Louis Placide Canonge (June 29, 1822 - January 22, 1893) was a Creole journalist, politician, playwright, actor, librettist, and lyricist.

[9] From a young age, he traveled to Paris where he studied at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand the same institution his cousin Alfred Mercier attended around the name period.

Throughout his life, he participated in local politics and held various positions such as court clerk and Louisiana Legislator but he also directed theatrical troops.

[13] His mother Amelie was the daughter of Jean Mercier and a beautiful Creole woman named Maria Garcia de Fontenelle who passed as white.

Canonge's works began to evolve following Romanticism in France and by 1846 he completed Le Comte de Monte Christ a staging of the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas and a short story entitled Rires et Pleurs.

[15] The play Don Juan, ou Une Histore Charles Quint was produced in 1849 and critics loved it comparing Canonge to French Romantic writer Victor Hugo and the playwrights Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine.

One year later he produced a play called France d Espagne about the unsuccessful Creole Revolt of 1768 in New Orleans instigated by Nicolas Chauvin de La Frénière to prevent the transfer of French-held Louisiana Territory to Spain.

The play Comte de Carmagnola Tragédie was so successful it appeared in Paris for over 100 evenings and theater critics wrote that Canonge was influenced by Alessandro Manzoni.

[4][18][19][20] Canonge was briefly the director of the Théâtre d'Orléans which was owned by Charles Parlange in 1860 but it went bankrupt right before the onset of the American Civil War.

Canonge wrote the French Lyrics for the song named La Louisianaise a Confederate hymn to the tune of the Marseillaise published by New Orleans composer Eugene Chassaignac.

[2][3] The New Orleans Times reported on June 3, 1869, that Canonge editor of the Epogue received a challenge to a duel by Pual Alhaisa one of the managers of an opera house.

They also featured a performance by Anton Rubinstein but due to the Reconstructionist climate, the 1873-1874 season became heavily segregated which alienated the French Creole community who were the Opera's biggest supporters.

[24] Times were so hard that Canonge even had to return silver to customers of color which were bribes to enter the Opera House.

[26] Regrettably, due to the racist climate, Canonge was also sued for damages because he violated a black man's civil rights by not allowing full access to the French Opera House as it did the previous season.

[27][28] There were several dedications to Canonge at the Opera House in the following years and it remained closed during the 1875-1876 and 1876-1877 seasons but Troupe Pappenheim appeared in November 1877.

Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi personally sent Eugene a letter of praise for his courageous act-of kindness towards people of color.

Canonge and John Bull Smith Dimitry wrote a forty-five-page book describing the painting entitled The Venus Anadyomène A Resurrected Gem of Mediaeval Art.

[12] Canonge wrote countless articles and short stories and can be likened to Charles Patton Dimitry and Alfred Mercier.

Creoles are controversial figures due to their desire to pass as white and blend into the ongoing stressful racial climate of post-Civil War Louisiana.

Jim Crow made it more difficult for Creoles of Color forcing people who previously passed as white to participate in more humiliating and debasing activities.

Canonge's post-Civil War period reflects his difficulties dealing with the new sociological climate of New Orleans artistically and politically.