Paris-Manchester 1918
Conservatoires in time of war
Reading between the dots
Like any publication during the Great War, the Gazette des classes du Conservatoire was subject to censorship. First, the Franco-American Committee removed any remarks addressed to the Boulanger sisters; then the War Ministry deleted any “sensitive” information such as place names, dates of attacks and signs of low morale (where this had not already been expunged by the Committee or even by the author himself). The text that reaches us is therefore fragmented, full of these full stops replacing up to 70% of a letter, which then has to be reconstructed. Sometimes the task is impossible, as in the case of this letter from Philippe Gaubert, in which the gaps in the text are so large as to prevent it from being reconstructed.
Translation
GAUBERT Philippe (Lenepveu) Sergent . . . Inf[1] . . . . . . . S.P.[2]
9 September[3].
We’ve been on all-out attack for a week, and my regiment has just forced the Huns out of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We are off for a rest break (well earned, I assure you), to regroup for the next fighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I have now been promoted to sergeant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . That is . . . . . . . . . . . At my colonel’s request, I have even formed a little band, of which I am “bandmaster”! We play when the regiment is off duty – this provides our brave soldiers with some entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[1]Infantry.
[2]Secteur postal [postal sector]
[3]1916.
Source
Philippe Gaubert (9 September 1916) Letter to the Franco-American Committee, in: Gazette des classes du Conservatoire, No. 4, Paris, November 1916, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Music Department, Rés Vm Dos 88 (1), p. 18 [on line].
Document description: mimeographed document in violet ink, 21×27 cm.
