Guy Ropartz
1864 — 1955
Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz was a French composer and conductor. His compositions included five symphonies, three violin sonatas, cello sonatas, six string quartets, a piano trio and string trio, stage works, a number of choral works and other music, often alluding to his Breton heritage. Ropartz also published poetry.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Guy Ropartz.
From the period sources
Joseph Guy Ropartz, born in Guingamp, France, in 1864, initially pursued a career in law before dedicating himself to music. He entered the Paris Conservatoire, studying first with Dubois and Massenet, but later chose to study with César Franck, a detail noted across several sources including A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (1905) and Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1908). Ropartz’s life was primarily devoted to composition, yet he also held significant administrative roles. From 1894, he successfully directed the Conservatoire of Nancy, where he was credited by Grove’s Dictionary (1908) with giving “a strong impulse to the symphony concerts in that town.” By 1919, he had become the director of the Strasburg Conservatory, as recorded in The New Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians (1924). His compositions, which include four symphonies—one with chorus—and incidental music for Loti’s Pêcheur d’Islande, were published by the French firm Durand, A., et Fils, alongside works by composers such as Saint-Saëns and Franck, according to Grove’s Dictionary (1904). Ropartz was also recognized among a “younger generation” of French song-writers who treated the form with “serious aims,” as observed by Grove’s Dictionary (1922).