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Organist and author Bernard Gavoty’s posthumous tribute to composer Florent...
“Florent Schmitt will not have left this earth without taking away, like a viaticum, the certainty of his genius.” — Bernard Gavoty This bronze medal of Bernard Gavoty was sculpted by Madeleine-Pierre...
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Dancer and choreographer Francesca Todesco talks about resurrecting Isadora...
“Nuremberg” from Florent Schmitt’s Reflets d’Allemagne, presented by Dances We Dance in the original 1914 Isadora Duncan choreography as updated by Francesca Todesco (New York City, June 2022). (Photo:...
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French conductor Julien Masmondet talks about performing and recording...
“At the crossroads of dance, poetry and music”: Les Apaches’ December 2021 live presentation at the Théâtre de l’Athénée in Paris was commercially recorded and has now been released on the b●records...
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“The true face of Florent Schmitt”: Music scholar and author Émile Vuillermoz...
Jean-Joseph Émile Vuillermoz (1878-1960) When Florent Schmitt died in August 1958 at the age of nearly 88 years, his fellow composer Henri Dutilleux penned this memorable epitaph: “Florent Schmitt was...
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Florent Schmitt’s earliest keyboard music: Trois préludes for piano (1891-95).
The Invencia Piano Duo’s 4-CD series of Florent Schmitt’s music for piano duet and duo. (NAXOS Grand Piano, 2012-13) Over the past decade or more, Florent Schmitt’s music written for solo and...
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Pianist Tomoki Sakata talks about performing Florent Schmitt’s brilliant...
Tomoki Sakata, photographed backstage following his performance of Florent Schmitt’s Symphonie concertante with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Yan-Pascal Tortelier...
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Florent Schmitt’s orchestral works are featured in the new 2023-24 season of...
In addition to multiple presentations of Schmitt’s best-known composition La Tragédie de Salomé, music-lovers will be treated to three works from the composer’s early and late career. Four compositions...
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Enigmatic poetry ingeniously set to music: Florent Schmitt’s Quatre...
This commemorative medal of Florent Schmitt was created by Weysset and issued by the Monnaie de Paris at about the same time as the creation of Quatre monocantes. In the latter part of his career as a...
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Fables sans morales: Florent Schmitt’s pointed portrayal of Jean de la...
Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695). The poet and author, best-known for penning nearly 250 fables, is considered one of France’s most prominent literary figures. He was elected to the Académie Française...
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Musical comrades: The friendship between Manuel de Falla and Florent Schmitt...
This bust of Manuel de Falla y Matheu (1876-1946) stands on the grounds of the composer’s final residence in Alta Gracia, Córdoba province, Argentina. (Photo: Javier Oviedo, August 2023) Throughout...
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A revealing Denise Margoni portrait sketch of Florent Schmitt sees the light...
The artist’s daughter, stage, screen and TV actress Élisabeth Margoni-Beneyton, rediscovered the portrait and presented it to pianist Claudio Chaiquin in recognition of his commitment to recording the...
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Spirituality with a pinch of pagan exuberance: Florent Schmitt’s Trois...
Florent Schmitt, photographed in 1953, two years following the premiere of Trois liturgies joyeuses. During the 1950s Schmitt would compose seven sacred works for a cappella voices — most with ad...
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American pianist Matthew Bengtson talks about discovering and performing...
Matthew Bengtson at the keyboard. A vintage copy of the score to Florent Schmitt’s piano suite Trois danses, composed in 1934-35 and published by Durand in 1936. In September and October 2023, American...
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Famed musician and educator Nadia Boulanger’s perceptive description of...
Boulanger’s remarks were made as part of her Lectures on Modern Music presented at Rice University in Houston, Texas (January 1925). Juliette Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) In the world of classical music...
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Jeudis de Florent Schmitt: Florent Schmitt’s longtime home in St-Cloud was a...
Camouflage, a painting of Florent Schmitt’s longtime home in St-Cloud by French contemporary artist Mathieu Cherkit (2017). Much has been written about the famous salonnières of Paris — the wealthy and...
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French pianist Clément Canonne talks about discovering and recording the...
His soon-to-be-released album includes two premiere recordings plus an unpublished 1950 piano sonata that later became the wind composition Chants alizés. Pianist Clément Canonne recording late piano...
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French pianist Tristan Raës talks about his musical journey with Florent...
Alain made important first recordings of French piano scores by Florent Schmitt, while Tristan is exploring the composer’s sumptuous early-career mélodies. Tenor Cyrille Dubois and pianist Tristan Raës...
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A Parisian Tribute to Serge Koussevitsky
Tout Paris came together 100 years ago to fete the Russian-born conductor upon his election as a Chevalier of the Legion d’honneur. Serge Alexandrovich Koussevitzky (1874-1951) The Russian-born...
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The fascinating story of L’Arbre entre tous (1939-40), Florent Schmitt’s...
Premiered in May 1940 — mere weeks before the fall of France — the piece was shelved thereafter, with the unpublished score and parts languishing in the archives of the Bibliothèque national de France...
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“A forlorn sky, a low horizon and the slow, monotonous falling of snow”:...
The NAXOS Grand Piano recording of solo piano music by Florent Schmitt, released in 2021. In 2021, the NAXOS label’s Grand Piano imprint issued a CD featuring solo piano music of Florent Schmitt...
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