Palazzetto Bru Zane - Centre de Musique Romantique Française

André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741-1813)

Palazzetto Bru Zane

André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry

Associated files to this project:

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

Palazzetto Bru Zane

Hector Berlioz

Associated files to this project:

Symétrie

Charles Gounod (1818-1893)

Palazzetto Bru Zane

Charles Gounod (1818-1893)

Associated files to this project:

Symétrie

Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947)

Philippe Blay

Reynaldo Hahn

Reynaldo Hahn was no doubt the most eclectic composer of his generation. The time has now come to take a fresh look at this composer, and to see him as more than just the author of Ciboulette and delightful art songs and as a man who moved in brilliant society circles – those aspects have tended to cast a shadow over the rest of his life. For indeed he was a prolific and imaginative composer with a catalogue containing over 200 opus numbers. Stage works (operas, operettas, musical comedies) and art songs (mélodies) were the two main branches of his activity. But other genres too are well represented, including oratorios, choruses, ballets, incidental music, orchestral and concertante works, chamber music, piano compositions, and so on. It is also necessary to take into account every facet of this musician’s life: he was also a writer and music critic, a public speaker, a singer (in the Parisian salons) and an expert on vocal matters, a conductor and a theatre director. The object of this new project is primarily to broaden the present view of the works of Reynaldo Hahn. To that end a symposium – the first to be devoted to this composer – aims to shed new light on his music and his career. It will be followed by the publication of a reference work on the subject. Subsequently other editorial projects may be considered: critical edition of compositions by Hahn, publication of some of the articles he wrote as a music critic or of his correspondence. We would also like to see some of his forgotten works played and recorded; we are actively working in that direction too.

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Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)

Palazzetto Bru Zane

Camile Saint-Saëns at the age of 40

His father having died shortly after he was born, Saint-Saëns was brought up by his mother and his great aunt. It was the latter who gave him his first piano lessons, before Camille-Marie Stamaty, then Pierre Maleden took over. He started giving piano recitals when he was still very young, in 1846. Two years later, at the age of thirteen, he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Benoist (organ), then Halévy (composition). Although he failed twice to gain the Prix de Rome, he was awarded many other distinctions in the course of his career, and he also occupied various institutional positions; he was elected member of the French Academy in 1878. His virtuosity impressed his contemporaries. From 1857 to 1877 he was organist of one of the most important Paris churches, the Madeleine. Saint-Saëns was a cultivated and prolific composer, who strove for the rehabilitation of great masters of the past, participating in editions of the works of Gluck and Rameau. He was eclectic in his tastes, and defended both Wagner and Schumann. As a teacher, he taught Gigout, Fauré, Messager and others. As a critic, he wrote many articles that show his strength of character and lucidity. He was nevertheless attached to the principles of academicism. In the same spirit of independence and determination, he founded in 1871 the Société nationale de Musique, formed to encourage the development of the French instrumental school; he resigned in 1886. Admired for his orchestral works with their very classical technique and a style not devoid of audacity (5 piano concertos, 5 symphonies, the last one with organ, 4 symphonic poems, including the famous Danse macabre), he achieved international fame, particularly through his operas Samson et Dalila (1877) and Henry VIII (1883).

Associated files to this project:

Symétrie, Glossa

Fernand de La Tombelle (1854-1928)

Jean-Christophe Branger

The organist, pianist and composer Fernand de La Tombelle studied with Théodore Dubois (composition) and Alexandre Guilmant (organ and harmony) at the Paris Conservatoire. He was also close to Saint-Saëns, who gave him precious guidance. Although he had no revolutionary pretensions, La Tombelle showed a resilient and fiercely independent character and he was in many ways an engaging and very interesting figure. He mixed with artists such as Grieg, Gounod, d’Indy and Massenet (to whom he was very close) – composers who have been treated more kindly by posterity. Fernand de La Tombelle left a considerable and very varied oeuvre, eclectic and even atypical in style, which deserves to be reconsidered not only for its own merits, but also as an illustration of a form of social and artistic activity in France at the turning point between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His music covers every genre: songs, chamber music, organ pieces, religious and secular choral compositions, orchestral works, piano solos and duets, operettas, etc. He was also a photographer; he drew and painted; he was a writer (theory, literature, and even works on astronomy or cuisine). He was a gifted artist with a remarkable culture, and he did much to promote musical education among the working classes, notably in his native Périgord, to which he retired after the Second World War, no doubt to get away from a society that he felt he no longer understood.

