An 80th Birthday Tribute to Florent Schmitt

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 […]

Jeudis de Florent Schmitt: Florent Schmitt’s longtime home in St-Cloud was a gathering spot for musical Paris for decades.

Much has been written about the famous salonnières of Paris — the wealthy and often-flamboyant grandes dames who opened up their drawing rooms to musicians, authors and artists — facilitating not only the camaraderie of “breaking bread” together but also providing a venue for these creatives to socialize with prominent members of Parisian society representing […]

Florent Schmitt’s Valedictory Composition: Symphony No. 2 (1957)

Here we have it, ladies and gentlemen: France’s missing symphony from the 1950s … It is almost impossibly beautiful, with some of the most kaleidoscopic sound-staging and effective bass sonorities you will encounter. Florent Schmitt’s Second Symphony was never precisely lost, to be sure. It’s actually the Francophone fifties which seemed to disappear and turn […]