Selfportrait of Erik Satie. The text reads (translated from French): Project for a bust of Mr. Erik Satie (painted by the same), with a thought: "I came into the world very young, in an age that was very old"

Alfred Éric Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. Honfleur is a commune in the Norman département of Calvados in France, located on the southern bank of the estuary Events 1521 - Edward Stafford 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for Treason. Year 1866 ( MDCCCLXVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city "July 1st" redirects here For the Ayumi Hamasaki song see H (song. Year 1925 ( MCMXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance A pianist (/'piənɪst/ is a Musician who plays the Piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces play with an ensemble or Orchestra Starting with his first composition in 1884, he signed his name as Erik Satie.

Satie was introduced as a "gymnopedist" in 1887, shortly before writing his most famous compositions, the Gymnopédies. For the Ancient Greek festival and dance see Gymnopaedia. The Gymnopédies, published in Paris starting in 1888 Later, he also referred to himself as a "phonometrograph" or "phonometrician" (meaning "someone who measures (and writes down) sounds") preferring this designation to that of "musician," after having been called "a clumsy but subtle technician" in a book on contemporary French composers published in 1911. A musician is a person who plays or writes Music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music An instrumentalist plays a

In addition to his body of music, Satie also left a remarkable set of writings, having contributed work for a range of publications, from the dadaist 391 to the American Vanity Fair. For other meanings see Dada (disambiguation DaDa is a Concept album by Alice Cooper, released 391 was a periodical created and edited by the Dadaist Francis Picabia. Vanity Fair is an American magazine of Culture, Fashion, and Politics published by Condé Nast Publications. Although in later life he prided himself on always publishing his work under his own name, in the late nineteenth century he appears to have used pseudonyms such as Virginie Lebeau and François de Paule in some of his published writings. A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias)

Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde. Avant-garde (avɑ̃gaʁd in French) means "advance guard" or "vanguard He was a precursor to later artistic movements such as minimalism, repetitive music and the Theatre of the Absurd. Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design especially Visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features Repetitive music is Music which features a relatively high degree of Repetition in its creation or Reception. The Theatre of the Absurd ( French: Théâtre de l'Absurde) is a designation for particular plays written by a number of primarily European Playwrights

Life and work

From Normandy to Montmartre

Satie house and museum in Honfleur

Erik Satie's youth was spent alternating between living in Honfleur, Basse-Normandie, and Paris. Honfleur is a commune in the Norman département of Calvados in France, located on the southern bank of the estuary Basse-Normandie ('Lower Normandy' is an administrative region of France. When he was four years old, his family moved to Paris, his father (Alfred), having been offered a translator's job in the capital. After his mother (born Jane Leslie Anton) died in 1872, he was sent, together with his younger brother Conrad, back to Honfleur, to live with his paternal grandparents. There he received his first music lessons from a local organist. An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or Orchestra, or accompany When his grandmother died in 1878, the two brothers were reunited with their father in Paris, who remarried (a piano teacher) shortly afterwards. From the early 1880s onwards, Alfred Satie started publishing salon compositions (by his new wife and himself, among others).

In 1879 Satie entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he was soon labelled untalented by his teachers. The Conservatoire de Paris is an institution of higher education that has played an important role in the development of Music in France and Western Europe After being sent home for two and a half years, he was readmitted to the Conservatoire at the end of 1885, but was unable to make a much more favourable impression on his teachers than he had before, and, as a result, resolved to take up military service a year later. Military service in its simplest sense is service by an individual or group in an Army or other military organization whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary However, Satie's military career did not last very long; within a few weeks he left the army through deceptive means.

