Émile Trépard wrote chamber music — a sonata for cello and piano in 1907, another for violin — and was made a knight of the Legion of Honour in 1925. He lies in the Perpigna vault, his wife's family, where his name comes last. The engraver cut his death as 3 July 1852: a century too early, for one figure changed.
The story
Émile Trépard died on 3 July 1952; his stone says he died on 3 July 1852, eighteen years before he was born. The engraver was out by a century, on a single figure, and nobody ever came to correct him.
Born in Paris on 14 November 1870, he wrote chamber music — a sonata for cello and piano in 1907, another for violin — and pieces with dreaming titles, Évocations sylvestres, Le chemin d'amour. The Légion d'honneur came to him in 1925.
He lies in Division 58, in the Perpigna vault — his wife's family, Lucile Boutin. His name comes on the last line: “Emile TREPARD, compositeur de musique, chevalier de la Légion d'honneur.” He entered this grave by marriage, and he appears in it last.
The grave
A grave under the name of the Perpigna family, his wife Lucile Boutin's, where his own name comes last. The final line names him at last: “Emile TREPARD, compositeur de musique, chevalier de la Légion d'honneur” — composer, knight of the Legion of Honour — followed by a date of death of 3 July 1852, when he died in 1952. The engraver was a century out.
On site, do not miss
On the door, a cast-iron relief: a winged hourglass in a funerary wreath. The last line of the record gives “Emile TREPARD, compositeur de musique”, followed by an impossible date: 1852.
Visitors' questions
Where is Émile Trépard's grave?
In Division 58 of Père-Lachaise, in a plot in the name of the Perpigna family — his own name is not on it. The Division is that of Marie Roze and Pierre Lacotte. He died in 1952, at eighty-one.
Marie RozeWhat does the stone say about him?
The grave is that of the Perpigna family, his wife's, and his name comes last: “Emile TREPARD, compositeur de musique, chevalier de la Légion d'honneur” — composer, knight of the Legion of Honour. Then an impossible date of death — 3 July 1852, eighteen years before he was born. The engraver cut 1852 for 1952.
Hippolyte MonpouWhat is known of his music?
He wrote chiefly chamber music: a sonata for cello and piano in 1907, a sonata for violin and piano, and pieces with reverie for a title, Évocations sylvestres, Le chemin d'amour. The Legion of Honour came to him in 1925.
Gaud-Amable HugonIs it an isolated case?
It is not: Père-Lachaise holds several — from Henri Duparc, whose stone names three families but not his own, to Harry Kessler, replaced by his sister. Three causes: forgetfulness, the passing on of a plot, and the collective grave.
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