The reception of the works of Boieldieu (1775-1834) in France and abroad

Joann Élart

George Brown in La Dame blanche by Boieldieu (coll. Claude-Pascal Perna, Brussels)

The reputation of François-Adrien Boieldieu, who had an exceptional career, is largely based upon his operas: he was the principal French opera composer of the first quarter of the nineteenth century, but like many composers of that time he is not as well known today as he ought to be. His rehabilitation involves taking a close look at the circulation of his works and the publication and reception of his music, as well as studying the evolution in Europe of musical tastes, orchestral practices and the market for music. We also see, through his career, how the status of the musician changed between the Classical and Romantic periods. This research project also involves working out a detailed chronology of events enabling us to follow his works to different countries, the systematic location of the manuscript and printed sources, a study of contemporary operatic productions, the preparation and publication of critical editions, and so forth.

Associated files to this project:

University of Rouen

Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956)

Michela Niccolai

Gustave Charpentier at the Villa Medici (private collection)

Gustave Charpentier is one of the most original of late nineteenth-century French composers. His life and works are inseparable, making it necessary to analyse the social and political context in which he wrote works such Le Couronnement de la Muse (1897) and Louise (1900). Charpentier’s dramatic works express the sociological ideals that found another outlet in his “social project”, which saw the founding of the Chambre Syndicale des Artistes Musiciens de Paris in 1901 and the Conservatoire Populaire de Mimi Pinson (to give free musical tuition to young working women in Paris) in 1902. The immediate great success of Louise eclipsed the other works of a composer who always wanted to be in direct contact with ordinary people. The publication of his hitherto unpublished Mémoires is the first step in the editorial project launched by the Palazzetto Bru Zane under the direction of Michela Niccolai. It is a kaleidoscopic work, an invaluable source of information not only about Charpentier but also about musical life in Paris at the end of the nineteenth century, when “art music” and cabaret shows became almost indistinguishable. Gustave Charpentier reveals the forgotten contradictions of that fin-de-siècle period both in French music and in French society.

Associated files to this project:

Symétrie

Jean Cras (1879-1932)

Stéphane Topakian

Portrait of Jean Cras (private collection)

Throughout his brilliant career in the French navy, Jean Cras devoted his spare time to composition. Although he left an oeuvre that is important both in its variety and in its quality, he has now been more or less forgotten. A programme of chamber music by Cras (Piano Trio, Cello Sonata, Largo for cello) was released by Timpani in August 2008, and the Palazzetto Bru Zane has prepared for publication several of his hitherto unpublished works (Violin Sonata, Viola Sonata, motets, Messe a capella, etc.) as well as the correspondence between Jean Cras and Henri Duparc, presented and annotated by Stéphane Topakian.

Associated files to this project:

Symétrie, Timpani

Théodore Dubois (1837-1924)

Alexandre Dratwicki

Portrait of Théodore Dubois (private collection)

In his long life Théodore Dubois experienced the great moments of French Romanticism, then the questioning and doubt that preceded its demise in the first third of the twentieth century. Dubois was a composer, teacher and theorist, as well as maître de chapelle of the Madeleine church in Paris, a member of the French Institute and director of the Paris Conservatoire. His works and writings therefore provide us with a full and varied account of musical life in France, from the time of Ambroise Thomas and Camille Saint-Saëns to that of Claude Debussy. After the publication this year of Souvenirs de ma vie by Christine Collette-Kléo, and the recording on the Ligia digital label of Dubois’s Violin Sonata and Piano Sonata (also 2009), the Palazzetto Bru Zane is now assisting his rehabilitation through concert performances in partnership with the Association Théodore Dubois: his Trio No. 1, Piano Sonata and Piano Concerto No. 2 will be heard in the course of the 2009-2010 season.

Associated files to this project:

Symétrie, Association Théodore Dubois, Ligia, XXI/21

Lucien Durosoir (1878-1955). The duality of being a Romantic violinist and a modern composer

Georgie and Luc Durosoir

Lucien Durosoir at the age of 26

Until 1914 he was a successful virtuoso violinist. After 1918 he was a composer who lived withdrawn from the world, and for a long time he was unknown simply because he refused to have his works published.
Lucien Durosoir has now been revived through the publication of his 41 opus numbers, composed between 1919 and 1937. The Great War split his life in two. Before the war he had been an ethusiastic young man, completely immersed in Romanticism, which played an important part in his training, then determined the repertoire he played, the poetry he read, and the German culture that fascinated him. After the war he was unable to forget the horror and barbarity he had witnessed; from then on he saw life as a lucid and determined struggle against adversity.
The principal mission of the Palazzetto’s on-going project will be to draw up an inventory and make scientific use of the very rich documentary collection that is preserved in the family archives, including letters sent to and written by musicians (Caplet, Durosoir, Maréchal, Cloëz, Delmas Boussagol, Thibaut, Casals, Nadia Boulanger and others), concert programmes (1895-1914), sketches, manuscripts of chamber works and symphonies by Lucien Durosoir, unpublished pieces by André Caplet, and photographs, drawings and various documents relating to those musicians and their lives, war experiences and works.
Finally, we must situate Lucien Durosoir’s position as a composer, before setting up an editorial project to include graphic publications and recordings, collective works, reports on colloquia, and so on.

