Erik Satie (born Honfleur (France), 17 May1866; died Paris, 1 July1925) was a Frenchcomposer. He is mainly remembered today for the strange ways he behaved. He often gave his music unusual titles such as Piece in the form of a pear. His best known musical compositions are the three piano pieces which he called Gymnopédies. The first of these pieces is a very famous piece of music: it is a simple tune over a gentle accompaniment. Satie sometimes used unusual instruments such as sirens and typewriters.
Satie was more than just an unusual man. He was very important in the development of music in France in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was important because of the ideas he had, and many people were influenced by him. Satie used ways of composing such as very chromatic music and Minimalism before many other people. These ways of writing music became more common later in the century. Satie was not a brilliant composer, but he was happy to compose well in a simple way. He was also interested in other arts such as literature and painting and he was associated with the new ideas called esprit nouveau (new spirit) which was fashionable in France around the time of World War I.
Erik Satie: The Early Piano Works (3xLP, Comp + Box) Philips: 6768 269: Netherlands: 1980: Sell This Version. Jul 13, 2017 The franc also commonly distinguished as the French franc (FF), was a currency of France. Between 13, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois. The BBC artist page for Erik Satie. Find the best clips, watch programmes, catch up on the news, and read the latest Erik Satie interviews.
1His Life
His Life[change | change source]
Early years[change | change source]
He was born Alfred Eric Leslie Satie, but as a grown-up he always spelled his name “Erik”. His father had been in the shipping business, but the family then moved to Paris. He was still quite young when his mother died and he was sent back to his birthplace, Honfleur, to be brought up by his father’s parents. However, his grandmother drowned, so he was sent back to Paris again where his father taught him. His father had married again. His new wife was a pianist and sent young Eric to have piano lessons at the Paris Conservatoire.
Satie hated his piano lessons. His teacher said that he was the laziest pupil in the Conservatoire. He was bad at sight-reading, but he continued with his lessons because this would make it possible for him to do just one year of military service instead of five. In fact, he did less than a year in the army because he deliberately got himself ill with bronchitis. While he was getting better he started to compose. His father published a few songs he had written. However, he did not get on well with his family and he left home in 1887.
The young Satie[change | change source]
Satie soon got to know many people in the famous cabaret Chat Noir. He grew his hair long and wore a frock coat and a top hat. He wrote a ballet which most people found shocking. He became friends with Debussy who was one of the only people who understood the serious reasons for Satie’s unusual behaviour.
In 1890 he moved to new rooms on a top floor of a house so that people to whom he owed money could not get at him. He tried to compose in a simple style and became interested in mysticalreligion and Gothic art. He inherited a small amount of money with which he bought himself seven velvetsuits which were all exactly the same: one for each day of the week. He started a church called Église Métropolitaine d’Art de Jésus Conducteur (Metropolitan Church of Art of Conductor Jesus), but nobody belonged to the church except himself.
At the end of 1898 he moved to Arceuil, a suburb of Paris. He spent the rest of his life there. He stopped performing in public and earned money by playing the piano in cafés and pubs. Every morning he walked the 10 kilometres into Paris, stopping on the way at cafés to drink or compose. He wore a bowler hat, wing collar and always carried a rolled-up umbrella. If it was raining he kept his umbrella underneath his coat to keep it dry. He also carried a hammer in case anyone attacked him. Late at night he walked home again or took the last train back. His flat was a terrible mess.
Rise to fame[change | change source]
In 1905, at the age of 39, he became a student again and studied music at the Schola Cantorum. He wanted to become a better composer. He learned how to write fugues. He still liked to use parody in his music.
In 1911Maurice Ravel played some of Satie’s piano pieces in public. Suddenly people began to take notice of Satie. They realized that he had been one of the first Impressionist composers. Debussy conducted his Gymnopédies in his arrangement for orchestra. Music critics started to write articles about Satie. He was at last becoming famous. He had some humorous piano pieces published. He was earning some money from his compositions, so he was able to give up playing in cabarets. He met Jean Cocteau who introduced him to Diaghilev for whom he wrote the music for Parade. Some people loved it, some hated it, but people were taking notice of him. He was asked to write more theatre music. He was a very important influence on the six composers who were known as Les Six. He was asked to write a symphonic drama which he called Socrate. Many musicians think it is his best piece.
Final years[change | change source]
In the 1920s he wrote many articles for newspapers and journals and became associated with the art movement known as Dada. His ballets Relâche and Mercure both shocked the audiences when they were first performed. Relâche is an early example of what later became the theatre of alienation.
