Florent Schmitt’s three instruments were the flute, the organ and the piano. Arguably the piano was the one he preferred most — at least based on the quantity of music he created — for within the catalogue of Schmitt’s compositions are vast swaths of music written for the piano solo, piano duet and duo.

The large majority of these compositions appeared earlier in Schmitt’s musical career — from around 1890 to the early 1920s. But Schmitt’s middle and later period would also produce a number of important solo piano scores — notably these four sets:

• Trois danses, Op. 86 (1935)
• Chaine brisée, Op. 87 (1937)
• Small Gestures, Op. 92 (1940)
• Enfants, Op. 94 (1941)

Among them, the Trois danses, Op. 86 is particularly interesting.  This set of pieces explores different dance styles down through the centuries.  Schmitt dedicated each of the movements to notable French pianists of the time.

Composed in 1935 and published by Durand the following year, the three movements in the set are as follows:

I.  Monferrine: Subtitled Bourrée lombarde, this movement is based on a folk dance from the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, which appears to have originated in the second half of the 18th century. The monferrina is a three-part dance similar to a tarantella.  Schmitt dedicated this first movement to the famed French pianist Marguerite Long (1874-1966).

II.  Bocane: This movement is named after a social dance of the early Baroque. Popular during the period 1580-1655, it is similar in form to a courante.  Interestingly, the inventor of the bocane was Jacques Cordier, a dancing master to Queen Anne of Austria and numerous other European noblewomen.  Cordier has been described as “absolutely illiterate — and even ignorant of music.”  His physique wasn’t much better — gouty and crook-shanked, with distorted hand and foot features.  Despite these infirmities, he was prized for his violin playing and his ability to compose “charming airs.”  Indeed, in addition to the bocane, Cordier is credited with creating the pavane dance style.  Florent Schmitt dedicated this movement of the set to the pianist and teacher Lucette Descaves (1906-1993).

III.  Danse de corde:  The final movement of Trois danses translates roughly in English as a “rope dance” — although I cannot find any specific reference to this particular dance type.  To my ears it has the feel of a passepied, a brisk minuet popular in the 17th and 18 centuries — but one with considerably more “bite and abandon.”  Schmitt dedicated this movement to Hélène Pignari, a pianist who was later to become famous for her concertizing and recording collaborations with the violinist Louis Kaufman.

For a number of years following their composition, the movements of the Trois danses were the solo piano pieces by Schmitt performed most frequently.  Among its interpreters have been the pianists Lucette Descaves and Georges Pludermacher, whose performances of the piece were broadcast over French Radio in 1954 and 1962, respectively.

Françoise Gobet was another pianist whose performance of Trois danses was broadcast by Radio-France, and she would also make the first — and so far only — commercial recording of the music in 1957.

It is a fine, idiomatic reading from a consummate musical artist who studied under Marguerite Long, Jean Doyen and Fernand Oubradous. Born in 1929, Mme. Gobet made her professional debut at the Paris Exposition of 1937.  She has been associated with contemporary music throughout her career, championing in particular the works of Jacques Ibert and Henry Barraud.

Released on the Véga label, Mme. Gobet’s recording of Schmitt’s Trois danses shared billing with piano music by four other French contemporary composers (Georges Auric, Claude Delvincourt, André Jolivet and Jean Rivier).

Long out of print, for decades the Véga LP was one of the most elusive of rare recordings. But in 2011, the industrious French-based Forgotten Records label prepared a digital remastering using a mint-condition LP pressing — thereby making the recording available to the public once again for the first time in 40+ years.

I own a copy of the original Véga LP as well as the Forgotten Records CD reissue, so I can attest to the fine quality of the transfer. The CD rendition can be ordered from the Forgotten Records website, and the company ships its products worldwide.  For those who will be satisfied with less-than-pristine sonics of the Gobet performance as uploaded to YouTube recently, you can listen to the music while following along with the score, thanks to George ‘Nick’ Gianopoulos and his fine music channel.

These days, Trois danses no longer holds the distinction of being Florent Schmitt’s most oft-performed solo piano work.  And yet, considering its inspiration, inventiveness and appeal, there’s no reason why pianists of today shouldn’t investigate this music and introduce it to a new generation of music-lovers.

Fortunately, one who has taken an interest is the Spanish pianist Joan-Ramon Company Tormo.  Mr. Company Tormo considers Trois danses to be uncommonly beautiful music that deserves to be better-known. Recently, he went into the Aclam Recording Studio in Barcelona to document his interpretation of the second movement of the suite (Bocane). His idiomatic rendition was captured on video and has been uploaded to YouTube. It is well-worth watching.

What’s more, this score was also orchestrated by the composer — just as Schmitt would do with many of his other piano suites.

In early 1939, the orchestral version of Trois danses was premiered by the Colonne Concerts Orchestra under the direction of Paul Paray.

Judging from the instrumentation called for in the composer’s orchestrated version of the piece, it’s clear that hearing the music in that form would be a fantastic experience.

But with the exception of an elusive recording made of just the final movement of the set (by Eugène Bigot and the Lamoureux Orchestra during World War II), I have found no evidence of the orchestrated version being performed anywhere since the late 1930s.

All of which means … it’s high-time for one of Florent Schmitt’s most ardent champions to bring this score into the bright sunlight of today.  Who’s ready to pick up the mantle?

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Update (8/6/22):  While we still don’t have a new commercial recording of Trois danses available to hear, there’s good news in that a new live performance of the complete suite has now appeared on YouTube. The performer is Clément Canonne, a pianist who is also a researcher at the Analysis of Musical Practices research group of the Centre national de recherche scientifique in France (affiliated with IRCAM).

In his pianistic pursuits, Mr. Canonne has been focusing his attention on later-career pieces by Florent Schmitt. In fact, this is the fourth set of such compositions that he has uploaded to YouTube — the others being Chaîne brisée (1937), Suite sans esprit de suite (1939), and Clavecin obtempérant (1946). The last two of these uploads happen to be the only piano versions of the music available to hear anywhere.

As for Trois danses, the movements of the piano version have been uploaded by Mr. Canonne separately and can be accessed here:

• Montferrine
• Bocane 
• Danse de corde