FESTIVAL PALAZZETTO BRU ZANEIN PARIS

The unmissable event for french music

5TH EDITION JUNE 7 TO 19, 2017

FESTIVAL PALAZZETTO BRU ZANE IN PARIS THÉÂTRE DES CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES OPÉRA COMIQUE THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

The unmissable event for French Romantic music

PRESS KIT Press contact: ElevenTenths PR Claire Willis Ph - 07951 600362 claire.willis@eleventenths.co.uk

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JUNE 7 TO 19, 2017

5th FESTIVALPALAZZETTO BRU ZANE IN PARIS

WEDNESDAY 07.06.20177.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES

LA REINE DE CHYPRE BY FROMENTAL HALÉVY (1841)Concert performance

ORCHESTRE DE CHAMBRE DE PARISFLEMISH RADIO CHOIRHervé Niquet music directorNicolas André assistant music director

Catarina Cornaro Véronique GensGérard de Coucy Marc LahoJacques de Lusignan Étienne DupuisAndréa Cornaro Christophoros StamboglisMocénigo Éric HuchetStrozzi Artavazd SargsyanUn Héraut d’armes Tomislav Lavoie

THURSDAY 08.06.2017 8.30 P.M.SATURDAY 10.06.2017 8.30 P.M. SUNDAY 11.06.2017 5 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

PHÈDRE BY JEAN-BAPTISTE LEMOYNE (1786)Arrangement for four singers and ten instrumentalists

LE CONCERT DE LA LOGEJulien Chauvin music director and violinMarc Paquien stage director

Phèdre Judith Van WanroijŒnone Diana AxentiiHippolyte Enguerrand de HysThésée Thomas Dolié

The fifth edition of the Palazzetto Bru Zane’s Paris festival opens at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with a rare opera by Halévy, La Reine de Chypre (1841), performed in concert under the direction of Hervé Niquet. The operatic side of the festival’s programme is further enriched by a collaboration with the newly renovated Opéra Comique, where a staged production of Saint-Saëns’s Le Timbre d’argent (1877) will be seen, in a staging by Guillaume Vincent. Alongside this, the series of chamber concerts and recitals will be pursued at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, focusing notably on Saint-Saëns and La Tombelle – thus tying in with the cycles that the Centre de Musique Romantique Française will devote to these two composers throughout the 2016/17 season – as well as Hahn, Chaminade, Gounod and many others. Finally, the festival will also present performances of ‘Vote for me!’ the Palazzetto Bru Zane’s new production based on political chansons and couplets of the nineteenth century, and of Lemoyne’s tragédie lyrique Phèdre (1786), in a staging by Marc Paquien that will continue the process of exploration of early Romanticism.

An introduction to the programme will be on offer 30 minutes before each concert at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (except on 16 June).

In collaboration with:Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Opéra Comique C.I.C.T. – Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord

Cover’s iconography:©Mondadori Portfolio/Akg images Art

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FRIDAY 09.06.2017 8 P.M.SUNDAY 11.06.2017 3 P.M.TUESDAY 13, THURSDAY 15, SATURDAY 17 AND MONDAY 19.06.2017 8 P.M. OPÉRA COMIQUE

LE TIMBRE D’ARGENT BY CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS(1865; recitative version 1913)

LES SIÈCLESACCENTUSFrançois-Xavier Roth music directorGuillaume Vincent stage director

Conrad Edgaras MontvidasHélène Hélène GuilmetteSpiridion Tassis ChristoyannisBenedict Yu ShaoRosa Jodie DevosCircée Raphaëlle Delaunay

MONDAY 12.06.20178.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

BELLE ÉPOQUE

Fernand de LA TOMBELLEFantasy for piano and string quintetDes après-midi sous les arbres for solo piano (excerpts)Gabriel FAURÉPiano Quintet No. 2 Op. 115

Jean-Frédéric Neuburger pianoYann Dubost doublebass

STRADA QUARTETPierre Fouchenneret violinSarah Nemtanu violinLise Berthaud violaFrançois Salque cello

TUESDAY 13.06.2017 8.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

VOTE FOR ME!

Operetta arias and political chansons on the theme of elections and the art of government

LA CLIQUE DES LUNAISIENSLara Neumann soprano: FranceIngrid Perruche soprano: The feminist CandidateArnaud Marzorati artistic director, baritone and ‘siffleur’: The Politician prestidigitatorMélanie Flahaut flute, flageolet and bassoonPierre Cussac accordion Daniel Isoir pianoFlannan Obé artistic collaboration and stage reading

WEDNESDAY 14.06.20178.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

AND NOW DANCE!