In 1887 Satie left home to take lodgings in Montmartre. Montmartre is a hill (the butte Montmartre) which is 130 metres high giving its name to the surrounding district in the north of Paris in the 18th By this time he had started what was to be an enduring friendship with the romantic poet Patrice Contamine, and had had his first compositions published by his father. He soon integrated with the artistic clientèle of the Le Chat Noir Café-cabaret, and started publishing his Gymnopédies. Le Chat Noir ( French for "The Black Cat" was a 19th-century Cabaret in the bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. For the Ancient Greek festival and dance see Gymnopaedia. The Gymnopédies, published in Paris starting in 1888 Publication of compositions in the same vein (Ogives, Gnossiennes, etc. for Ogives as a physical appearance see Ogive Ogive is one of four pieces for Piano, composed by Erik Satie " Gnossienne " is the name given to several piano pieces by French composer Erik Satie in the late 19th century ) followed. In the same period he got to know Claude Debussy. Achille-Claude Debussy (aʃil klod dəbysi (August 22 1862 &ndash March 25 1918 was a French Composer. He moved to a smaller room, still in Montmartre (rue Cortot N° 6), in 1890. By 1891 he was the official composer and chapel-master of the Rosicrucian Order "Ordre de la Rose-Croix Catholique, du Temple et du Graal", led by Sâr Joséphin Péladan, which led to compositions such as Salut Drapeau!, Le Fils des étoiles, and the Sonneries de la Rose+Croix. The term Rosicrucian (symbol the Rose Cross) describes a secret society of mystics allegedly formed in late mediaeval Germany, holding a doctrine "built on Joséphin Péladan (1858-1918 was a French novelist and Martinist. Trois Sonneries de la Rose+Croix ("Three Sonneries of the Rose+Cross " is a piano composition by Erik Satie, first published in

By mid-1892 he had composed the first pieces in a compositional system of his own making (Fête donnée par des Chevaliers Normands en l'Honneur d'une jeune Demoiselle), had provided incidental music to a chivalric esoteric play (two Prélude du Nazaréen), had had his first hoax published (announcing the premiere of Le Bâtard de Tristan, an anti-Wagnerian opera he probably never composed), and had broken with Péladan, starting that autumn with the Uspud project, a "Christian Ballet", in collaboration with Contamine de Latour. Chivalric order Chivalry is a term related to the Medieval institution of Knighthood. A hoax is a deliberate attempt to Dupe, Deceive or trick an audience into believing or accepting that something is real when in fact it is not or that The word premiere (or première, from the French première, "first" generally means "a first performance" While the comrades from both the Chat Noir and Miguel Utrillo's Auberge du Clou sympathised, a promotional brochure was produced for the project, which reads as a pamphlet for a new esoteric sect. A pamphlet is an unbound Booklet (that is without a hard cover or binding) In the Sociology of religion a sect is generally a smaller religious or political group that has broken off from a larger group for example from a

Satie and Suzanne Valadon, an artists' model and artist in her own right, and a long-time friend of Miguel Utrillo (and mother of Maurice Utrillo), began an affair early in 1893. Suzanne Valadon ( 23 September 1865 &ndash 7 April 1938) was a French painter. Maurice Utrillo, born Maurice Valadon, ( 26 December 1883 - 5 November 1955) was a French painter who specialized After their first night together, he proposed marriage. The two did not marry, but Valadon moved to a room next to Satie's at the Rue Cortot. Satie became obsessed with her, calling her his Biqui, and writing impassioned notes about "her whole being, lovely eyes, gentle hands, and tiny feet". During their relationship, Satie composed the Danses Gothiques as a kind of prayer to restore peace of mind, and Valadon painted a portrait of Satie, which she gave to him. After six months she moved away, leaving Satie broken-hearted. Afterwards, he said that he was left with "nothing but an icy loneliness that fills the head with emptiness and the heart with sadness". It is believed this was the only intimate relationship Satie ever had.

In the same year he met the young Maurice Ravel for the first time, Satie's style emerging in the first compositions of the youngster. One of Satie's own compositions of that period, the Vexations, was to remain undisclosed until after his death. Vexations is a noted musical work by Erik Satie. It consists of a short chordal passage and a bass line which is repeated twice in each repetition of the By the end of the year he had founded the Eglise Métropolitaine d'Art de Jésus Conducteur (the Metropolitan Church of Art of the Leading Christ). L' Église Métropolitaine d'Art de Jésus Conducteur or the Metropolitan Church of Art of Jesus the Conductor, alternatively translated as the Metropolitan Church of Art As its only member, in the role of "Parcier et Maître de Chapelle" he started to compose a Grande Messe (later to become known as the Messe des Pauvres), and wrote a flood of letters, articles and pamphlets showing off his self-assuredness in religious and artistic matters. To give an example: he applied for membership of the Académie Française twice, leaving no doubt in the application letter that the board of that organisation (presided by Camille Saint-Saëns) as much as owed him such membership. L'Académie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (/ʃaʁl kamij sɛ̃sɑ̃s/ (9 October 1835 &ndash 16 December 1921 was a French Composer, Organist, conductor, and Such proceedings without doubt rather helped to wreck his popularity in the cultural establishment. The Establishment is a Pejorative term used to refer to the traditional Ruling class Elite and the structures of society that they control In 1895 he inherited some money, allowing him to have more of his writings printed, and to change from wearing a priest-like habit to being the "Velvet Gentleman".

