Joseph Quesnel is remembered as the author and composer of the first operetta written and performed in Canada, probably the first in North America. He was born on 15 November 1746 in Saint Malo, France, to Isaac and Pélagie Duguen Quesnel. It seems that Quesnel visited South America and the Orient before entering his uncle's shipping firm in Bordeaux. In the fall of 1779 Quesnel was sent to the United States with a cargo for the Revolutionary Army. However, the ship was captured by the Royal Navy, and Quesnel found himself in Halifax. Having obtained a passport from Frederick Haldimand, the governor-general, he went to Montreal, where he entered the firm of Maurice Blondeau, a fur trader, and married Blondeau's stepdaughter, Marie-Josephte Deslandes, the following year. Quesnel took an active part in the cultural life of Montreal, playing in amateur theatrical companies and composing music for the church.

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