Camille SAINT-SAËNS Suite Op. 90Etudes for left hand Op. 135 (excerpts)Souvenirs d’ItalieValse canarioteValse langoureuse Étude en forme de valse Cécile CHAMINADE Danse ancienneClaude DEBUSSY MazurkaMel BONIS Barcarolle Charles-Valentin ALKAN Marche funèbre Op. 26 Cécile CHAMINADE Mazurk’ suédoise

Philippe Bianconi piano

THURSDAY 15.06.20178.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

CARTE BLANCHE AT THE ACADÉMIE RAVEL

Gabriel FAURÉ Preludes Nos. 4 and 7 Camille CHEVILLARD Violin sonataThéodore GOUVY Piano Trio No. 3 Guillaume LEKEU NocturneErnest CHAUSSON Chanson perpétuelle Concerto (1st movement)

Anne-Sophie Vincent soprano*Stéphanie-Marie Degand violinShuichi Okada violin*Jean-Claude Pennetier pianoViolaine Despeyroux viola*

SORA TRIO* Magdalena Geka violinAngèle Legasa celloPauline Chenais piano

*Prizewinners of the AcadémieInternationale de Musique Maurice Ravel of 2016

FRIDAY 16.06.2017 8.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

RECITAL VÉRONIQUE GENS

Mélodies and arias byLALO, HAHN, VARNEY, CHAUSSON, FAURÉ, DUPARC…

Véronique Gens sopranoSusan Manoff piano

MONDAY 12, TUESDAY 13 AND WEDNESDAY 14.06.2017 OPÉRA COMIQUE, SALLE BIZET

SYMPOSIUM:CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS À PLEINE VOIX Free admission withregistrationOn 12 June from 2 p.m. On 13 and 14 June from 10 a.m.

FRIDAY 16.06.2017 THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

PANEL DISCUSSION: ‘PRONONCER LE CHANT FRANÇAIS’Free admissionStarts on 7 p.m.With Tassis Christoyannis, Cyrille Dubois, Hélène Guilmette, Hervé Niquet, Richard Martet and Agnès TerrierPanel Chairman: Alexandre Dratwicki

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THE FESTIVAL IN DETAIL

WEDNESDAY 07.06.20177.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES

LA REINE DE CHYPRE BY FROMENTAL HALÉVY

Grand opéra in five acts on a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, premiered on 22 December 1841 at the Opéra de Paris

Concert performance

ORCHESTRE DE CHAMBRE DE PARISFLEMISH RADIO CHOIRHervé Niquet music directorNicolas André assistant music director

Catarina Cornaro Véronique GensGérard de Coucy Marc LahoJacques de Lusignan Étienne DupuisAndréa Cornaro Christophoros StamboglisMocénigo Éric HuchetStrozzi Artavazd SargsyanUn Héraut d’armes Tomislav Lavoie

If Halévy’s name entered French musical history thanks to the success of La Juive in 1835, several voices were raised to designate La Reine de Chypre (The Queen of Cyprus), composed six years later, as his masterpiece. Wagner, in particular, deemed its music, ‘noble, feeling, and even new and elevating’; so much so, indeed, that he devoted a detailed analytical article to the work. Even the composer’s detractors were forced to acknowledge the qualities of this new work, among them George Sand who told Delacroix of ‘the beauty and pomp of the spectacle’. Premiered on 22 December 1841, Halévy’s opera offered the limelight to Rosine Stoltz in the title role: she was the only woman in the cast, for it had been found preferable to isolate her, following her incessant disputes with the other female singers in the company. Alongside her, the tenor Gilbert Duprez shone in the role of Gérard. Unlike the grands opéras of the 1830s, La Reine de Chypre includes not only a substantial bass part (Andrea Cornaro) but also an extensively developed role for high baritone (Lusignan). The story takes the spectator on a voyage from the palaces of Venice to those of Cyprus. The publisher Maurice Schlesinger, always on the lookout for novelties, is said to have paid the enormous sum of 30,000 francs for the rights to the opera. But despite an initial success confirmed by a number of translations and adaptations that appeared shortly after the first run (notably Lachner’s Caterina Cornaro in 1841 and Donizetti’s opera of the same name in 1843), the work has not been seen in a European opera house for nearly a century and a half.

Co-production Bru Zane France / Théâtre des Champs-Élysées / Orchestre de Chambre de Paris The opera will be recorded for the Palazzetto Bru Zane’s “Opéra français” CD-books series

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SYNOPSISLA REINE DE CHYPRE BY HALÉVY

The action takes place in 1441. The first two acts are set in Venice; and the last three, in Cyprus.

Act IIn the Cornaro Palace in Venice, Andrea is about to marry his daughter Catarina to the French knight, Gérard de Courcy. However, the treacherous Mocenigo announces the decision of the Council of Ten to marry her off to the King of Cyprus and that—if he does not force his daughter to accept this union—Andrea will face execution. Andrea is given an hour to make up his mind. He goes back on his promise to Gérard, to the great indignation of everyone there.

Act IICatarina’s chamber in the Cornaro PalaceCatarina is waiting for Gérard. But it is Mocenigo who enters through a secret passage, accompanied by armed soldiers; he informs Catarina that she must tell Gérard she no longer loves him, otherwise he will be killed there and then. The unsavoury band disappear back into their hiding place, as Gérard enters and is extremely surprised to be rejected by Catarina, who is in despair. After he leaves, Mocenigo reappears and seizes Catarina to take her to Cyprus.

Act IIIA banquet in Cyprus, before Catarina’s arrival Mocenigo is informed that Gérard may be hiding somewhere in the vicinity. He sends his assassins in pursuit of Gérard, who is saved by the intervention of a stranger who is, in fact, none other than Lusignan, the King of Cyprus, in disguise. They tell each other their stories—without revealing their true identities—and swear eternal brotherhood. Canons announce Catarina’s arrival.

