Schmitt Florent. Soirs 10 preludes pour le piano

Paris: Durand & Fils, 1911. — 42 p.Florent Schmitt was a French composer. He was part of the group known as Les Apaches. His most famous pieces are La tragédie de Salome and Psaume XLVII. He has been described as "one of the most fascinating of France's lesser-known classical composers.
10 pieces:
1. En rêvant, 2. Gaiety, 3. Spleen, 4. Après l'été, 5. Parfum exotique, 6. Un soir, 7. Tziganiana, 8. Eglogue, 9. Sur l'onde, 10. Dernières pages
The music of Florent Schmitt is vigorous and full-bodied, breaking with the French half-tone art. He developed a powerful, luxuriant and passionate musical language. His writing is very melodic but that does not prevent the use of a harmonic language that is both rich and sensual, entailing at times a certain complexity. His genius in handling the orchestra places him among the great composers of his time, but he remains unclassifiable, neither impressionist, nor neo-classical, nor post-romantic, but between such categories.
It’s Soirs, Op. 5, consisting of ten preludes for piano composed in 1890-1896 when Schmitt was between 20 and 26 years of age (although the score wouldn’t actually be published until 1911). The published score carried a dedication to the Comtesse de Chaumont-Quitry.
Being early pieces, they inhabit a sound-world vastly different from the compositions of Schmitt that most people know. Listening to these preludes, one can easily discern the influence of Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann — as well as Gabriel Fauré, who was Schmitt’s beloved teacher and mentor at the Paris Conservatoire.
medium difficulty, intended for student of music universities