Moving to Arcueil — cabaret compositions, Schola Cantorum

By mid-1896 all his financial means had vanished, and he had to move to cheaper lodgings, first at the Rue Cortot, to a room not much bigger than a cupboard, and two years later (after he'd composed the two first sets of Pièces froides in 1897), to Arcueil, a suburb some ten kilometers from the centre of Paris (in the Val-de-Marne district of the Île-de-France ). Arcueil is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department located in what can be considered as the southern suburbs of Paris Val-de-Marne is a French department, named after the Marne River, located in the Île-de-France region, at the west of Paris Île-de-France ( pronounced /il d̪ə fʁɑ̃s/ literally "Island of France" is one of the twenty-six administrative regions of France.

At this period he re-established contact with his brother Conrad (in much the way Vincent Van Gogh had with his brother Theo) for numerous practical and financial matters, disclosing some of his inner feelings in the process. For example, from his letters to his brother it's clear that he had set aside any religious ideas (which were not to return until the last months of his life); Satie used humour as he was often to do: to indicate a change of mind concerning subjects about which he had had strong views.

From the winter of 1898–1899, Satie could be seen, as a daily routine, leaving his apartment in the Parisian suburb of Arcueil to walk across Paris to either Montmartre or Montparnasse, before walking back again in the evening. Montmartre is a hill (the butte Montmartre) which is 130 metres high giving its name to the surrounding district in the north of Paris in the 18th Montparnasse is an area of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred on the intersection of the Boulevard du Montparnasse

From 1899 on he started making money as a cabaret pianist (mostly accompanying Vincent Hyspa, later also Paulette Darty), adapting over a hundred compositions of popular music for piano (or piano and voice), adding some of his own. The most popular of these were Je te veux (text by Henry Pacory), Tendrement (text by Vincent Hyspa), Poudre d'or (a waltz), La Diva de l'"Empire" (text by Dominique Bonnaud/Numa Blès), Le Picadilly (A March), Légende Californienne (text by Contamine de Latour lost, but the music later reappears in La Belle Excentrique), and many more (probably even more have been lost). Je te veux ( French: I want you) is a song composed by Erik Satie to a text by Henry Pacory. In his later years Satie would reject all his cabaret music as vile and against his nature^[1] (although he revived some of the fun of it in his 1920 Belle excentrique), but for the time being, it was an income.

Only a few compositions that Satie himself took seriously remain from this period: Jack-in-the-box, music to a pantomime by Jules Dépaquit (called a "clownerie" by Satie), Geneviève de Brabant, a short comic opera on a serious theme, text by Lord Cheminot, The Dreamy Fish, piano music to accompany a lost tale by Lord Cheminot, and a few others (mostly incomplete, hardly any of them staged, and none of them published at the time). Pantomime (informally panto) (not to be confused with a Mime artist, referring to a theatrical performer of mime is a performance genre traditionally found Geneviève de Brabant is an Opéra bouffe, or Operetta, by Jacques Offenbach.

Both Geneviève de Brabant and The Dreamy Fish have been analysed (e. g. by Ornella Volta) as containing elements of competition with Claude Debussy, of which Debussy was probably not aware (Satie not making this music public). Achille-Claude Debussy (aʃil klod dəbysi (August 22 1862 &ndash March 25 1918 was a French Composer. Meanwhile, Debussy was having one of his first major successes with Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902, leading a few years later to ‘who-was-precursor-to-whom’ debates between the two composers (in which Maurice Ravel would also get involved). Pelléas et Mélisande ( Pelléas and Mélisande) is an Opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy.