Act IVAt Catarina’s wedding celebrations, Gérard intends to have his revenge by killing the man she is to marry but, at the last moment, recognises the King as the man who saved his life. Equally surprised, Lusignan prevents the crowd from killing him and has him imprisoned.

Act VTwo years later, the King is dying of a mystery illness. He knows Catarina has not stopped loving Gérard, who was spared from execution. He hopes she will find happiness with him. Gérard appears as a Knight of Malta and announces that the King is in fact dying from a Venetian poison, in the hope that there is still time to save him. Mocenigo announces that it is too late and that Catarina must relinquish her power to him. However, Catarina and Gérard successfully withstand the Venetian invasion. Mocenigo is captured. On his deathbed, the King hands his crown to Catarina, to whom the people swear fealty.

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THURSDAY 08.06.2017 8.30 P.M.SATURDAY 10.06.2017 8.30 P.M.SUNDAY 11.06.2017 5 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

PHÈDREBY JEAN-BAPTISTE LEMOYNE

Tragédie lyrique in three acts on a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffmann, premiered on 26 October 1786 at Fontainebleau Palace. Arrangement for four singers and teninstrumentalists by Benoît Dratwicki.

LE CONCERT DE LA LOGEJulien Chauvin music director and violinMarc Paquien stage directorVictoria Duhamel assistant stage directorEmmanuel Clolus set designClaire Risterucci wardrobeDominique Bruguière lightingNathy Polak makeup and hairPierre Gaillardot technical directorVincent Combette floor managerFlore Merlin chief accompanist

Phèdre Judith Van WanroijŒnone Diana AxentiiHippolyte Enguerrand de HysThésée Thomas Dolié

The libretto of Phèdre belongs to a fashion in the reign of Louis XVI for reviving the styles of the Grand Siècle: many aesthetes were of the opinion that the decadence of the arts that had begin with the death of Rameau called for a pious volte-face to the classical sources of Louis XIV’s reign. The librettist François-Benoît Hoffman (1760-1828), still very much in the flower of his youth and who would go on to write the libretto for Cherubini’s glorious Médée in 1797, radically adapted Racine’s original, preserving only a few of its more striking features. The music composed for this tightly wrought drama benefited from Gluck’s innovations of the 1770s. Lemoyne paid particular attention to finding just the right note for his recitatives: short orchestral phrases, unexpected modulations, even musical rests intensify the drama and emotional charge of the libretto. Lemoyne employed various devices which make his style instantly recognisable. Orchestral unisons, for instance, lend an air of unsettling mystery to each of Phaedra’s entrances. The score also makes good use of the so-called ‘frenetic’ style (in which Berlioz detected the indisputable source of early Romanticism) developed by the school of Gluck; this gave Mlle Saint-Huberty, for whom the role was written, a chance to display her dramatic talent and strong singing voice to the full.

Production Bru Zane FranceCo-production Théâtre de Caen / Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles / Opéra de Reims In collaboration with C.I.C.T. – Théâtre des Bouffes du NordFirst performed on Thursday, 27 April 2017 at the Théâtre de Caen Encore performance Tuesday October 10, 2017 at the Opéra de Reims

The opera will be recorded by France Musique

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LETTER OF THE STAGE DIRECTORby Marc Paquien

‘Phèdre is not a concerto for a woman; it is a symphony for an orchestra of actors.’ Jean-Louis Barrault, 1946

We all know the myth of Phaedra, its founding texts by Euripides, Seneca, and then Racine . . . And suddenly a new story revealed itself to me, through the music of Lemoyne, another Phaedra, who also experiences the ravages of desire and the pain of a possible incest. There is something very moving about discovering this work today and re-creating it at the same time. Like his predecessors, Lemoyne puts his character in the state that comes before death, where you know your own end is inevitable, and where the words that accompany you foretell what you do not want to hear. But I now perceive this adventure as the creation of a totally new work, a powerful and condensed work, in all its purity and originality, as another burning way of recounting the myth that lives so strongly in us, and experiencing once more the story of the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae . . .

Our production concept is situated in precisely that gap between a work of the eighteenth century and its (re)creation today, for in fact we had not heard much of this Phèdre before the first rehearsals: a few arias with the singers, intuitions that came to us and gradually constructed the universe into which we will project ourselves. Then something quite singular occurred to me: a work that has never been seen, never been heard. All these elements made me lean more in the direction of the creation of a contemporary work, of which I have already have experience with music by Xavier Dayer and Philippe Fénelon, an approach that implies that we as artists must be totally open to the work to come. So what should we focus on? The myth or the score? I believe that the music is the decisive element here, and it was in this perspective that my collaborators and I conceived the project. The subject of the opera will be the music of Lemoyne, in all its force and modernity, and the musicians will be present on stage, not relegated to a corner of the performing area, but featured as an integral part of the acting space and the dramaturgical movement. The scenography, devised along with Emmanuel Clolus, represents the temple of Venus in which the action of the tragedy is set, and which thus becomes a ‘temple of music’.

On this large sloping expanse, which resembles a tombstone, each instrumentalist inhabits his or her own ‘pit’, and the singers move around above it. Hence the musicians of the orchestra become the priests of the temple, the chorus, as it were, who surround and accompany the protagonists.

