“A genius essentially dynamic, fed by strong rhythms and dark and violent colors …” — Émile Vuillermoz, French arts critic and author In 1927, Durand brought out the first biography of Florent Schmitt, one of the brightest stars in the publishing firm’s galaxy of composers. At the time, Schmitt was 57 years old and at […]
Tag Archives: Schmitt
Live concert performances of Florent Schmitt’s monumental Piano Quintet, Op. 51 (1902-08) may be an uncommon occurrence, but they’re always a cause for celebration. The most recent presentation of this stunning product of France’s “Golden Age” of music occurred at Toppan Hall in Tokyo, Japan on April 30, 2026. The performance featured pianist Tomoki Sakata joined by […]
After decades of obscurity, suddenly both the piano and orchestral versions of Schmitt’s suite receive new recordings – as well as renewed attention from performers. In the 1930s, Florent Schmitt was arguably at the peak of his creative powers. It was a decade that saw a prodigious amount of music come from the composer’s pen […]
Clément Canonne’s second recording of music by Florent Schmitt encompasses all the solo piano scores created by the composer during the 1930s. One of the most interesting and significant recent recordings of Florent Schmitt’s music features three solo piano compositions dating from the composer’s late-career period (the 1940s and ‘50s). The disc was recorded by […]
When Florent Schmitt passed away in August 1958 at the age of nearly 88 years, the noted composer Henri Dutilleux penned this memorable epitaph about his older compatriot’s significance to French music: “Florent Schmitt was the last of that great family to which Ravel, Dukas, and Roussel belonged. He remains one of them who, by a […]
For his newest Florent Schmitt Chandos recording (scheduled for release in October 2026), when French conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier was considering contemporaneous compositions to pair with Schmitt’s strikingly modern Symphonie concertante (1931-32), one of his choices might seem curious: Çançunik, Op. 79, dating from 1927-29. Compared to the Symphonie concertante – and indeed to several […]
“I’d never before seen a score as mind-blowing as the Symphonie concertante …” — Yan Pascal Tortelier, Conductor Emeritus, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra In late October 2025, veteran director Yan Pascal Tortelier, joined by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra of which he is the conductor emeritus, as well as pianist Peter Donohoe, recorded a program for Chandos […]
In the summer of 1932, the American music critic Leonard Liebling, longtime editor-in-chief of the weekly national publication Musical Courier, sat down with Florent Schmitt in Paris, four months prior to Schmitt’s first (and only) trip to the United States, for a meet-and-greet conversation. Mr. Liebling’s impressions of the French composer were published in the […]
In a September 2025 interview, the 96-year-old composer shares her recollections of Florent Schmitt and his distinctive personality. In this year of 2025, it is difficult to imagine that there are any musicians alive who’d have had personal interactions with French composer Florent Schmitt. After all, Schmitt passed away in 1958, and nearly seven decades […]
“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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]