The famous Spanish cellist Pablo Casals (1876-1973) mentioned in his autobiography that in 1895 he came to study at the Brussels Conservatoire. Although little came of these plans, it is noteworthy that the Brussels cello class had great international appeal.
According to biographer Peter François, this was the result of the work and artistic legacy of essentially one man, namely François Servais (1807-1866). In his ‘The Belgian School of Cello Playing’ (2017), François designates Servais as the founder of this cello school, unlike, for instance, ‘The Cambridge Companion to the Cello’ (1999), which puts forward French cellist Nicolas Platel (1777-1835) as its founder.
Indeed, since becoming a teacher at the same Conservatory in 1848, Servais built a rich artistic and pedagogical career, but nevertheless, there is hardly any practice-oriented research today into the half-century between Servais' rise and the appeal of the Brussels Conservatory as a cello hotspot.
The ‘École de Basse’ referred to above can be interpreted as a lineage of successive students who also became teachers at the same institute, thus increasing the school's appeal. Their students generally became extremely accomplished and versatile cellist-composers, men as well as women, who, however, despite their tremendous success, have almost all fallen into oblivion and whose music, unless for pedagogical purposes, is hardly performed anymore.
So, if a school can be defined by a number of clear parameters, which are these of the Belgian cello school? Does an identifiable substantive-artistic Brussels cello school also exist, and if so, to what extent is it still relevant? How does Servais' oeuvre relate to the context of this school, or even to his and our time, and can we put our finger on the specific artistic characteristics of the Brussels cellists? If so, to what extent did they continue to work to this day?
By starting from both historical source material and the paradigm of the Brussels cello class, a distinct personal artistic output such as new concert formulas, publications, educational and organological insights, projects and musical theatre performances can emerge through distinct artistic methods.
Picture: Carmen De Vos