Lemoyne’s work is also unusual for its brevity and its violence, seen through the quartet that assembles the principal protagonists, omitting poor Aricie: thus each scene is a face-to-face confrontation, dense and heartrending, an ineluctable road to death. Phèdre, Œnone, Hippolyte and Thésée, in their gold and crimson costumes, arrive already consumed, ready to become dust, to vanish into the tombs scattered across the stage . . . This contrast between the grey of the floor and the gold of the tombs and costumes enables the creation of an imaginary space, between life and death, under the skilled lighting designs of Dominique Bruguière.

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FRIDAY 09.06.2017 8 P.M. SUNDAY 11.06.2017 3 P.M. WEDNESDAY 13, THURSDAY 15, SATURDAY 17 AND MONDAY 19.06.2017 8 P.M.OPÉRA COMIQUE

LE TIMBRE D’ARGENTBY CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS

Drame lyrique in four acts on a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, completed in 1865 and first performed on 23 February 1877 at the Théâtre National Lyrique in Paris.

LES SIÈCLESACCENTUSFrançois-Xavier Roth music directorGuillaume Vincent stage directorJames Brandily set designerBaptiste Klein videoFanny Brouste wardrobeKelig Le Bars lightingHerman Diephuis movement coordinatorBenoît Dattez magicianJordan Gudefin assistant music directorCéline Gaudier assistant stage directorPierre-Guilhem Coste assistant set designerPeggy Sturm wardrobe assistantMathieu Pordoy chief accompanistChristophe Grapperon choirmaster

Perhaps no opera has ever had a more complex career than Saint-Saëns’s Le Timbre d’argent (The silver bell). Completed in 1865, just after the composer’s second failure to win the Prix de Rome, the work had to wait until 1877 to be premiered – in a version with spoken dialogue – at the Théâtre National Lyrique, under the direction of Jules Danbé. The abrupt closure of that house prevented any revival of the work, and the composer proceeded, at the behest of theatre directors who promised to stage it, to modify the physiognomy of a score he regarded as one of his finest. Le Timbre d’argent was subsequently heard, among other revivals, in Monte Carlo (1905) and at La Monnaie in Brussels (1914), in a wholly sung version restoring tableaux that had been cut in 1877 despite Saint-Saëns’s protests. Should we be surprised that the composer so stoutly defended a work whose subject, as he said himself, ‘is none other than the struggle of an artist’s soul against the vulgarities of life, his inability to live and think like everyone else’? Le Timbre d’argent is of primordial importance in the history of French opera, since it was composed amid the great Wagnerian debate, according to innovative precepts. Foreshadowing the phantasmagoria of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, its story takes place almost entirely within the confines of . . . a nightmare. And the final scene is no less than a cinematic flashback long before such a thing existed. Saint-Saëns later wrote with amusement: ‘This piece was seen as a revolutionary and prodigiously advanced work’ (March 1914). The Palazzetto Bru Zane and the Opéra Comique offer a chance to discover the definitive version, revised by Saint-Saëns himself (and therefore without cuts) for La Monnaie in 1914.

Production Opéra ComiqueCo-production Palazzetto Bru Zane / Oper Köln

Recording by the Palazzetto Bru Zane’s for the “Opéra français” CD-books series

The opera will be recorded by France Musique

SYMPOSIUM Camille Saint-Saëns à pleine voix: on Monday 12, Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 June at the Opéra Comique

Conrad Edgaras MontvidasHélène Hélène GuilmetteSpiridion Tassis ChristoyannisBenedict Yu ShaoRosa Jodie DevosCircée / Fiametta, dancer Raphaëlle DelaunayDancers Aina Alegre, Marvin Clech, Romual Kabore, Nina Santes

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SYNOPSISLE TIMBRE D’ARGENT BY CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS

Act IIt is Christmas eve, and a little-known Viennese painter, Conrad, rebels against his impoverished circumstances. Nothing can relieve his despair, not the happiness of the people, or his friend Bénédict, or the doctor. Not even his humble sweetheart, Hélène, whose sister Rosa is about to marry Bénédict. Infatuated by a black-hearted ballet dancer, whom he has painted as Circe, Conrad accuses the doctor Spiridion of bringing him bad luck and being the devil incarnate. Overwhelmed by the sound of festive songs and his self-hatred, he faints in front of the portrait, which seems to be mocking him. In his dream, a chorus of nymphs sing as Circe dances under the command of the doctor, who has now changed his appearance. He gives Conrad a magic object, a silver bell which, each time it is rung, causes the death of an innocent person, but brings him riches beyond belief. When he wakes, the bewitched Conrad strikes the bell. There is a cascade of gold, but Hélène’s and Rosa’s father falls down dead at his door.

Act IIAt the theatre, the ballet dancer Fiametta receives tributes from her admirers: diamonds from Conrad, whose sudden wealth is causing a stir, and a tiara from Spiridion who, in the guise of a marquis, wants to incite Conrad to further murders. Fiametta practises her “Dance of the Bee” for them. Both rivals promise her a palace and compete at the gaming table. When Fiametta slips away to perform on stage, Bénédict manages to approach his friend and invite him to his wedding. Hélène, hidden behind a tapestry, sings of a simple, modest life of happiness, but Conrad will not relinquish his dangerous passion. On stage, Fiametta is a triumphant success. When the curtain falls, the marquis reappears dressed as an Italian strolling player and transforms the stage of the theatre into a palace prepared for a banquet. Ignored by his beloved and learning that he is ruined, Conrad chases the guests away and wrecks the feast, trying his utmost to resist the temptation of the silver bell.

