When Florent Schmitt died in August 1958, fellow composer Henri Dutilleux wrote a memorable epitaph in honor of his older compatriot: “Florent Schmitt was the last of that great family to which Ravel, Dukas, and Roussel belonged. He remains one of them who, by a happy assimilation of German and Central European influences, recalled the […]
Category Archives: Film Music
The new soundtrack, prepared by Simon Cloquet-Lafollye, includes nearly an hour of music taken from four Florent Schmitt orchestral scores. The epic film Napoléon is rightly viewed as one of the greatest cinematographic feats in motion picture history. And this distinction is even more impressive when we consider that Napoléon was a silent film produced […]
On May 12, 2022, the French conductor Fabien Gabel stepped up to the podium in the auditorium of Maison de la Radio in Paris to lead the Orchestre National de France in two works by Florent Schmitt: the symphonic picture Rêves, Op. 65 (dating from 1915) and the large-scale choral work Psaume XLVII, Op. 38 (composed […]
It isn’t uncommon for classical composers to create alternate versions of their musical creations. Many have prepared piano reductions of their orchestral works, or done the opposite by orchestrating pieces originally written for piano. We also have numerous examples of pieces that began life as chamber music that were later orchestrated by their creators; the […]
Recently, several photos were uploaded to Twitter that had been taken at a social event in Paris celebrating the release of the first-ever commercial recording of Florent Schmitt’s stunning choral composition Psaume XLVII. Held in February 1953 at Pathé-Marconi headquarters, the event was attended by tout Paris – at least in terms of the classical […]
In a life cut tragically short even as Florent Schmitt’s was blessedly long, Olivier Despax was a musical meteor shot across the sky. Music history is full of examples of family members following in the footsteps of important composers and musicians. It’s easy to understand why — exposed (and even immersed) as they would have been […]
One of the world’s leading journalists and authors on film music gives Schmitt’s score pride of place in the first quarter century of motion pictures. Among the most intriguing entries in the catalogue of Florent Schmitt’s compositions are the three suites he extracted from his score to the silent film Salammbô, which was premiered at the […]
There are a number of indisputably great composers for the film: names like Richard Addinsell, David Raksin, Dimitri Tiomkin and John Williams. And there are “serious” 20th century composes who also devoted more than a little of their effort and energy to writing for the screen. Erich Wolfgang Korngold comes immediately to mind, although one could also […]