Florent Schmitt

Born in Meurthe-et-Moselle, Schmitt took music lessons in Nancy with the local composer Gustave Sandré. At the age of 19 he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Gabriel Fauré, Jules Massenet, Théodore Dubois, and Albert Lavignac. In 1900 he won the Prix de Rome. During the 1890s he became friendly with Frederick Delius, who was living in Paris at the time, and Schmitt prepared vocal scores for four of Delius's operas: Irmelin, The Magic Fountain, Koanga and A Village Romeo and Juliet.

From 1929 to 1939 Schmitt worked as a music critic for Le Temps, where he proved controversial. He was known to shout out his views from his seat in the hall. The music publisher Heugel called him "an irresponsible lunatic".[2] In November 1933, at a concert that included music by Kurt Weill, who had just been forced to leave Germany and was present, Schmitt led a group in shouting "Vive Hitler!", as reported by a communist journal.[3][4]

Though he was one of the most often performed French composers during the first four decades of the 20th century, and though he never stopped composing, Schmitt's works fell into comparative neglect. In 1952 he was admitted to the Légion d'honneur. He became the subject of attacks — both in his last years and posthumously — because of his sympathies towards the actions of the Nazi party in the early 1930s and over his willingness to work for the Vichy regime in the 1940s,[5] as had other eminent French musicians, notably Alfred Cortot and Joseph Canteloube.

Schmitt's early career was later re-examined in association with Sir Thomas Beecham's biography of English composer Frederick Delius.[6] Beecham had known Delius in his Paris days – the friend of August Strindberg, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch and other figures of the time.[7]

Assisting Sir Thomas Beecham, Felix Aprahamian identified Florent Schmitt as having been one of Delius's few French musician-friends. Schmitt was probably the last to remember Le grand Anglais of the Latin Quarter, as Delius had been known.[7]

In 1956, Aprahamian arranged for Schmitt to meet Sir Thomas in England. On the occasion of his visit, Ralph Vaughan Williams telephoned to say that he had not met Florent Schmitt since before the First World War, when he had been a pupil of Ravel's in Paris, and would like to see him. This precipitated a reunion of the two composers after a half-century. Afterwards, Schmitt travelled with Aprahamian to the Abbey Road Studios where Sir Thomas was then engaged in a recording project.[7]

Although it had been his express wish to interview him, all Sir Thomas could do was to greet Schmitt briefly, shake him by the hand, and pass on down the corridor. Schmitt brushed off the encounter casually saying, "Il était toujours un homme curieux. (He was always a curious man.)" Two years later, when Aprahamian saw Schmitt again, at the 1958 Strasbourg Music Festival, he (Schmitt) was already seriously ill. He had journeyed there only to hear Charles Munch conduct the premiere of his Second Symphony.[7] A few months later Schmitt died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, aged 87.

Aprahamian's recollections of his encounters with Florent Schmitt were later included in his introduction to the revised edition (Severn House, 1975) of Beecham's biography of Frederick Delius (Hutchinson, 1959).[6][7] This introduction was reprinted by the Delius Society on the 50th anniversary of Beecham's biography.[8]

• 3 symphonies :
  • Symphonie concertante, Op. 82 for orchestra and piano
  • Second Symphony, Op. 137
  • Janiana symphony for strings, Op. 101
• Antoine et Cléopâtre, Op. 69 (1919-20)
• Enfants, Op. 94
• Introït, récit et congé, Op. 113 for cello and orchestra (1949)
• Kermesse-Valse from L'éventail de Jeanne (1926)
• Le Palais Hanté [The Haunted Palace] (1904)
• Le Petit Elfe Ferme-l'œil, Op. 73
• Légende, Op. 66 for alto saxophone (or violin, or viola or alto) and orchestra
• Salammbô (film music)
• Salammbô (3 suites)

• Pour presque tous les temps for flute and piano trio, Op. 134
• Saxophone Quartet, Op. 102
• Flute Quartet, Op. 106
• String Quartet, Op. 112
• Piano Quintet in B minor, Op. 51 (1902–08)
• Sonata for violin and piano
• Trio sonatina for flute, clarinet and keyboard, Op. 85
• String trio, Op. 105
• Suite en rocaille, Op.84
• Suite for trumpet and piano, Op. 133
• Légende for alto saxophone and piano, Op. 66

• Le chant de nuit for soloists, chorus and orchestra
• Mass for four voices and organ
• Psaume XLVII for soprano, chorus, organ and orchestra (1906)

• Dionysiaques, Op. 62 for military band (1913/25)

• La Tragédie de Salomé (1907)
• Oriane et le prince d'amour

• Reflets d'Allemagne, Op. 28 (1905)
• Musiques foraines, Op. 22
• Feuilles mortes, Op. 46
• Crépuscules, Op. 56
• Ombres, Op. 64
• Mirages, Op. 70