Act IIIIn the cottage given by Conrad to the young women to make up for their father’s murder, Rosa is preparing for her wedding and begs Hélène to tell her why she is so sad. Bénédict brings Conrad to see them. Although he had buried the silver bell in the cottage garden, he seems determined to repent. However, Spiridion and Fiametta appear, dressed as travellers: the dancer promises to love Conrad even though he is now poor again. Wild with joy, Conrad wants to present her with a fortune and goes to dig up the talisman. Disguised as gypsies, Spiridion and Fiametta liven up the wedding by performing supernatural dances, during which Bénédict falls down dead. Fiametta leads Conrad away.

Act IVIt is carnival night and the masked revellers choose Conrad as their king of the fools. He cannot forget the bell, which lies at the bottom of a riverbed. Spiridion fuels his torment by summoning up a fantastic ballet in which Fiametta is dazzling as Circe. Conrad appeals to Hélène, who confronts the courtesan. In a fit of delirium, Conrad calls for the bell so that he may kill Hélène. The ghost of Bénédict hands it to him. Finding the strength to break it, Conrad collapses and falls victim to Spiridion. In his studio, Conrad wakes from a long nightmare. The crisis is over and he asks for Hélène’s hand in marriage, cheerfully accepting the prospect of a humble, hardworking life.

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Les Siècles © Ansgar Klostermann

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MONDAY 12 JUNE 8.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

BELLE ÉPOQUE

Fernand de LA TOMBELLEFantasy for piano and string quintetDes après-midi sous les arbres for solo piano (excerpts)Gabriel FAURÉPiano Quintet No. 2 Op. 115

Jean-Frédéric Neuburger pianoYann Dubost doublebass

STRADA QUARTETPierre Fouchenneret violinSarah Nemtanu violinLise Berthaud violaFrançois Salque cello

Extremely pleased with his ambitious Fantaisie for piano and orchestra, La Tombelle decided to arrange it for piano and string quintet. The result? A sextet whose Romantic and symphonic impulses are well-nigh unique. In a quite different style, Fauré too combined keyboard and strings in his piano quartets and quintets, incorporating modern touches characteristic of the ‘Belle Époque’ spirit. La Tombelle, professor at the Schola Cantorum, and Fauré, director of the Conservatoire from 1905, illustrate, each in his own way, the facets of French post-Romanticism.

First performed in Venice on Sunday 9 April as part of the festival Fernand de La Tombelle, Gentleman of the Belle Époque.Production Palazzetto Bru ZaneIn collaboration with C.I.C.T. – Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord

The concert will be recorded by France Musique

François Salque © François SechetJean-Frédéric Neuburger © Carole Bellaiche

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Fernand de LA TOMBELLE Mélodies

Tassis Christoyannis baritoneJeff Cohen piano

APARTÉ / PALAZZETTO BRU ZANE

Release date: 7 April 2017

Fernand de La Tombelle (1854-1928)

A pupil of Théodore Dubois and Alexandre Guilmant, and a friend of Saint-Saëns, who gave him valuable guidance, Fernand de La Tombelle pursued a dual career as a composer and a virtuoso pianist and organist. A resilient, fiercely independent man with an unassuming revolutionary disposition, La Tombelle was in many ways an interesting and engaging figure. Although he mixed with artists whose names are better known today, such as Edvard Grieg, Charles Gounod, Vincent d’Indy or Jules Massenet (to whom he was very close), he left behind a substantial and varied body of work which is stylistically eclectic, even atypical, and deserves to be reconsidered, not only on its own merits, but also because it illustrates a type of social and artistic activity in France at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. His catalogue includes all the genres (art songs, chamber music, organ pieces, religious or secular choral works, orchestral or piano scores, and incidental music, sometimes accompanied by brilliant fantasies, etc.). He also took photographs, drew, painted and wrote theoretical or literary texts and works on astronomy or the art of cooking. In the last analysis, this oeuvre was the fruit of the labours of a gifted, remarkably cultured artist, whose output well-befitted a decent man who also campaigned hard for the working classes to receive a musical education.

Fernand de La Tombelle, Fantasy for piano and orchestra, Op. 26 (version for piano and string quintet)Allegro – Adagio – Finale: Allegro molto

Music for chamber ensembles, piano and organ (his instrument) occupy a significant place in the outputof Fernand de La Tombelle, who wrote very little for orchestra. However, in this Fantaisie, awarded aPremier Prix by the Société des Compositeurs de Musique in 1887, he had been so ambitious that, to avoidlimiting its distribution, he pared it down by removing the cor anglais, bass clarinet, two of the fourbassoons, the cornets, the tuba and percussion. Another reduction kept only the piano and the stringswhich, at times, integrated the wind parts; the work gained in punch what it lost in size and force, andthe piano, not as fiercely beset by the strings, could be more finely nuanced. Finally a two-piano versionproved that this was a very powerful piece of music whatever the forces used. The work’s title speaksvolumes about a period when distrust of so-called virtuoso histrionics caused composers to disguise whatwere actually concertos as symphonies, suites, fantasies or ballades. This can be seen by the stature of thededicatee, Louis Diemer. In the passionate opening allegro in F minor, full of thematic conflict, the soloistbreathlessly plays arpeggios while the melodies pass over his head. The piano sings out in the adagio,interrupted by threatening outbreaks of the cyclical theme. The driving ternary rhythm and simplemelodies save the finale from sliding into grandiloquence with the return of the cyclical theme.

