“Courtly and polite, mixed with humor and sarcasm”: Florent Schmitt sits for an interview with Le Guide du concert magazine (1929).

February 14, 2023 · by Phillip Nones | in Composers, French Composers | tagged André Caplet, Andre Perchicot, Cesar Franck, Chabrier, Cyril Plante, Dukas, Faure, Florent Schmitt, Gedalge, Honegger, Lavignac, Le Guide du Concert, Madame de Saint-Marceaux, Nicolas Horvath, Paul Bigot, Pierre-Octave Ferroud, Prix de Rome, Schmitt, Schoenberg, Sebastien Damarey, Steven Kruger, Stravinsky, Triton Chamber Music Society | 2 Comments

Several months ago Sébastien Damarey, a faithful reader of the Florent Schmitt Website + Blog, sent me a very interesting historical artifact — an interview with Florent Schmitt that was published in the January 25, 1929 issue of the French arts magazine Le Guide du concert et des théâtres lyriques. What makes this article particularly […]

Musicologist Suddhaseel Sen talks about the artistry of Florent Schmitt and the importance of his “orientalist” compositions.

August 15, 2017 · by Phillip Nones | in Classical Music, Composers, French Composers | tagged Albert Roussel, Balzan Research Project, Bibliotheque Nationale, Chabrier, Dutilleux, Edward Said, ESRA Congress, European Shakespeare Research Association, Florent Schmitt, French Composers, Herodiade, Honegger, La Sulamite, Lionel Salter, Mediatheque Musicale Mahler, Messiaen, Naresh Sohal, Orientalism, Padmavati, Rabindranath Tagore, Reinhard Strohm, Schmitt, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Suddhaseel Sen, Villa-Lobos | 3 Comments

Musicologist, author and teacher Suddhaseel Sen comes to his appreciation of Western classical music from an interesting angle. A native of the Indian subcontinent, Dr. Sen made his first musical discoveries there, long before coming to the West for a range of music-related studies and research. Today, Dr. Sen is back in India as Assistant Professor of Humanities […]

Introït, récit et congé: Florent Schmitt’s tour de force for cello and orchestra (1948).

February 23, 2014 · by Phillip Nones | in Classical Music, Composers, French Composers | tagged Andre Navarra, Anne Gastinel, Cello, Classical Music, Composers, Faure, Florent Schmitt, French Composers, Henri Demarquette, Honegger, Ibert, Introit recit et conge, Jacques Mercier, Jolivet, Lorraine National Orchestra, MusicWeb, Nones, Paul Paray, Rene Dumesnil, Rob Barnett, Schmitt, Timpani | 5 Comments

Over his seven decades-long composing career, Florent Schmitt would pen three concertante works for cello. The early Chant élégiaque (from 1899-1903) seems clearly influenced by Schmitt’s teacher and mentor, Gabriel Fauré, who had composed his own Elegy for Cello & Orchestra in the 1880s. The 1932 Final for Cello & Orchestra comes from Schmitt’s middle period of […]