Gaston J. Ripert

In 2024 I bought a small collection of music manuscripts and letters that all once belonged to the French writer and poet Pierre Aguetant (1890-1940). Part of this collection was the manuscript of the work "Le Poeme de l'Automne" by Gaston J. Ripert. I tried to find biographical information about him, but failed completely! There is absolutely nothing I can tell about him beside the few details from the manuscript.

"Le Poeme de l'Automne" is scored for narrator, cello and piano. Of course it sets a poem by Pierre Aguetant to music. The work is subtitled "Invocations No.3 - Adaption symphonique". According to the manuscript the work was composed in 1913. On the title page it has an inscription by Gaston J. Ripert that says "A Mademoiselle Marie Louise Pascalin". This dedication refers to the future Ms. Aguetant - they married in 1917. At the end of the manuscript the work is dated "Lyon, 15 juillet 1913". While searching for information on Gaston J. Ripert I found nothing beside one hit: The magazine "La Journal de la Famille" published the score of exactly this composition - Le Poeme de l'Automne - in their issue from 1 October 1913! The published score does not have a dedication to Marie Louise Pascalin nor the subtitle "Invocations No.3", but the rest is identical.

So with this information I would say that Gaston J. Ripert was a close friend of Marie Louise Pascalin and Pierre Aguetant located in Lyon. The couple lived in the Lyon area at that time. The fact that the work was published but nothing else by Gaston J. Ripert let me think that he was a music amateur and the score was only published with the help of Pierre Aguetant and his reputation.