Palazzetto Bru Zane - Centre de Musique Romantique Française

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 with his music, showing great commitment to the world, yet sometimes isolated from that world, living in solitude and melancholy. The piano repertoire reflects that duality: while intimate pieces (nocturnes, ballades and fantaisies) were being written for the salons, in the concert hall the piano concerto was becoming more and more impressive to satisfy the growing taste among audiences for the spectacular. As well as those two genres, chamber music and the mélodie also called for the participation of the piano, and it even appeared on stage in operas. Although the instrument already had its own vast repertoire, pianists also played transcriptions and arrangements. In the innumerable fantaisies on famous themes that appeared at that time, the virtuoso would impress audiences with his own dazzling ornamentations. Sometimes the Romantic piano would even replace a whole orchestra, and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, reduced for solo piano by Liszt, is no less spectacular than the great paraphrases of Thalberg. If the German school, from Beethoven to Brahms, is regarded as the most accomplished expression of pianistic Romanticism, it is because the pioneering work of Frenchmen such as Hérold or Alkan is not yet as well known as it deserves to be. One has only to listen to, and allow oneself to be surprised by, the music of Hérold and Alkan, and of Castillon, Saint- Saëns, Fauré, Dubois and many others who came later, to be convinced of their importance.