The figurative world of Florent Schmitt’s piano works (following the diptych “Mirages”)
Authors: Mykhailova Olha 
Published: January 2021

Statement of the problem. An important place in the creative heritage by F. Schmitt (1870–1958) is occupied by music for piano, which in the last decade actively entered to the repertoire of many foreign pianists. At the same time, it remains beyond the focus of Ukrainian performers. From this viewpoint, the relevance of the study is seen in revealing characteristic features of F. Schmitt’s composing style and shaping national musicians’ vision of the creative work of the composer. The purpose of the paper is to fill in the gaps in knowledge about the work of F. Schmitt, to analyze the figurative world of the composer’s piano pieces, to evaluate the influence of cross creative inspirations using the example of the diptych “Mirages”. In this regard, cultural-historical, comparative and structuralfunctional research methods are used. Presentation of the main material. F. Schmitt turned to piano music during all his creative life, leaving more than 30 works, among which cyclic compositions predominate. The range of images is extremely wide: genre scenes, environmental conditions, lyricism, fantasy, etc. Here the influence of impressionism and the art of C. Debussy can be traced. Musicians all over the world were in awe of the talent of this master. Suffice it to recall the unprecedented collaborative work by famous European composers at the turn of the centuries – the multi-genre series of miniatures “Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy”, written in memory of the great creator. F. Schmitt also showed his admiration of the genius of “Claude de France” in the piece “Et Pan, au fond des bles lunaires, s’accouda”. At first, it existed as one of the numbers of “Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy” (1920), and later, together with “La tragique chevauch&#233;e”, it made up the diptych “Mirages” (1921). The poem “Philomela” by a French poet Paul Fort was a kind of inspiring impetus for writing the diptych. The appeal for creative inspiration to related art forms was a frequent occurrence in France at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. This took place due to a special cultural environment, marked by a fruitful co-working of writers, artists and musicians. Poets were composed verses inspired by the works of visual art they had seen, artists were created illustrations for literary works that had affected them, composers, in turn, were written music pieces, which embodied poetic images. Paul Fort’s poem have several interwoven semantic plans. In the piece “Et Pan, au fond des bles lunaires, s’accouda” F. Schmitt follows the multiplicity of these plans. On the one hand, he preserves the plot narrative, on the other hand, he emphasizes landscape descriptiveness. According to the content of the poem, the music is divided into episodes, and each of which reveals a new facet of the narrative. This is expressed by a change in pace, key signatures and texture. The sound image of the piece, its texture, metro-rhythm, composition, recording techniques were equally determined both by the inspiration that came from the lines by P. Fort, and by the dedication to the memory of C. Debussy. The piece is characterized by all-encompassing register, juxtaposition of colors, chiaroscuro – the features, by which the musical language of C. Debussy is recognized. At the same time, the contrast of texture, registers and metro-rhythmic complexes involves certain redundancy of information that contradicts the signs of Debussy’s manner of expression, who tended to be more compact and monolithic. This suggests that F. Schmitt creates a kind of anthology of C. Debussy’s legacy, organizing the piece on the principle of stringing small, diverse fragments. Parallels with the cycles “Images”, “Estampes”, and “Pr&#233;ludes” can be noticed in the resulting microsuite composition. In the piece “La tragique chevauch&#233;e” F. Schmitt clearly recreates the spirit of the dramatic events of the poem by George Byron, following the literary plot in music. Two contrasting thematic spheres prevail. The first sphere, which sets the main tone, is characterized by the rapid pace remarked by the author’s notice “Emport&#233; et violent”, a bouncing dotted rhythm, acute accentuation, toccata texture, sudden dynamic changes, dissonant tremolo harmonies. It reflects the outer side of the action – a crazy gallop of a horse running wild with fear, overcoming an endless series of obstacles on the way, and the physical suffering of an exhausted rider. The other one, which is less amplitudinous, is represented by a melancholic, as if crying, cantilena, symbolizing the inner experiences of the tormented hero. The grotesque expressive means in the foreground are a kind of scenery for the action, while the cantilena element, as if remaining in the background, bears the stamp of the inner drama of G. Byron’s poem. Conclusions. Despite the fact that the diptych “Mirages” is not a program composition, the pieces that make it up give rise to vivid, distinct images. Emotional richness, play of timbres, picturesqueness endowed the work with orchestral potential, which drew the attention of contemporaries. At the initiative of S. Koussevitsky, it was instrumented and found a new life on the symphonic stage. It is noteworthy that the eminent conductor’s interest in the timbre side of F. Schmitt’s music did not end there and was realized in “Symphonie Concertante pour piano & orchestra”, op. 82 (1931), written at the request of S. Koussevitsky. This fact opens up new turn in the perspectives for the study of F. Schmitt’s creative work. The symphonic version of the diptych “Mirages” arouses curiosity in terms of the original idea implementation. The composer’s piano works require study taking into account their orchestral potential.