A thorough understanding of the history of French music of the 19^thcentury can’t be got from studying the careers of individual musicians and an analysis of the works they composed or performed alone. Available instrumentation (itself burgeoning at the height of an industrial revolution), the artistic way of life in the period (whether in private salons or major concert societies) and the development of new operatic or instrumental genres, are all factors that contribute to a complete picture of the period’s intensely-productive music scene. In this section, you’ll find topic-related programme notes for concerts given at Palazzetto Bru Zane. The articles aim to situate each performance in its 19^th-century French context (by genre, compositional “school”, instrumentation and the venues they were intended for). Links at the bottom of the page for each entry allow users to click through to other files (people, works, documents, etc.) relating to the topic in question.