New releases about the composer Fernand de La Tombelle:

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TUESDAY 13.06.2017 8.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

VOTE FOR ME!

Operetta arias and political chansons on the theme of elections and the art of government

LA CLIQUE DES LUNAISIENSLara Neumann soprano: FranceIngrid Perruche soprano: The feminist CandidateArnaud Marzorati artistic director, baritone and ‘siffleur’: The Politician prestidigitatorMélanie Flahaut flute, flageolet and bassoonPierre Cussac accordionDaniel Isoir pianoFlannan Obé artistic collaboration and stage reading

Louis XIV and Napoleon understood very well just how effective music – and especially the popular genres of chanson, opéra-comique and operetta – could be as weapons of political propaganda. It comes as no surprise that the nineteenth century, which saw so many conflicting regimes succeeding each other, should offer an almost infinite repertory of satirical or demagogic pieces on the theme of elections and sovereignty. This recital, Vote for me!, alternating between famous composers and now-unknown chansonniers, invites the listener to witness the exercise of rhetoric, popular complaint and deceitful manipulation. Any resemblance to persons living or dead will, of course, be purely coincidental.

First performed on 23 February 2017 in Venice (Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista)Tour: Arsenal de Metz (25 March), MC2: Grenoble (12 and 13 April), Théâtre du Château d’Eu (5 May), Cité de la Voix – Vézelay (6 June)Production Palazzetto Bru ZaneIn collaboration with C.I.C.T. – Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord

The concert will be recorded by France Musique

The Palazzetto Bru Zane, La Clique des Lunaisiens andAparté present

VOTE FOR ME! CD

Released on February 2017Aparté / Palazzetto Bru Zane

Reference: AP 146

Qobuzissime prize

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THE POLITICAL SONG IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURYby Alexandre Dratwicki

The origins of the political song are closely intertwined with those of politics themselves. Its expansion in the nineteenth century was made possible by the diffusion of inexpensive editions and arrangements of all sorts. The multiplication of venues for concerts – or rather for popular oratory (notably the caf ’conc’ of Montmartre) – facilitated the development of a genre with two faces: the political chanson oscillated between propaganda (Boissière: Un Vrai Républicain [A true Republican]; Bruant: Plus d’patrons [No more bosses]) and protest (Hyspa: Les Complots [The conspiracies]; Pourny: L’Impôt sur les célibataires [The tax on bachelors]), devotion (Vignix: La Prière de Jeanne d’Arc [Joan of Arc’s prayer]) and calumny (Xanrof: La Chambre et le Sénat [The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate]; Jouy: Un Bal chez le Ministre [A ball at the minister’s residence]). Accompanied on the piano or by larger instrumental forces (often improvised, and sometimes very original), the chansonnier expounded on topics drawn from current events in easily memorised melodies and irresistibly catchy refrains. The structure of the chanson was governed by strophic form: the text, sometimes extremely long, was divided into three, four, even as many as ten verses (couplets), very often with a punch-line that systematically brought the listener back to the song’s main topic. Of course, bawdy double entendres were much in favour with the lyric writers, and some serious or tender songs in fact incorporate an elaborate second degree of meaning (Nadaud: Droite, gauche, centre [Right, left and centre]; Hyspa: Le Toast du Président [The President’s toast]). Indeed, the virtuosity of this repertory lies in its literary component rather than in the uncomplicated melodic line and accompaniment (Xanrof: Le Métingue des femmes [The women’s meeting]). Nevertheless, composers of ‘art song’ did not hesitate to set texts by Béranger, for example, as witness Lalo’s Le Vieux Vagabond (The old tramp) with its strikingly socialistic sentiments.

The success of the political chanson soon outgrew the intimate surroundings of meetings in cafes. Composers began to introduce it into large-scale works: whereas the traditional opéra-comique preferred the innocuous salon romance (‘Connais-tu le pays’ from Ambroise Thomas’s Mignon or the ‘Berceuse’ from Godard’s Jocelyn), the operetta and the opéra-bouffe chose the chanson, as with Clairette’s number in Lecocq’s La Fille de Madame Angot (specifically entitled ‘Chanson politique’) or the ‘Couplets du diplomate’ in Offenbach’s Le Roi Carotte. This type of piece, initially applauded on the stage, swiftly entered the café-concert repertory in suitably adapted versions and was heard in instrumental arrangements both in the bandstands of public parks and on the barrel organ in the middle of the boulevard.

We tend to think more readily of the caustic and campaigning side of the political chanson, but it would be wrong to overlook the sentimentalising repertory dealing with the themes of poverty, abandonment and solitude. Society’s rejects could recognise their plight in sometimes tear-jerking romances like Boileau’s Quand on n’a pas le sou (When you haven’t a penny). Such unfortunates found consolation in the strains of edifying chansons with strong religious connotations or in those featuring courageous and resolute national figures. Joan of Arc was the most celebrated of these, and became a particular inspiration after France’s defeat in the war of 1870. Her origins in eastern France then came to resonate with the loss of Alsace-Lorraine and the redrawing of the frontier with the Prussian Empire. Joan even became the subject of the cantata for the prix de Rome competition of 1871, which was won by Serpette, a future master of operetta . . .

