Res#19+: PhDs

The renowned Spanish cellist Pablo Casals (1876–1973) writes in his autobiography that in 1895 he was determined to study at the Brussels Conservatory at all costs. Although these plans ultimately came to little, it is remarkable that the Brussels cello class already had a significant international reputation. According to biographer Peter François, this is largely the result of the work and artistic legacy of one man in particular: François Servais, a native of Halle. Can a distinctively Belgian, content-driven cello school also be identified, and does it continue to thrive today? How does Servais’ oeuvre relate to both the context of his time and our own, and can we pinpoint the specific artistic characteristics of Brussels cellists?

The PhD research of Jens Demey aims to develop an informed artistic practice for contrabass tubas from 1845 (its invention) to the present day, using a cultural-historical context and an organological study. With a tube length of approximately 6 metres, the contrabass tuba is the largest brass instrument and thus the foundation of the orchestra. Its construction has changed significantly throughout history, while local construction traditions have remained intact. This has led to an enormous variety of instrument types (i.e. contrabass tuba varieties), which this study examines for the first time from an artistic perspective. This research consists of five steps. In the first step, the contrabass tuba varieties made by instrument makers in Paris, Vienna and Berlin are catalogued. In the second step, the playing characteristics of these instruments are compared using practice-based methods and then tested by other contrabass tuba players. In the third step, the instruments are measured using three acoustic and electro-technical measurement techniques (impedance software, sound analyses and bore calculations), after which the results are linked to the artistic experiments from the second step. The fourth step involves categorising contrabass tubas so that they can be used in a targeted manner in concert practice. In a final step, research-based recordings are made to share the results with a research community. In addition to developing an informed performance practice, this research will also lead to a better cultural-historical understanding of the contrabass tuba and the development of innovative techniques in organology, which will be translated into contemporary instrument making. 

Around 1800, Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel each composed a trumpet concerto, for chromatic keyed trumpet. This keyed trumpet, like the keyed bugle, slide trumpet, stop trumpet, cornopean and other early 19th-century trumpet forms, is one of the forerunners of today's trumpet. In 1900, Alphonse Goeyens, trumpet teacher at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, discovered a manuscript of the Haydn concerto in the conservatory library. This research aims to examine the evolution of chromatic trumpets in the Low Countries within these 100 years. For this purpose, we focus on Brussels and Ghent (two of the earliest conservatories in our country), two influential Belgian cultural centres, which have been underexposed both culturally and artistically in terms of the development of these chromatic trumpets. In a first step, this research will identify historical source material from national and international archives. In a second step, we aim to link these sources to historical instrumentation, instrument builders and performers. In a third step, using historical playing methods, chamber music and solo repertoire, this research will critically analyse the performance practice of chromatic trumpets in order to reconstruct a historically informed performance practice in a final step. Using both cultural-historical knowledge and historically informed artistic praxis, this research will contribute to the understanding of the chromatic trumpet. 

This project studies the constitutive role of performer-composer Francisca “Chiquinha” Gonzaga (1847-1935) in the development of choro, Brazil’s first instrumental urban popular music. Building on postcolonial theories of creolization and Gonzalez’s concept of Amefricanidade, it examines how Gonzaga’s compositions and performances related to Afro-Brazilian and European musical traditions, as well as broader cultural narratives of gender, class, race, and musicianship of late 19th- and early 20th-century Brazil. This project argues that Gonzaga not only engaged with and strategically disrupted gendered, class-based, and racial norms of choro, but also participated in processes of musical creolization through which key stylistic materials (rhythm, melody, harmony) were transformed into a new urban genre, thereby defining choro’s musical language. The research combines (1) Gonzaga’s reception in historical newspapers and periodicals to explore how public discourse framed her musicianship; (2) her distinctive musical aesthetics within choro, examining how race, gender, and class shaped her compositions and music performance; and (3) the creation of historically informed performances of her choro guitar repertoire. By highlighting the contributions of a woman in the Global South, this project advances a more profound understanding of historical choro performance and challenges established Eurocentric and male-focused music studies.