In October 1905 Satie enrolled in Vincent d'Indy's Schola Cantorum to study classical counterpoint (while still continuing his cabaret work). Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (March 27 1851 &ndash December 2 1931 was a French Composer and teacher This article is about the Parisian musical institute For other organizations called Schola Cantorum see Schola Cantorum (disambiguation. In Music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and Rhythm, and interdependent in Harmony Most of his friends were as dumbfounded as the professors at the Schola when they heard about his new plan to return to the classrooms (especially as d'Indy was an admiring pupil of Saint-Saëns, not particularly favoured by Satie). Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (/ʃaʁl kamij sɛ̃sɑ̃s/ (9 October 1835 &ndash 16 December 1921 was a French Composer, Organist, conductor, and As for Satie's motivation for this step, there were probably two main reasons: first, he was tired of being told that the harmonisation of his compositions was erratic (a criticism he could not very well counter, not having completed any studies in music), and secondly, he was developing the idea that one of the most typical characteristics of French music was clarity (which could better be achieved with a good background knowledge of how traditional harmony was perceived). In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Satie would follow these courses at the Schola, as a respected pupil, for more than five years, receiving a first (intermediate) diploma in 1908.

Some of his classroom counterpoint-exercises would, after his death, be published (e. g. , the Désespoir agréable), but he probably saw the En Habit de Cheval (published in 1911 as the result of "eight years hard work to come to a new, modern fugue") as the culmination of the Schola episode. Another summary, of the period prior to the Schola, also appeared in 1911: the Trois Morceaux en forme de poire, which was a kind of compilation of the best of what he had written up to 1903.

Something that becomes clear through these published compilations is that maybe he did not so much reject Romanticism (and its exponents like Wagner) as a whole (he has become more moderate in a way), as that he rejected certain aspects of it: musically the thing he rejected most consequently, from his very first composition to his very last, was the idea of development, certainly in the more strict definition of this term: the intertwining of different themes in a development section of a sonata form: naturally this makes his contrapuntal (and other works) very short: e. Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the In European classical music, musical development is a process by which a musical Idea is communicated in the course of a composition. Sonata form is a Musical form that has been used widely since the early Classical period. g. the "new, modern" Fugues do not extend further than the exposition of the theme(s). In Music, a fugue (ˈfjuːg is a type of contrapuntal composition or technique of composition for a fixed number of parts, normally referred Generally he would say that he did not think it permitted that a composer would take more time from his public than strictly necessary, certainly avoiding being boring in any way. Also Melodrama, in its historical meaning of the then popular romantic genre of "spoken words to a background of music", was something Satie appears to have succeeded quite well in staying clear of (although his 1913 Piège de Méduse could be seen as an absurdistic spoof of that genre). Melodrama refers to theatre in which music is used to increase the spectator's emotional response or to suggest character types Le piège de Méduse ("Medusa's trap" is a short play of which Erik Satie wrote both the text and the Incidental music.

In the meantime, other changes had also taken place: Satie had become a member of a radical (socialist) party, had socialised with the Arcueil community (amongst other things, he'd been involved in the "Patronage Laïque" work for children), and he had changed his appearance to that of the 'bourgeois functionary' (with bowler hat, umbrella, etc. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution ). Also, instead of involving himself again in any kind of medievalist sect, he channelled these interests into a peculiar secret hobby: in a filing cabinet he maintained a collection of imaginary buildings (most of them described as being made out of some kind of metal), which he drew on little cards. In academic usage medievalism is the study of the Middle Ages, also referred to as medieval studies. In the Sociology of religion a sect is generally a smaller religious or political group that has broken off from a larger group for example from a A hobby is a spare-time Recreational pursuit Etymology A Hobby horse is a wooden or Wickerwork toy made to be Occasionally, extending the game, he would publish anonymous small announcements in local journals, offering some of these buildings (e. g. , a "castle in lead") for sale or rent.

Riding the waves

From this point, things started to move very quickly for Satie. First, there was, starting in 1912, the success of his new short, humorous piano pieces; he was to write and publish many of these over the next few years (most of them premiered by the pianist Ricardo Viñes): the Véritables Préludes flasques (pour un chien) ("Genuine Flabby Preludes (for a dog)"), the Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses ("Old Sequins and Old Breastplates"), the Embryons desséchés ("Dried up Embryos"), the Descriptions Automatiques, and the Sonatine Bureaucratique (a Muzio Clementi spoof), etc. Ricardo Viñes ( 5 February 1875 &ndash 29 April 1943) was a famous Spanish pianist Embryons desséchés (" Dried up Embryos '" is a piano composition by Erik Satie, composed in the summer of 1913 Sonatine Bureaucratique or " Bureaucratic Sonatina " is a piano composition by Erik Satie, that spoofs the Sonatina Op Muzio Clementi (23 January 1752 &ndash 10 March 1832 was a classical Composer, and acknowledged as the first to write specifically for the Piano. , all date from this period. His habit of accompanying the scores of his compositions with all kinds of written remarks was now well established (so that a few years later he had to insist that these not be read out during performances). He had mostly stopped using barlines by this time. In some ways these compositions were very reminiscent of Rossini's compositions from the final years of his life, grouped under the name Péchés de Vieillesse;

