Marie-Hyppolyte-Antoine Dessane (9 December 1826 – 8 June 1873), born in France and resident mostly in Quebec City in Canada from 1849, was an organist, conductor and composer.
Antoine Dessane, from age 10, studied piano, organ and cello at the Conservatoire de Paris; the director at that time was Luigi Cherubini, and fellow students were César Franck and Jacques Offenbach.
[1][2] Living conditions for musicians were difficult in France after the Revolution of 1848, and Dessane accepted an offer to succeed Theodore Frederic Molt as organist and choirmaster at Notre-Dame Basilica in Quebec City, Province of Canada.
[1][2] A concert in 1850 given by Dessane and his wife, a soprano or mezzo-soprano, was the beginning of his playing a leading part in musical circles in Quebec City.
[1][2] In 1864 he resigned as organist of Notre-Dame; it is thought this was partly because of a disagreement with Ernest Gagnon about plainsong accompaniment, after the publication of P.-M. Lagacé's Chants d'Église.
[1][2] Compositions by Dessane, about 60 works of sacred and secular music, are held in the archives of Séminaire de Québec and Université Laval.