Association Megep

Maurice Emmanuel (1862-1938)

Christophe Corbier

Portrait of Maurice Emmanuel (private collection)

Maurice Emmanuel was a major figure in early twentieth-century French music, famous for his scientific studies as a musicologist and music historian and for his compositions. His study of the three forms of ancient Greek art (poetry, music and dance), his work on the history of the language of Western music, his analyses, classes and countless lectures, had a lasting influence on several generations of musicians and thinkers. His prose works match the originality of his compositions, which, although not very numerous, were praised by Messiaen, Dutilleux and others. Together his theoretical and artistic works provide a valuable eyewitness account of French art in the years 1890 to 1940. With the Palazzetto Bru Zane a vast editorial project has been launched that will include the publication of much of Maurice Emmanuel‘s correspondence, most of which has never been seen in print before. His writings as a musicologist, hitherto scattered over many different publications or else preserved in his family archives, will also be gathered together for the first time and published as a whole.

Louis-Ferdinand Hérold (1791-1833)

Alexandre Dratwicki

Portrait of Louis Ferdinand Hérold (private collection)

Louis-Ferdinand Hérold is one of the outstanding composers of early French Romanticism. Although his name and that of some of his operatic works (Zampa and Le Pré aux clercs) are still relatively well known today, no systematic study had been carried out to show the full extent of his originality and importance. One of the first books published by the Palazzetto (with Symétrie) is therefore devoted to Hérold’s correspondence and the time he spent in Italy. The publication of his complete orchestral works (overtures, symphonies, concertos) has also been launched. His chamber music and piano compositions, which are just as interesting, feature regularly in the concerts given during the 2009-2010 season. A recording of the four piano concertos is also on the way.

Associated files to this project:

Symétrie

George Onslow (1784-1853)

Palazzetto Bru Zane

Portrait of George Onslow (private collection)

George Onslow was an atypical figure. He would spend one part of his year bathing in international fame in Paris and the other quietly composing in his native Auvergne. He had an English name and French nationality, but his tastes were deeply Germanic and he was regarded during his lifetime as “the French Beethoven”. A past master in the art of the string quartet and quintet, the author of several piano trios and sonatas, he also composed three operas, since opera was a genre that could not be overlooked at that time. Now almost forgotten, possibly because his works are so difficult, Onslow is nevertheless one of the great figures of French Romanticism, the only French contemporaries who equalled his originality being Berlioz and Alkan. The Palazzetto Bru Zane has now launched a systematic publication of his music, including the String Quartet, Op. 50, the Overture to Le Colporteur, and his Symphony No. 1. And, in partnership with the Palazzetto, Ligia has recorded his Opus 60 with Le Salon romantique: an original transcription for string quartet by Onslow himself of one of his three operas, Guise ou les États de Blois, composed in 1835. Naïve has recorded the String Quartets, Op. 54, 55 & 56 with Quatuor Mosaïque. Several of Onslow’s works are included in this season’s concerts, and a collective work directed by Viviane Niaux, George Onslow, un Romantique entre France et Allemagne, completes the first batch of publications.

Associated files to this project:

Symétrie, Ligia digital

Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937)

Cyril Bongers

Gabriel Pierné at the Villa Medici (private collection)

Although many people today have heard of Gabriel Pierné, few realise the exceptional variety
and scope of his activities. As a conductor, composer, virtuoso pianist, organist and member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, he was undoubtedly one of the key personalities of French music during the first third of the twentieth century, showing in his work as a whole a fascinating compromise between academic tradition and the most progressive advances of the art. The first steps in the rehabilitation of this important (and, by all accounts, lovable) man have already bee  taken: his letters from Rome have been gathered together for publication by Cyril Bongers (Correspondance romaine, éditions Symétrie) and the record label Timpani will be releasing the first complete recording of his chamber music, the opera Sophie Arnould and his orchestral works. An inventory is to be drawn up of the many documents from private or public archives now available; his works as a composer will be systematically catalogued, and thought is to be given to the position that he should rightfully occupy today in the history of music. After that there will be more publications (critical editions, collective or individual works, colloquia proceedings) and recordings aimed at making Pierné much better known to music lovers of today.

Associated files to this project:

Symétrie