Satie drank a lot of alcohol and became ill. He got cirrhosis of the liver and died in 1925. When his friends entered his flat after he died, there was so much mess that they had to throw away two cartloads of rubbish before they could get at his papers and manuscripts.
His music[change | change source]
Satie was involved with dance, theatre and cabaret for most of his life and that is what much of his music is written for. He was always trying out new ideas in his music. He was capable of writing in a late Romantic style with chromaticharmonies, but he also wrote in more modern styles, often using very simple ideas. He was always more interested in beautiful melodies than in writing complicated rhythms. His three Gymnopédies are still extremely popular. They seem to come from an old-fashioned world where there is great simplicity. His three Gnossiennes (1890) sound more Oriental, and Satie wrote some very strange remarks in the music. His piano piece Vexations (1893) is a short piece with strange, chromatic chords, which the pianist is then supposed to play 840 times. Uspud was an early example of what later became the “Theatre of the Absurd”. The text was all written in lower-case letters: the first time this had ever been done. He wrote many cabaret songs.
Later, after he had studied at the Schola Cantorum, he became famous, and then wrote lots of piano pieces with funny titles and strange comments (e.g. “like a nightingale with toothache”). Parade has strange instruments such as typewriters. Socrate was his most serious work.
After his death all the people he had insulted wrote about Satie that he was a bad composer. As a result he was almost forgotten until the 1960s when John Cage became interested in his music and made it popular again. Many Surrealist artists were often inspired by Satie’s music and ideas.
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Erik Satie
In this list of Erik Satie's musical compositions, those series or sets comprising several pieces (i.e., Gnossienne 1, Gnossienne 2, etc.) with nothing but tempo indications to distinguish the movements by name, are generally given with the number of individual pieces simply stated in square brackets. If the pieces in a series have distinct titles, for example the 21 pieces in Sports et divertissements, all titles are given.
Many of Satie's works were not published until many years after they were composed, including a considerable number first published posthumously. This article gives the known or approximate date of composition for each work.
1Piano music
5Vocal music
Piano music[edit]
Series[edit]
Ogives [4] (1886)
Sarabandes [3] (1887)
Gymnopédies [3] (1888)
Gnossiennes [6] (1889–97)
Danses gothiques [9] (1893)
Pièces froides [6] (1897, two sets: Airs à faire fuir [3] and Danse de travers [3])
Trois morceaux en forme de poire (1903, 4 hands)
Manière de commencement
Prolongement du même
I
II
III
En plus
Redite
Nouvelles pièces froides (1907)
Sur un mur
Sur un arbre
Sur un pont
Aperçus désagréables (1908, 1912, 4 hands)
Pastorale
Choral
Fugue
Deux choses (c. 1909)
Effronterie
Poésie
2 Rêveries nocturnes (c. 1912, published posthumously)
Pas Vite
Très Modérément
2 Préludes pour un chien (1912)
Untitled (unpublished)
Prélude canin (published posthumously)
Préludes flasques (pour un chien) (1912)
Voix d'intérieur
Idylle cynique
Chanson canine
Avec camaraderie (originally Sous la futaille)
Veritables Preludes flasques (pour un chien) (1912)
Sévère réprimande
Seul à la maison
On joue
Descriptions automatiques (1913)
Sur un vaisseau
Sur une lanterne
Sur un casque
Croquis et agaceries d'un gros bonhomme en bois (1913)
Tyrolienne turque
Danse maigre (à la manière de ces messieurs)
Españaña
Embryons desséchés (1913)
d'holothurie
d'edriophthalma
de podophthalma
Chapitres tournés en tous sens (1913)
Celle qui parle trop
Le porteur de grosses pierres
Regrets des enfermés (Jonas et Latude)
Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses (1913)
Chez le marchand d'or (Venise XIIIe siècle)
Danse cuirassée (Période grecque)
La défaite des Cimbres (Cauchemar)
Enfantines (Children's pieces):
L'enfance de Ko-Quo (1913, first published in 1999)
Ne bois pas ton chocolat avec tes doigts
Ne souffle pas dans tes oreilles
Ne mets pas ta tête sous ton bras
