Maurice Zbriger

According to records, within three days of his arrival, he was already playing with theatre orchestras for silent films at The Palace and Capital theatres. Within the year he founded the Traymore Quartet, and a few years after that, he put together a musical ensemble called Zbriger and his Gypsies that performed for over 40 years on CKAC radio, a local French broadcasting station, as well as the CBC.  

He would eventually join the Montreal Orchestra as a violinist for a number of seasons starting in 1931, and later would become a musician for the RCA-Victor recording studio band.  

He was an incredibly prolific composer who is credited with having written about 250 songs, 42 marches and 8 overtures over the course of his career. He was particularly keen on composing for famous individuals: “Coronation Prelude” was written in honor of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation–and is one of 4 of his works officially accepted by the Queen during her lifetime–and “Little Bells are Twinkling” was written for famous German soprano Erna Sack. In the Maurice Zbriger fonds we also have some sheet music that Zbriger dedicated to David Rome, a major figure in the history of the Canadian Jewish Archives and the Jewish Public Library alike – an interesting point of contact between Zbriger and Jewish cultural institutions here in Montreal.

Maurice and Mary were unable to have children, and Mary’s poor health kept Maurice’s career close to home, unlike the usual touring schedule of a concert violinist. This trajectory shift is likely what led Zbriger to focus more on composing and conducting and allowed him the opportunity to pursue consistent radio shows. He planted his career firmly in his adoptive city and flourished.  

Animated by his passion for music, by the 1960s, Zbriger had become a fixture on the Montreal cultural scene: conducting free open-air concerts, performing at bandshells, and at the Montreal Expo in 1967. He put together and financed whole music programs out of his own pocket for the sheer pleasure of sharing his passion with friends and the public. Indeed, Zbriger was known to be incredibly generous, paying for rental halls and musicians himself and frequently giving away tickets to whoever was interested. He often collaborated closely with his wife, featuring music she had either written or titled on most of the programming he hosted. Every year, for over 60 years, the pair also co-wrote a waltz to celebrate their wedding anniversary. 

Often the most surprising fact about Zbriger–and one that you would be hard pressed to find any allusion to in his fonds–is the means by which he was able to finance such lofty musical pursuits. While an accomplished musician, Zbriger was also a businessman, specifically the owner of Schwartz’s, Montreal’s famous Hebrew delicatessen, having been a partner for a number of years before taking it over from its founder and his long-time friend Reuben Schwartz after his death. It was thanks to the revenue generated from his restaurant that Zbriger was able to finance years of musical production. Considering himself a musician first and foremost, he made it a point not to broadcast his involvement in Schwartz’s, but he was known to celebrate there regularly after performances – closing the restaurant early and reveling with his many guests, treating them to free drink and food until the early hours of the morning. Despite his compartmentalization of the business side of his life, one of the best known public records about Zbriger, The Concert Man documentary by Tony Ianzelo (NFB), embraces the connection in the telling of his story.

Zbriger was a man who embodied what we know as the Montreal joie de vivre. 

After sharing his music with Montreal for over half a century, Maurice Zbriger died on April 5, 1981, four months after his last concert, and less than a year after his beloved Mary, who passed away July 27, 1980.