Florent Schmitt (1870-1958) is one of the most fascinating of France’s lesser-known classical composers. Born in the small town of Blâmont (Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine) —a community practically within sight of the newly-drawn, post-Franco-Prussian War boundary between France and Germany —Schmitt’s German surname belied the fact that he was a French musician through and through.
Schmitt’s birth year was sandwiched in between those of the two towering masters of French music of the period: Claude Debussy (born in 1862) and Maurice Ravel (born in 1875). As such, Schmitt was very much part of the milieu in which these other composers lived and operated —yet he would outlive both men by decades while continuing to compose music up until the final year of his life (1958).
Educated at the Paris Conservatoire by such teachers as Théodore Dubois, Albert Lavignac, André Gédalge, Jules Massenet, and Gabriel Fauré (the latter two for composition), Schmitt would develop an “epic” style of writing that, while thoroughly French in idiom, exploited the grandiose aspects of music overlaid by masterful orchestration in the tradition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
Beginning in 1896, he entered the Conservatoire’s famed Prix de Rome competition every year until he finally won first prize for composition in 1900 with his cantata Sémiramis. Along with the prize came a stay at the Villa Medici in Rome.
Of the various pieces composed by Schmitt during his “Prix de Rome period,” undoubtedly the most impressive is Psaume XLVII, a strikingly original large-scale work scored for large orchestra, organ, soprano and mixed chorus.
Florent Schmitt’s music has been characterized in diverse ways: rhapsodic, brooding, sinister, beautiful, sumptuous, magical, mysterious, forceful, stunning, spectacular, thrilling, astouding —all of them highly descriptive terms.
Some of these may seem like surprising adjectives to describe French music. Indeed, in the Parisian musical world of the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was difficult to escape the influence of Debussy.
Anyone who has studied or performed compositions by Florent Schmitt can attest to the music’s difficulty. Often the scores contain mixed meter… polyrhythms such as alternated duple and triple division… vertically stacked adjacent tritones and isolated stacked dissonant blocks of harmony… shifting accents… and always, frequently changing time signatures.
The French composer and music critic Pierre Petit, who served for many years as director of l’École normale de musique in Paris, had this to say about Florent Schmitt’s music:
“From its very first bars, we recognize a work by Schmitt. We cannot connect it with anyone else —nor even with any ‘movement’ —despite the inevitable resemblences to other contemporary works. He contented himself with giving a new twist and tone to the grammar and syntax of his time. His vocabulary isn’t ‘new’ …but his manner of using it is his alone…”
Indeed, Schmitt’s “orientalist” compositions, written between 1900 and the early 1930s, are among his best-known pieces; they include the blockbuster orchestral works La Tragédie de Salomé (1907/10), Dionysiaques (1913/14, for concert band), Antoine et Cléopâtre (1920), Salammbô (1925) and Oriane et le Prince d’amour (1933), as well as the monumental Psalm XLVII (1904) for soprano, chorus, organ and orchestra.
But Schmitt also wrote in a more intimate style, including many chamber works plus vast swaths of piano music written for solo and duo-pianists.
Florent Schmitt continued to compose until the very end of his long life (138 opus numbers), with his last large-scale work, the Symphony #2, premiered by conductor Charles Munch and the French National Radio Orchestra at the Strasbourg Festival just a few months before his death in 1958.
At the time of Schmitt’s passing, the French 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 French school to certain notions of grandeur.”
Long relegated to the “musical purgatory” that so many composers from the early 20th century faced during the “atonal era,” in more recent years Schmitt’s music has experienced a renaissance, with many important conductors of today bringing his orchestral music to an admiring musical public: Leon Botstein, Lionel Bringuier, Sylvain Cambreling, Stéphane Denève, JoAnn Falletta, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Fabien Gabel, Jacques Mercier, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Leonard Slatkin, Jeffrey Tate, Jean-Luc Tingaud and Yan-Pascal Tortelier, to name just some.
Likewise, there are many more solo instrumentalists and chamber groups programming more of Schmitt’s music in the concert hall and on recordings.
For classical music afficianados —particularly those who love French music of the late romantic/early modern idiom (Debussy, Ibert, Poulenc, Ravel, Roussel, etc.) —the “perilously seductive” music of Florent Schmitt is a major discovery.
―FlorentSchmitt.com (more or less)
A few more notes about Schmitt:
Piano repertoire (solo). Florent Schmitt has some 180 solo piano pieces in his ouevre, most of which I can say are highly innovative and fine works. Crépuscules, Ombres, Mirages.
Piano repertoire (chamber + orchestral). His Piano Quintet is an acquired taste —I don't believe it to be Florent's best by any means —but still considered one of Schmitt main works. Sonate libre for violin and piano —a personal favorite. Hasards —interesting, worth a listen. His Suite for Flute and Piano and Suite for Trumpet and Piano are truly challenging works but amazing to hear if you can find a decent performance. Here is a recording of the latter suite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RETD-R3GNIY (there also exist versions for flute and orchestra and trumpet and orchestra, respectively).
Medtnaculus and Bartje Bartmans are two great YouTube channels for uncovering some of Schmitt's wealth. In Medtnaculus's words, his Symphonie Concertante for piano and orchestra is "probably one of [his]... favourite concertos. There seems to be a hint of Scriabin in the writing for the piano which works very well, especially when mixed with the returning ostinatos throughout."
Chamber music. All of Florent Schmitt's chamber music is pretty obscure, as only about 1/3 of his music has been recorded. Since this is getting pretty long, I'll just list a few gems which I like/love. Saxophone Quartet, String Trio, Flute Quartet, String Quartet, Clarinet Quartet, etc.
Vocal music. Schmitt composed in virtually every genre of vocal music, except for opera. I am really unfamiliar with this corner of his repertoire, so I'll leave this area open for your exploration. :)
If you care to know anything about me, Florent Schmitt is my favorite composer and... well, it's just a crime to not have his music more well-known. Any thoughts, comments, and questions about him are welcome. I hope this helps to make Schmitt less obscure, even if this is just a little baby step forward...