3 pieces (1913, published as Trois nouvelles enfantines in 1972)
Le vilain petit vaurien
Berceuse
La gentille toute petite fille
Menus propos enfantins (1913)
Le chant guerrier du roi des haricots
Ce que dit la petite princesse des tulipes
Valse du chocolat aux amandes
Enfantillages pittoresques (1913)
Petit prélude à la journée
Berceuse
Marche du grand escalier
Peccadilles importunes (1913)
Être jaloux de son camarade qui a une grosse tête
Lui manger sa tartine
Profiter de ce qu'il a des cors aux pieds pour lui prendre son cerceau
Sports et divertissements (1914)
Choral inappetissant
La Balançoire
La Chasse
La Comédie Italienne
Le Réveil de la Mariée
Colin-Maillard
La Pêche
Le Yachting
Le Bain de Mer
Le Carnaval
Le Golf
La Pieuvre
Les Courses
Les Quatre-Coins
Le Pique-nique
Le Water-chute
Le Tango
Le Traîneau
Le Flirt
Le Feu d'artifice
Le Tennis
Heures séculaires et instantanées (1914)
Obstacles venimeux
Crépuscule matinal (de midi)
Affolements granitiques
Les trois valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté (1914)
Sa taille
Son binocle
Ses jambes
Avant-dernières pensées (1915)
Idylle
Aubade
Méditation
Nocturnes [5 and one unfinished] (1919)
Individual pieces[edit]
Allegro (1884)
Valse-ballet (1887)
Fantaisie-valse (1887)
Chanson hongroise (1889)
Untitled (published posthumously as Première pensée Rose+Croix) (1891)
Leit-motiv du 'Panthée' (1891; no instrument specified)
Fête donnée par des chevaliers normands en l'honneur d'une jeune demoiselle (XIe siècle) (c. 1892)
Prélude d'Eginhard (c. 1893)
Vexations (1893)
Prière (1893)
Modéré (1893, possibly part of Messe des pauvres)
Petite ouverture à danser (1897)
Caresse (1897)
Aline-Polka (1899)
Verset laïque & somptueux (1900)
Reverie du Pauvre (1900)
Le poisson rêveur (The Dreamy Fish, music for a tale by Lord Cheminot, alias Latour) (1901)
Fugue-valse (1906)
Passacaille (1906)
Prélude en tapisserie (1906)
Fâcheux exemple (1908; counterpoint exercise)
Désespoir agréable (1908; counterpoint exercise)
Petite sonate (1908–9, first movement only)
Profondeur (c.1909; minuet exercise)
Songe-creux (c.1909; minuet exercise)
Le prisonnier maussade (c.1909; minuet exercise)
Le grand singe (c.1909; minuet exercise)
Sonatine bureaucratique (1917)
Rag-time Parade (1917, arrangement by Hans Ourdine[1])
Rêverie de l'enfance de Pantagruel (1919; arrangement of the first of Trois petites pièces montées)
Premier Menuet (1920)
Posthumous collections[edit]
Some of Satie's early and/or unpublished works, as well as drafts and exercises, were published in the second half of the 20th century. These included (but were not limited to) the following collections:
Musiques intimes et secrètes, three pieces from 1906–13:
Nostalgie
Froide songerie
Fâcheux exemple
Six Pièces de la période, six pieces from 1906–13:
Désespoir agréable
Both of Deux choses
Prélude canin from 2 préludes pour un chien
Minuet exercises: Profondeur and Songe-creux
Carnet d'Esquisses et de Croquis, some 20 sketches and fragments from 1897–1914
Orchestral[edit]
Danse, for small orchestra (1890; arranged as movement 6 of 3 Morceaux en forme de poire)
Musique d'ameublement (1918)
Tapisserie en fer forgé, for flute, clarinet, trumpet and strings
Carrelage phonique, for flute, clarinet and strings
Trois petites pièces montées (1920)
Musique d'ameublement: tenture de cabinet préfectoral, for small orchestra (1923)
Other instrumental music[edit]
Choses vues à droite et à gauche (sans lunettes), for violin and piano (1914)
Choral hypocrite
Fugue à tâtons
Fantaisie musculaire
Autre choral, for violin and piano (1914; unused fourth piece for Choses vues à droite et à gauche (sans lunettes))
Embarquement pour Cythère, for violin and piano (1917; unfinished. Completed by R. Orledge)
Marche de Cocagne, for two trumpets (1919; reused in the second of Trois petites pièces montées)
Musique d'ameublement, 2 entr'actes or Sons industriels, for 3 clarinets, trombone and piano 4 hands (1920)
Chez un 'bistrot'
Un salon
Sonnerie pour réveiller le bon gros roi des singes, for two trumpets (1921)
Dramatic works[edit]
Salut drapeau!, hymn for Le Prince du Byzance ('drame romanesque'), for voice(s) and/or piano/organ (1891)
3 act-preludes for Le Fils des étoiles ('pastorale kaldéenne'), for flutes and harps (1891; later arranged for piano)
2 preludes for Le Nazaréen ('drame ésotérique'), for piano (1892)
