E. Robert (Elie Robert) Schmitz (February 8, 1889, in Paris – September 5, 1949, in San Francisco) was a Franco-American pianist, teacher, writer, editor, and organizer.[1]
Schmitz toured the United States in 1919 and, the following year, founded the Franco-American Music Society in New York, which incorporated as Pro Musica from 1923–36.[2][3] During this period, the first American appearances of Bartók and Ravel were sponsored, as well as lectures and concerts by Schoenberg, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky. Schmitz also had a personal and professional friendship with Charles Ives.[4]
Schmitz published his system of piano study, The Capture of Inspiration, in 1935,[5] as well as editions of the Chopin Etudes, the Bach Two-Part Inventions, and other works that included explanatory texts on his method.[6][7][8] His book, The Piano Works of Claude Debussy, a technical analysis with commentary, was published posthumously in 1950.[1][9] Among his pupils were composers Samuel Dolin, Harry Somers, and Gertrude Price Wollner;[10] and pianist Naomi Yanova.[11]
He recorded in 1942 the Debussy Preludes, Books I and II, for RCA Victor Records, in addition to other works for Edison Records.[12][13] (CD Les introuvables vol. 34 Classica 2023).
^ abcSlonimsky, Nicolas; Theodore Baker (1992). Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Eighth Edition. New York, New York: Schirmer Books.
^Perlis, Vivian (1978). Two Men for Modern Music: E. Robert Schmitz and Herman Langinger. Brooklyn, NY: Institute for Studies in American Music, Dept. of Music, School of Performing Arts, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. OCLC 6861675.
^Wiecki, Ronald V. (1992). A Chronicle of Pro Musica in the United States (1920-1944): With a Biographical Sketch of its Founder, E. Robert Schmitz (PhD diss.). University of Wisconsin, Madison.
^Wiecki, Ronald V. (1992). "Two Musical Idealists — Charles Ives and E. Robert Schmitz: A Friendship Reconsidered". American Music. 10 (1, Spring): 1–19. doi:10.2307/3052141. JSTOR 3052141 – via JSTOR.
^Schmitz, E. Robert (1935). Rodriguez, José (ed.). The Capture of Inspiration. New York: E. Weyhe. OCLC 3357496.
^Chopin, Frédéric (1938). Schmitz, E. Robert (ed.). Etudes (3rd printing, revised ed.). New York: C. [Charles] Fisher. OCLC 7165848.
^Bach, Johann Sebastian (1944). Schmitz, E. Robert (ed.). Two-part Inventions. New York: Charles Fisher. OCLC 978210390.
^Merritt, Debra E. (2007). The Editions of Alfred Cortot and E. Robert Schmitz Revisited: Pedagogical Perspectives on Selected Chopin Etudes (DMA diss.). University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
^Schmitz, E. Robert (1966). The Piano Works of Claude Debussy. New York: Dover Publications. OCLC 615631.
^Cohen, Aaron (1987). International Encyclopedia of Women Composers (2nd, revised and enlarged ed.). New York: Books & Music (USA). p. 764.