Lara Neumann © Rocco Grandese

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WEDNESDAY 14.06.2017 8.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

AND NOW DANCE!

Camille SAINT-SAËNS Suite Op. 90 Cécile CHAMINADE Danse ancienne Camille SAINT-SAËNSEtudes for left hand Op. 135 (excerpts)Camille SAINT-SAËNSSouvenirs d’ItalieClaude DEBUSSY MazurkaMel BONIS Barcarolle Camille SAINT-SAËNSValse canarioteCamille SAINT-SAËNSValse langoureuse Charles-Valentin ALKAN Marche funèbre Op. 26 Cécile CHAMINADE Mazurk’ suédoise Camille SAINT-SAËNSÉtude en forme de valse

Philippe Bianconi piano

In addition to considerable work destined to bring the waltz into the drawing-rooms and the quadrille into the grand balls, the Romantic composers often appropriated popular or entertaining forms to evoke the memory of past centuries or the exoticism of a fanaticised elsewhere in the more intimate works, especially those intended for piano. Like the cicada of La Fontaine’s story – condemned to dancing for not having foreseen its future – waltzes, bourrées, jigs and mazurkas were the last refuges for suspending time in a world transformed by the industrial revolution.

Production Palazzetto Bru ZaneIn collaboration with C.I.C.T. – Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord

The concert will be recorded by France Musique

Philippe Bianconi © Bernard Martinez

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Philippe Bianconi © Bernard Martinez

THURSDAY 15.06.2017 8.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

CARTE BLANCHE TO THE ACADÉMIE RAVEL On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Académie Ravel (1967-2017)

Gabriel FAURÉ Preludes Nos. 4 and 7Camille CHEVILLARD Violin sonataThéodore GOUVY Piano Trio No. 3 Guillaume LEKEU NocturneErnest CHAUSSON Chanson perpétuelle Concerto (1st movement)

Stéphanie-Marie Degand violinJean-Claude Pennetier piano

Shuichi Okada* violinAnne-Sophie Vincent* sopranoViolaine Despeyroux* viola

SORA TRIO*Magdalena Geka violinAngèle Legasa celloPauline Chenais piano

*Prizewinners of the Académie Internationale de Musique Maurice Ravel of 2016

The Palazzetto Bru Zane has been a partner of the Académie Ravel since September 2015. Each year it invites the Academy’s students and teachers to meet up again at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in order to share and pass on to others their taste for French Romantic music. In 2017 the young artists will perform under the auspices of Stéphanie-Marie Degand and Jean-Claude Pennetier.

Production Palazzetto Bru ZaneIn collaboration with C.I.C.T. – Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord

The concert will be recorded by France Musique

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The Académie Internationale de Musique Maurice Ravel, a non-profit association based in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, has contributed to the artistic and cultural life of the Basque Country for the past fifty years. In commemoration of the art of Maurice Ravel, it participates in the training of young French and international virtuosos by organising public masterclasses and two concert series promoting the French repertory.

The Palazzetto Bru Zane and the Académie Internationale de Musique Maurice Ravel have pursued their partnership focusing on teaching the French Romantic repertory for a second season. The programme of public courses, masterclasses and lectures offered to the young musicians taking part in the 2016 season concentrated on pronunciation and the concept of theatre ‘à la française’ for the singers, and the notion of a ‘stylistic school’ for the instrumentalists. Award winners from the September session will have the opportunity to present the results of their work at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord as part of the Festival Palazzetto Bru Zane in Paris, and also at Art Night in Venice on 17 June 2017.

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Singer Caroline Branchu (Villa Medici Collection)

Hervé Niquet © Éric Manas

FRIDAY 16.06.2017 7 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

PANEL DISCUSSION‘PRONONCER LE CHANT FRANÇAIS’

It is hardly necessary by now to demonstrate the importance of the libretto and its narration in French opera. From Gluck (and even Lully) to Poulenc, composers used every possible means to ensure that the pronunciation of the text would allow the listener to understand every word. And yet, over the past few decades, it has become increasingly difficult to follow those words. The hegemony of surtitles seems today to give material form to a kind of renunciation, at the very time when certain conductors and singers are attempting to revive the lost art of declamation. The Palazzetto Bru Zane has embarked with them on this adventure. Here is a forum dealing with a highly polemical subject . . .