Uspud ('ballet chrétien'), scored for piano, with indications for flutes, harps and strings (1892)
Prélude de la porte héroïque du ciel ('drame ésotérique'), for piano (1894)
Jack in the Box, three pieces for a pantomime, for piano (1899)
Geneviève de Brabant (marionette play), for soloists, chorus and piano (1899–1900)
Prelude for La mort de Monsieur Mouche (play) (1900)
Pousse l'amour (operetta) (1905–6; lost)
Monkey dances [7] for Le Piège de Méduse ('lyric comedy'), for piano (1913)
Les pantins dansent ('poème dansé'), for piano or small orchestra (1913)
Cinq grimaces pour Le songe d'une nuit d'été, incidental music for a production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, for orchestra (1915)
Parade ('ballet réaliste'), for orchestra (1916–17; additional movements 1919)
La belle excentrique ('fantaisie sérieuse'), for orchestra or piano 4 hands (1921); some movements later arranged for solo piano; one movement based on Légende californienne)
La statue retrouvée (divertissement), for organ and trumpet (1923)
Scènes nouvelles [9] for Gounod's Le médecin malgré lui, for soloists and orchestra (1923)
Mercure, ballet, for orchestra (1924)
Relâche ('ballet instantanéiste'), for orchestra) (1924)
Vocal music[edit]
Large-scale works[edit]
Messe des pauvres, for SB chorus and organ (1893–95)
Socrate ('drame symphonique'), for soloists and chamber orchestra or piano (1917–18)
Songs[edit]
Elégie (1887)
3 mélodies (1887)
Les anges
Les fleurs
Sylvie
Chanson (1887)
Bonjour Biqui, Bonjour! (1893)
Chanson médiévale (1906)
Trois poèmes d'amour (1914)
Trois Mélodies (Satie) (1916)
La statue de bronze
Daphénéo
Le chapelier
Quatre petites mélodies (Satie) (1920)
Elégie
Danseuse
Chanson
Adieu
Ludions (1923)
Air du rat
Spleen
La grenouille américaine
Air du poète
Chanson du chat
Cabaret songs[edit]
Un dîner à l'Elysée (1899)
Le veuf (1899–1900; two versions)
Petit recueil des fêtes (1903–04)
Le picador est mort
Sorcière
Enfant-martyre
Air fantôme
J'avais un ami (1904)
Les bons mouvements (1904)
Douceur d'oublier (1904)
Légende californienne (c.1905; used in La belle excentrique)
L'omnibus automobile (1905)
Chez le docteur (1905)
Allons-y Chochotte (1905)
Rambouillet (Une réception à Rambouillet) (1907; survives without lyrics)
Les oiseaux (Il nous prêtent leurs noms) (1907; survives without lyrics)
Marienbad (Il portait un gilet) (1907; survives without lyrics)
Psitt! Psitt! (1907)
La chemise (Dépaquit) (1909; three versions)
Compositions with multiple arrangements[edit]
Trois sonneries de la Rose+Croix [3], fanfares for trumpets, harps and/or, possibly, orchestra (1892); version for solo piano (1892)
The Angora Ox (1901) for orchestra, unfinished solo piano reduction completed by J. Fritz
Poudre d'or (1901–2): versions for orchestra and for solo piano
Tendrement (1902): versions for voice and piano (cabaret song), for solo piano, and for orchestra
Illusion (1902, after the song Tendrement): versions for orchestra and for solo piano
Je te veux (published 1903): versions for voice and piano (cabaret song), for solo piano, and for orchestra
La Diva de l'Empire (1904): versions for voice and piano (cabaret song), for solo piano (as Intermezzo américain, arrangement by H. Ourdine), and for orchestra
Le Piccadilly (La transatlantique) (1904): versions for piano and strings, and for solo piano
En habit de cheval (1911): versions for piano 4 hands and for orchestra
Choral
Fugue litanique
Autre choral
Fugue de papier
L'aurore aux doigts de rose (1916): versions for orchestra and for piano 4 hands
Trois petites pièces montées (1920): originally for orchestra; reduction for piano 4 hands published in 1920, orchestral score published in 1921
References[edit]
Orledge, Robert. 'Erik Satie'. In Deane L. Root (ed.). Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press.(subscription required)
External links[edit]
'A complete list of works, sorted chronologically'. Archived from the original on April 21, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2011.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
'Translations of some of Satie's titles'. Archived from the original on October 27, 2003. Retrieved March 30, 2009.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
References[edit]
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