An Ali Baba’s cave! The premises of the French Romantic Music Center resemble an attic filled with treasures. Located a stone’s throw from the Saint-Martin canal, the offices of this private research institute are home to hundreds of boxes filled with old paper. Do not rely on the modest appearance of these documents. The music books and manuscripts they contain are very rare works, some signed by the greatest French composers.
This musicologist from Moselle – whose twin brother, Benoît Dratwicki, runs a center in Versailles dedicated to Baroque music – has gathered around him a handful of passionate researchers. They attempt to emerge from the oblivion of artists who, not content with having lived in the shadow of Wagner or Verdi, did not have the chance to see their works recorded.
“Our mission is to make their music accessible. Because, for lack of being engraved on disc, it is often reduced, today, to partitions which gather dust in the reserves of the libraries “, emits Sébastien Troester, who participated, for two years, in the reconstitution of the one of Offenbach’s most famous operettas, La Vie parisienne, in its original, never performed version.
Most often, this mission is similar to that of a Benedictine monk perusing the catalogs of archives throughout Europe before copying pages and pages of scores. The profession has its playful moments when it comes to reconstructing, like a puzzle, a work whose pages have been scattered across the four corners of the continent. “The rest of the time, it’s a bookworm job in the conservatories of major European capitals,” smiles Alexandre Dratwicki. “We eat paper all day long,” jokes Sébastien Troester.
These seekers share a “nosy” character. Half-private detectives, half-second-hand dealers, they hunt down not only scores, but also, sometimes, forgotten drafts to find “the” original version of the work. They collect photos, correspondence but also the staging booklets which describe very precisely the dramaturgy of the operas.
All their findings are carefully scanned and posted online for researchers around the world. The Palazzetto Bru Zane database has several hundred thousand documents with free access. “We only charge for reproduction rights, and again… at a very advantageous rate,” says Alexandre Dratwicki.
On this summer’s eve, the center’s work will help wake up some female composers of the 19th century to whom the Palazzetto Bru Zane has also dedicated a beautiful set of records*. They are called Marthe Bracquemond, Cécile Chaminade, Hedwige Chrétien, Marie-Foscarine Damaschino, Jeanne Danglas, Clémence de Grandval, Marthe Grumbach, Madeleine Jaeger, Marie Jaëll, Madeleine Lemariey, Hélène de Montgeroult, Virginie Morel, Henriette Renié or even Charlotte Sohy. From June 19 to July 4, their music will be played in Paris – notably at the Champs-Élysées theater – for too long ignored by the general public.
As 2025 approaches the bicentenary of the birth of Jacques Offenbach’s great rival, Louis-Auguste-Florimond Ronger, better known by his pseudonym Hervé, and the 150th anniversary of Bizet’s death in 1875… the Palazzetto Bru Zane continues his tireless work of musical archeology by seeking unreleased works by these two composers. But also new treasures in the Victor Massé, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Ambroise Thomas, Adolphe Adam and Daniel-François-Esprit Auber collections. “There are still a lot of nuggets to find,” enthuses Alexandre Dratwicki.
