A STUDY OF ADRIEN-FRANÇOIS SERVAIS’ PEDAGOGICAL WORKS AND STYLISTIC TRAITS: TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE BELGIAN CELLO SCHOOL

Abstract

Part One deals with Servais’ biography and impact on the Belgian School of Cello playing: Chapter One presents a summary of Servais’ extant biographical materials with emphasis on Peter Francois’ new critical biography; Chapter Two provides a timeline of professors at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels from its inception until 1920 including each professor’s contributions to the Belgian Cello School. Part Two breaks down Servais’ Etudes and Caprices with descriptive analyses and discussions of relevant technical concepts/challenges; the Etudes are studied in Chapter Three for their applications in Servais’ repertoire and the standard cello repertoire, and the Caprices are studied in Chapter Four as standalone concert works and as fulfillment of Belgian pedagogical priorities. The appendices include presently-unavailable pedagogical works that are critical to a comprehensive study of the Belgian School of cello pedagogy: those of Servais’ teacher Nicolas Platel and Servais’ colleague at the Conservatory Constant-Adolphe Warot. While outside the scope of this present paper, these works are included to spark further discussion and study of this body of work.