Panel members

Tassis Christoyannis baritone Cyrille Dubois tenor Hélène Guilmette soprano Hervé Niquet conductor, music director of Le Concert Spirituel Richard Martet editor, Opéra Magazine Agnès Terrier dramaturge at the Opéra Comique Alexandre Dratwicki musicological director of the Palazzetto Bru Zane (panel chairman)

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FRIDAY 16.06.2017 20.30 P.M.THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD

RECITAL VÉRONIQUE GENS

Mélodies and arias by LALO, HAHN, VARNEY, CHAUSSON, FAURÉ, DUPARC…

Louis VARNEY: La Reine des Halles – Valse de Stella HERVÉ: La Cosaque – Rondeau de la femme accomplie Henri DUPARC: Chanson triste – L’Invitation au voyage Théodore DUBOIS: Ce qui dure Ernest CHAUSSON: Le Temps des lilas Reynaldo HAHN: Le Rossignol des lilas – Trois Jours de vendange Gabriel FAURÉ: Le Papillon et la Fleur – Les Roses d’Ispahan – Les Berceaux Édouard LALO: Tristesse Jacques OFFENBACH: La Cigale et la Fourmi – Le Corbeau et le Renard Reynaldo HAHN: À Chloris – Tyndaris Francis POULENC: Voyage à Paris – Les Chemins de l’amour

Véronique Gens sopranoSusan Manoff piano

A peerless tragedienne and diseuse of the French language, Véronique Gens is also an outstanding recitalist, much admired for her regular duo concerts with the pianist Susan Manoff and internationally acclaimed for her recordings of Hahn, Debussy, Duparc and Chausson. The soprano will present a ‘carte blanche’ programme of mélodies and operetta arias.

Production Palazzetto Bru ZaneIn collaboration with C.I.C.T. – Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord

The concert will be recorded by France Musique

Véronique Gens © Franck Juery / Alpha Classics

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VisionsHALÉVY, BRUNEAU, BIZET, DAVID, FÉVRIER, GODARD, FRANCK, MASSENET, NIEDERMEYER, SAINT-SAËNSVéronique Gens Münchner Rundfunkorchester Hervé Niquet ALPHA CLASSICS / PALAZZETTO BRU ZANE (Release date: 9 June 2017)

Camille SAINT-SAËNS ProserpineVéronique GensMarie-Adeline HenryFrédéric AntounAndrew Foster-WilliamsJean Teitgen Flemish Radio ChoirSymphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Ulf Schirmer «Opéra français» CD-books series, PALAZZETTO BRU ZANE (Release date: May 2017)

Véronique Gens and French Romantic music in May-June 2017:

• Release in May of the CD-book of Proserpine by Camille Saint-Saëns in the ‘Opéra Français’ series, with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester under Ulf Schirmer.

• Appearance in the title role of Fromental Halévy’s La Reine de Chypre for the inaugural concert of the festival at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 7 June, with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and the Flemish Radio Choir under the direction of Hervé Niquet.

• Release on 9 June of the Alpha Classics CD Visions (arias from operas and oratorios by Massenet, Halévy, Bruneau, Franck, Niedermeyer, Février and others) with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester conducted by Hervé Niquet.

• Recital at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord on 16 June, in a programme devoted to the mélodie (music by Lalo, Hahn, Varney, Chausson, Fauré, Duparc etc.).

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ABOUT THE COMPOSER CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS

As part of the cycle dedicated to the composer in 2016-2017

Find all the news on bru-zane.com

Camille SAINT-SAËNS Mélodies with orchestraYann Beuron, Tassis ChristoyannisOrchestra della Svizzera ItalianaMarkus PoschnerALPHA CLASSICS / PALAZZETTO BRU ZANE (2017)Diapason d’or, CHOC by CLassica and fff by Télérama prizes

Camille SAINT-SAËNS Mélodies Tassis Christoyannis, Jeff CohenAPARTÉ / PALAZZETTO BRU ZANE (2016)Diapason découverte prize

Camille SAINT-SAËNS Les BarbaresCatherine Hunold, Julia Gertseva, Edgaras Montvidas... Chœur lyrique and orchestre symphonique Saint-Étienne Loire Laurent Campellone «Opéra français» seriesPALAZZETTO BRU ZANE (2014)Diapason découverte prize

Camille SAINT-SAËNS et le prix de Rome Julie Fuchs, Marina De Liso, Solenn’ Lavanant Linke, Bernard Richter... Brussels Philharmonic Flemish Radio ChoirHervé Niquet «Prix de Rome» seriesPALAZZETTO BRU ZANE (2010)

Camille SAINT-SAËNS – Jacques ROUCHÉ: correspondance (1913-1921)Work coordinated byMarie-Gabrielle SoretBook in FrenchCollection ACTES SUD / PALAZZETTO BRU ZANE (2016)

Camille SAINT-SAËNS, le compositeur globe-trotter by Stéphane Leteuré Book in FrenchCollection ACTES SUD / PALAZZETTO BRU ZANE (Release date: May 2017)

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Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord37 (bis), boulevard de la Chapelle75010 Paris

Reservations +33 1 46 07 34 50Monday to Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.Saturday from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.bouffesdunord.com

By Métro, La Chapelle Line 2(Note: not Porte de la Chapelle)Métro: Gare du Nord, Line 4 or 5 RER B, D or E

Tickets 10 to 30 euros

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées15, Avenue Montaigne75008 Paris

Reservations +33 1 49 52 50 50theatrechampselysees.fr

Tickets 5 to 85 euros

Editor of musicology articles: Louise Bernard de RaymondHélène CaoGérard CondéAlexandre DratwickiFanny GribenskiÉtienne JardinNicolas Southon

Palazzetto Bru ZaneCentre de musique romantique françaiseSan Polo 2368, 30125 Venice - Italycontact@bru-zane.com

BRU-ZANE.COM

Opéra Comique1, place Boieldieu75002 Paris

Reservations0825 01 01 23 (0,15 euros/min)opera-comique.com

Tickets 6 to 135 euros

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