Florent Schmitt and four decades of the Parisian salon.

August 1, 2024 · by Phillip Nones | in Classical Music, Composers, French Composers | tagged Camille Marbo, Evangeline Bruce, Ezra Pound, Florent Schmitt, George Antheil, Gertrude Stein, Grovlez, Jean Chalon, Jeanne Dubost, Jeudis de Florent Schmitt, Mary Mantelin, Natalie Clifford Barney, Natalie Fridays, Pensees d'une Amazone, Schmitt, Sisley Huddleston, Suzanne Rodriguez, Vera Nimidoff Bour, Virgil Thomson | 2 Comments

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 […]

Organist and music researcher Guillaume Le Dréau talks about French composer Florent Schmitt’s consequential work as a Parisian music critic (1912-1939).

January 20, 2017 · by Phillip Nones | in Classical Music, Composers, French Composers, Organ Music | tagged Alain Louvier, Charles Munch, Courrier Musical, David Eccott, Florent Schmitt, France Musicale, French Composers, French Music, Guillaume le Dreau, Jascha Heifetz, La Revue de France, La Revue Musicale, Le Temps, Marche Nuptiale, Music Criticism, Nicolas Slonimsky, Norman Demuth, Paris Conservatoire, Remy Campos, Rennes Cathedral, Revue Musicale, Schmitt, Virgil Thomson | 1 Comment

Guillaume Le Dréau is one of the most multi-faceted musicians I know. A keyboard artist, he is currently the organist at Rennes Cathedral in France — but this position represents only one aspect of his many musical activities. Not only does he play the organ and piano, he is a composer, an arranger, a teacher and a researcher. […]

Hallucinatory Atmospherics: Florent Schmitt’s Rêves (1915)

August 3, 2014 · by Phillip Nones | in Classical Music, Composers, French Composers | tagged Alfred Kalisch, Bartlolome Perez Casas, Benoit Duteurtre, Berlin RSO, Camille Chevillard, Carlos Salzedo, David Robertson, Dreams, Fabien Gabel, Florent Schmitt, French Composers, Legende, Leif Segerstam, Leon-Paul Fargue, Les Apaches, Madeleine Grovlez, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Phillip Hale, Reves, Schmitt, Serge Koussevitzky, Sir Henry Wood, Stravinsky, Symbolist Poets, Symbolists, Virgil Thomson | Leave a comment

“An extraordinary mélée of color and line, with a free canon that is not far from polytonia …” — Virgil Thomson, American composer and music critic Sprinkled throughout the catalogue of Florent Schmitt’s compositions are a goodly number of shorter orchestral pieces. They range in their moods from contemplative to joyous to stormy. One of […]