On August 17, 2025 two of Florent Schmitt’s Trois rapsodies, Op. 53 – Polonaise and Viennoise – were presented in concert at Garth Newel Music Center in Hot Springs, Virginia by duo-pianists Genevieve Fei-wen Lee and Brian Hsu. The performance was part of Garth Newel’s “Piano Weekend” set of two concerts featuring four pianists (Jeannette […]
“We shortchange Florent Schmitt if we don’t admire in him, along with his formidable power, that quivering sensitivity to which we owe some of the most moving pages of contemporary music.” — Louis Aubert, French composer and critic Ask people who are familiar with the music of Florent Schmitt, and they’ll typically identify him with […]
“Florent Schmitt likes our imperfect planet; the planet reciprocates.” — Nicolas Slonimsky, musicologist, composer and conductor In 1932, French composer Florent Schmitt made his first and only journey to the United States. The reason for the trip was to perform as soloist in the composer’s own Symphonie concertante, Op. 82 for orchestra with piano, which […]
For afficionados of Florent Schmitt’s music, the upcoming 2025-26 concert season will include symphonic works that cover a wide swath of the composer’s career, with eight compositions created over a 50-year period from 1890 to 1941. In addition to two acknowledged “big hits” (La Tragédie de Salomé and Psaume XLVII), the featured repertoire includes several […]
Several months ago, I published an article about an 80th birthday tribute event honoring Florent Schmitt that was organized in 1950 by the town of St-Cloud, where the composer had lived for 40+ years. The festivities included a gala reception and concert featuring recent compositions created by Schmitt, presented by leading French classical musicians. Not […]
A true rarity in the Florent Schmitt catalogue of compositions is a work that he created in 1920 as a result of a commission from a philosophy society – the Trois chants en l’honneur d’Auguste Comte, Op. 71. The 13-minute work is a vocal composition consisting of a central hymn bracketed on each side by […]
The town of Saint-Cloud honored its longtime resident Florent Schmitt on the occasion of his 80th birthday, presenting a gala concert featuring his recent compositions. When Florent Schmitt turned eighty years old on September 28, 1950, he was the most prominent French composer of his generation who was still active creatively. To be sure, there […]
The new release on the Urborigène Records label, performed by French pianist Clément Canonne, includes two world premiere recordings plus an unpublished 1950 piano sonata that later became the wind composition Chants alizés. Music-lovers who are familiar with the music of Florent Schmitt know that a significant number of his compositions were written for the […]
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 […]
Within the catalogue of compositions by Florent Schmitt are a large number of choral works, great and small. Of these, music-lovers are most likely to be familiar with Schmitt’s grandiose setting of Psalm 47, which he composed in 1904 and which was premiered in Paris in 1906. But the Psalm isn’t all that representative of […]
In my years of interfacing with professional classical musicians, I’ve noticed how frequently friendships that had been established during their years of study at music schools and conservatories have continued for decades thereafter, as professional lives intersect and opportunities to collaborate present themselves on a recurring basis. Less common — but in some ways more […]
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 […]
The catalogue of Florent Schmitt’s compositions is extensive, consisting of some 138 opus-numbered items (actually, two numbers weren’t used by the composer — including Op. 111, omitted in deference to Beethoven’s 32nd Piano Sonata). But there’s more. Going beyond the “official” catalogue, we find a number of additional items. Chief among them are Schmitt’s first […]
On Thursday, March 17, 1894, the 239th concert of the Société nationale de musique was presented at the Salle Érard in Paris. It was the first time a piece composed by Florent Schmitt had appeared on any Parisian music program. Among the two mélodies by Schmitt presented that evening by contralto Nelly Guénia was one […]
The French composer played a major role over four decades as both a host and a participant in Paris’ salon culture. We know from history that in addition to being a composer and music critic, Florent Schmitt was a salonnier. From the 1920s on, he and his wife Jeanne hosted regular Thursday afternoon open house […]