Gluck and Berlioz are two outstanding figures in the history of French music, the former generally regarded as the chief representative of French Classicism during the early years of the reign of Louis XVI and the latter as standing for the vanguard of Romanticism at the time of the July Revolution. Yet Berlioz saw Gluck as “the first of the Romantics”, and claimed, paradoxically: “I am a Classical composer. Romantic? I don’t know what that means.” Well before 1789 a new sensibility began to ...
Presenting the French Romantic repertoire and contributing to its understanding and appreciation are central to the activities of the Palazzetto Bru Zane. Opening its doors to talented young interpreters is no doubt the most committed way of encouraging them to approach and study this music and play it as often as possible. Le salon romantique, held in winter each year, brings together, in various programmes of French music, ten talented young artists and ensembles, who are one the verge of their profe...
The Romantic piano in France began its adventure following the development of the “modern” piano and the ensuing virtuosity that blossomed amongst pianists. During the Empire period, both Pleyel and Érard strove with all their ingenuity to give the instrument more subtlety and a fuller, richer sound. At the same time, the emergence of the “star system”, in the modern sense of the term, set the virtuoso apart from other performers. He came to embody a new Romantic hero, a man at one w...
The operatic works co-produced in 2009- 2010 by the Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française provide a panorama of the genre in nineteenth-century France, and thus present a different aspect of Romanticism. The programme entitled Altre stelle concentrates on the early Romantics, the forerunners of Berlioz and his contemporaries: Gluck, Méhul and Cherubini. The excerpts chosen for this programme are taken from masterpieces that left their mark on that period, including...
