The French société musicale indépendante (SMI) was founded in 1910 in particular by Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, Charles Koechlin and

Florent Schmitt Florent Schmitt (; 28 September 187017 August 1958) 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'' (Psalm 47). He has been described as "one of th ...

. When the SMI was founded, the

Société nationale de musique Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

was the main Parisian company defending French musical creation. Some composers did not like the atmosphere of this society, which remained extremely faithful to

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was pa ...

. Some of Ravel's works were not well received, others by Charles Koechlin,

Maurice Delage Maurice Charles Delage (13 November 1879 – 19 or 21 September 1961) was a French composer and pianist. Biography Delage was born and died in Paris. He first worked as a clerk for a maritime agency in Paris, and later as a fishmonger in Boul ...

or Ralph Vaughan Williams were refused. Ravel then left the Société nationale and became one of the founders of the independent society, whose aim was to support contemporary musical creation, freeing it from restrictions linked to the forms, genres and styles of programmed works.

Executive committee

The founding president of the SMI was Gabriel Fauré. Among others, the executive committee would include: *

Louis Aubert Louis François Marie Aubert (19 February 1877 – 9 January 1968) was a French composer. Biography Born in Paramé, Ille-et-Vilaine, Louis Aubert was a child prodigy. His parents, recognizing their son's musical talent, sent him to Paris to rec ...

* Béla Bartók *

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first ...

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 t ...

Jacques Ibert Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer of classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his firs ...

* Charles Koechlin * Maurice Ravel * Albert Roussel *

* Arnold Schoenberg * Igor Stravinsky *

Jules Écorcheville Jules-Armand-Joseph Écorcheville (17 March 1872, Paris – 19 February 1915, , Marne) was a French musicologist and collector. He studied literature and philosophy, caught interest in music (a student of César Franck from 1887 to 1890), in mu ...

1914–1935

During the First World War, strong attempts were made to bring the old and new societies together.

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the P ...

stood down as president of the Société nationale to allow his old friend Fauré to become president of both organisations in readiness for the merger, but the younger elements of the SMI were not reconciled with the old guard, and the proposal foundered. The two organisations continued to function separately until the SMI was wound up in 1935, after giving 171 concerts in its 25 years of existence.Duchesneau, Michel
"Maurice Ravel et la Société Musicale Indépendante: 'Projet Mirifique de Concerts Scandaleux'"
''Revue de Musicologie'', vol. 80, no. 2, 1994,

References

Sources

Bibliography

* ''Il primo concerto della Société musicale indépendante''. In Flavio Testi, ''La Parigi musicale del primo Novecento: cronache e documenti'', Torino: EDT, 2003, (),
Google books
* "La Société musicale indépendante". In Michel Duchesneau, ''L’avant-garde musicale et ses sociétés à Paris de 1871 à 1939'', Paris: Mardaga, 1997, (), ,
Google books
* Arbie Orenstein, ''Ravel: man and musician'', New York; London: Dover Publications, 1975,

External links

Société musicale indépendante (S.M.I.)
on Encyclopédie Larousse
''Le rôle de la Société nationale et de la Société musicale indépendante dans la création musicale à Paris de 1909 à 1935 /'' Société musicale indépendante''
on Research gate {{DEFAULTSORT:Societe musicale independante Music organizations based in France French music