Palazzetto Bru Zane: An ‘experimental approach’ to French Romantic music – in Venice

The central Andante movement in Fauré's first cello sonata gives way to a rippling Allegro commodo that implores – and quietly crumples. Duo Domo – cellist Domonkos Hartmann and pianist Domonkos Csabay – have the audience enraptured. So far, it's a fairly normal mid-week concert. But then come extracts from Charles Koechlin's Chansons bretonnes; we're caught unaware by the wandering tonality and, subsequently, the beauty of Roger-Ducasse's small-yet-searing Romance. It perhaps says it all that Nadia Boulanger's Trois Pièces – not exactly mainstream repertoire – is the best-known item in the programme. It is an extraordinary recital – made more noteworthy by the setting: cherubs frolic in a scallop fresco above stucco detailing. Art Deco sconces light the walls, and a balcony frames the 100-seat hall. This is the Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de Musique Romantique Française, an institution fizzing with newly discovered historic repertoire. An organisation that focuses on supporting French Romantic music is interesting in itself – but there's something here that's even more curious. The curtains behind the piano hide a small gateway to a canal. There are no roads, and waterways are used to transport heavier items to the venue: the centre has its headquarters in Venice.

© Matteo De Fina

The Centre de Musique Romantique Française was launched in 2009, making its home in a specially restored 17th-century Venetian palazzo. The building was originally used to entertain the Zane family, who lived in the nearby Palazzo Zane. The current project was made possible by the Foundation Bru, which also gives its name to the concert space (Palazzetto Bru Zane). Foundation Bru is the philanthropic arm of Dr Nicole Bru, a highly successful medical entrepreneur who now supports various humanitarian causes. A lover of classical music, Bru specifically wanted to establish an arts centre in Venice that looked beyond the usual tourist offerings – as the birthplace of Vivaldi, the city focuses on Baroque (you can't move for Four Seasons concerts). 'Having worked on pharmaceutical projects, she liked the idea of making discoveries,' explains Alexandre Dratwicki, French musicologist and artistic director of the Centre de Musique Romantique Française. The Palazzetto is the perfect size to showcase these newly found works. 'It is like a laboratory, and you never know what will happen in the end,' smiles Dratwicki, 'We take an experimental approach.'

© Image courtesy of the Centre de Musique Romantique Française

While a programme featuring Fauré and his pupils – as I attended in May – was seemingly universally admired, Dratwicki explains that that's not always the case – and neither is it the aim. 'We do not only promote masterpieces,' he says, 'music is subjective and here the audience is part of the development.' Clearly, not all musicians are in a position to take on such repertoire – it does not make commercial sense to spend months learning rare music that may only be performed at one event. But the support of the Foundation Bru makes this work possible. 'We want to maintain the culture of a startup,' says Dratwicki, who has been part of the project since its early construction in 2006. 'We began with a handful of people and now there are more than twenty – it's important to us to feel like a small artisanal enterprise.'

On the face of it, French Romantic music – here classed from the period 1780 to 1920 – does not appear to be a neglected era. In the UK, Fauré, Ravel and Debussy are ubiquitous in piano recitals; Massenet's Cinderella and Manon are popular opera house fixtures and, in 2019, the 150th anniversary of the death of Berlioz was widely commemorated. Yet I can only find one scheduled performance of music by Charles Koechlin this year (an imaginative recital by pianist Rolf Hind, due to take place at the Aldeburgh Festival on 20 June) and, perhaps unsurprisingly, nothing by Roger-Ducasse. These are just two among hundreds of composers working within a wide-ranging genre. 'It's impossible to say you don't like French Romanticism because it's so broad,' says Dratwicki. 'There are composers who were influenced by Wagner, Beethoven and Italian music as well as the French style. It's a really rich area of music – you can always find something you like.'

© Matteo De Fina

In Italy, music from the French Romantic period is much scarcer, given the wealth of Italian repertoire, and the reputation of the era is not consistent across Europe. As well as the concerts within the Palazzetto Bru Zane, the Centre de Musique Romantique Française catalogues and digitises documentary collections, including those of the Villa Medici, the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris and the Cité de la Musique in Paris. (These can be accessed via bruzanemediabase.com) The institution also publishes scores and shares its research through conferences. One restriction of the Palazzetto Bru Zane is its compact size, making it ideal for chamber music but impractical for opera – an important strand in French Romanticism. This is circumnavigated through regular collaboration with partners across neighbouring countries, and recordings on the Bru Zane label often feature vocal and symphonic work alongside the chamber music. (The latest release is Saint-Saëns's opera Déjanire, recorded by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Chœur de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo and conductor Kazuki Yamada; BZ1055.)

© Matteo De Fina

Like most types of music, French Romanticism's popularity ebbs and flows. 'In the 20th-century composers like Schoenberg, Elgar and Borodin offered alternative styles,' says Dratwicki. 'Lots of French Romantics like Paul Vidal – a student of Massenet – disappeared as they were not considered modern.' This, in fact, is a major plus when attracting passing trade – tourist concert goers – in Venice. 'Some of the music is really easy to listen to,' says Dratwicki. There's also a wealth of operetta from the era. Everyone knows Offenbach, but there are all sorts of composers like Robert Planquette and Charles Lecocq,' says Dratwicki. 'Among all the global difficulties, especially after the pandemic, we deserve to have some happy music.' Indeed, the esprit français of the 19th century is tonic for our times – and the Palazzetto Bru Zane is here to prescribe it.