Soirée for one person: а microcosm of Florent Schmitt’s “Musiques intimes”

Abstract

Statement of the problem. The creative activity by Florent Schmitt (1870–1958) took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when such stars of French music as C. Debussy, M. Ravel, and later the composers of the French “Six” group shone brightly. Therefore, Schmitt’s work remained in their shadow – among the performers of his piano works you will not find “big” names like V. Horowitz or G. Gould; nevertheless, in the last decade, the composer’s opuses have been increasingly included in the repertoire of foreign pianists. For example, Vincent Larderet (France), Ivo Kalchev (Bulgaria), Biljana Urban (Netherlands), and Edward Rushton (UK/Switzerland) are among them. The challenges of today are best suited to expanding the usual established horizons of Ukrainian performers, actualizing the need to pay attention to the work of lesser-known but no less interesting artists, among whom Florent Schmitt takes a worthy place. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. For a long time, anyone interested in the work by F. Schmitt faced a lack of resources. The scarcity of written materials about the composer is as surprising as it is disappointing. Moreover, almost all existing studies are published only in French, which makes research difficult for those who do not speak the language. In the first half of the twentieth century, a number of significant books were published, fully or partially devoted to the work of F. Schmitt (Ferroud, 1928; Aubert, Barraud, Pignari-Salles, 1937; Coeuroy, 1922; Dumesnil, 1946), most of which have long been out of reprint. Changes in the cultural context, traditions, perception and understanding of music, scientific approaches, and research quality requirements do not allow a modern scholar to rely exclusively on old publications. Besides, the composer’s piano music is not considered in detail, but is only included in a panoramic overview of his heritage. The absence of domestic research prompted the author of the article to delve into the French master’s heritage. The purpose of the article is to expand the horizons in the study of F. Schmitt’s piano works, to reveal the prerequisites and analyze the facets of his introspective expression on the example of the first book of the cycle “Musiques intimes” (“Intimate Music”) op. 16. The cultural-historical, structural-functional and comparative methods of analysis were used. Research results and conclusion. The program names of the pieces, landscape sketches, rich coloristic harmony, use of ostinato techniques, shimmering arpeggiated figures in the texture, etc., indicate the considerable influence of F. Schmitt’s compatriots music – C. Debussy and M. Ravel. The presence of sincere emotionality and poetry of expression, improvisation, and “through” dramaturgy resemble the ways of thinking of F. Chopin and R. Schumann. Nevertheless, a detailed analysis of the first book of “Musiques intimes” makes it easy to notice the characteristic features that will become a kind of “idioms” of textures, complex rhythmic patterns and an “orchestral” approach to the instrument, which are not aimed at external affectation, but create a feeling of being present on a secret excursion into the world of impressions and emotions close to the composer. Through the images of nature, the contemplation of which promotes communication between the individual and himself, the French artist introduces the listener to his personal space, opens personal boundaries, that in this case can be perceived as an invitation to a private intimate soirée with Maestro Florent Schmitt.