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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Florent Schmitt (September 28, 1870 – August 17, 1958) was a French composer.
A Lorrainer, born in Meurthe-et-Moselle, Schmitt originally took music lessons in Nancy with the local composer Gustave Sandré. Subsequently (at the age of 19) he entered the Paris Conservatoire. There he studied with Gabriel Faure, Jules Massenet, Theodore Dubois, and Albert Lavignac. In 1900 he won the Prix de Rome.
From 1929 to 1939 Schmitt worked as a music critic for Le Temps, in which role he created considerable controversy, not least for his indiscreet habit of shouting out verdicts from his seat in the hall.
Having been one of the most often performed of French composers during the first four decades of the 20th century, Schmitt afterwards fell into comparative neglect, although he continued writing music till the end (and in 1952 he became a member of the Legion d'honneur). He became the subject of attacks both in his last years and posthumously over his pro-German sympathies during the 1930s, and over his willingness to work for the Vichy regime later on (as indeed other eminent French musicians did, notably Alfred Cortot and Joseph Canteloube).
He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1958, aged 87. The 1990s witnessed a small-scale revival of his output, and an increased coverage of it on compact disc.
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