nuit aux echelles, which was performed in 1850 at the Théâtre de St. Martinville. Most of his music manuscripts were destroyed in a fire in Morgan City at his wife's home after his death. Some of his compositions survived and are part of the collection of Duke University and the Library of Congress. and on May 2, 1867, he ordered that white lodges under his jurisdiction welcome all without distinction as to race or color. Eugene wanted masonry to march in the forefront of the struggle against prejudice. Around this period, Louisiana was emersed in racial violence and segregation. Louisiana rejoined the Union on July 9, 1868, and the Opelousas massacre occurred two months later. By late 1868, Eugene was given a gold Medal for desegregating the lodges. Three years later his daughter Maria married Alexander Dimitry's nephew Randolph Natili. Natili was a part of the Dimitry family and Marianne Celeste Dragon's grandson. Eugene's son, Charles Louis Chassaignac, was an important doctor in New Orleans. He was the medical examiner for the New York Life Insurance Company and district surgeon for the Illinois Central Railroad Company in New Orleans. Most of Eugene's compositions that were in the possession of his wife after his death were lost in a fire. Some of his works can be found in the collection of Duke University and the Library of Congress.

Compositions