But the real acceleration in Satie's life did not come so much from the increasing success of his new piano pieces. In fact, it was Ravel who (perhaps unwittingly) triggered something that was to become a characteristic of Satie's remaining years and part of each progressive movement that manifested itself in Paris over the following years. These movements succeeded one another rapidly, at a time in which Paris was seen as the artistic capital of the world (long before London or New York would achieve much significance in this regard), and the beginning of the new century appeared to have set many minds on fire.

In 1910 the "Jeunes Ravêlites", a group of young musicians around Ravel, proclaimed their preference for Satie's earlier work (from before the Schola period), reinforcing the idea that Satie had been a precursor of Debussy. At first Satie was pleased that at least some of his works were receiving public attention, but when he realised that this meant that his more recent work was overlooked or dismissed, he looked for other young artists who related better to his more recent ideas, so as to have better mutual support in creative activity. Thus young artists such as Roland-Manuel, and later Georges Auric and Jean Cocteau, started to receive more of his attention than the "Jeunes". Alexis Roland-Manuel ( 22 March, 1891 – 2 November, 1966) was a French composer and critic though he is remembered mainly for his Georges Auric ( February 15, 1899 &ndash July 23, 1983) was a French composer born in Lodève, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (5 July 1889 &ndash 11 October 1963 was a French Poet, Novelist, Dramatist, Designer, Boxing

As a result of his contact with Roland-Manuel, Satie again began publicising his thoughts, with far more irony than he had done before (amongst other things, the Mémoires d'un amnésique and Cahiers d'un mammifère). ^[2]

With Jean Cocteau, whom he had first met in 1915, Satie started work on incidental music for a production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (resulting in the Cinq Grimaces). William Shakespeare ( baptised A Midsummer Night's Dream is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, suggested by " The Knight's Tale " from From 1916, he and Cocteau worked on the ballet Parade, which was premiered in 1917 by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, with sets and costumes by Pablo Picasso, and choreography by Léonide Massine. Parade is a Ballet with Music by Erik Satie and a one-act scenario by Jean Cocteau. Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев / Sergei Pavlovich Dyagilev) also referred to as Serge, ( March 31, See also Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, The Ballets Russes ( French for The Russian Ballets) was a Ballet company established Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso (October 25 1881 &ndash April 8 1973 See also, Choreography (literally "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" (circular dance see chorea) and "γραφή" See also Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin (Russian Леонид Фёдорович Мясин better known in the French transliteration Léonide Massine ( August Through Picasso Satie also became acquainted with other cubists, such as Georges Braque, with whom he would work on other, aborted, projects. Cubism was a 20th century Avant-garde Art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European Georges Braque ( May 13, 1882 &ndash August 31, 1963) was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor

With Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, and Germaine Tailleferre Satie formed the Nouveaux Jeunes, shortly after writing Parade. Georges Auric ( February 15, 1899 &ndash July 23, 1983) was a French composer born in Lodève, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon Louis Durey ( May 27, 1888 - July 3, 1979) was a French composer Arthur Honegger (March 10 1892 &ndash November 27 1955 was a Swiss Composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Germaine Tailleferre ( April 19, 1892 - November 7, 1983) was a French Composer and the only female member of the famous Les Six is a name inspired by The Five, given in 1923 by critic Henri Collet in an article titled ‘Les cinq Russes les Later the group was joined by Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud. See also, Rhône-Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (fʀɑ̃sis ʒɑ̃ maʀsɛl pulɛ̃k January 7, 1899 – January 30, Darius Milhaud (darjys mijo (September 4 1892 &ndash June 22 1974 was a French Composer and teacher In September 1918, Satie — giving little or no explanation — withdrew from the Nouveaux Jeunes. Jean Cocteau gathered the six remaining members, forming the Groupe des Six (to which Satie would later have access, but later again would fall out with most of its members). Les Six is a name inspired by The Five, given in 1923 by critic Henri Collet in an article titled ‘Les cinq Russes les

From 1919 Satie was in contact with Tristan Tzara, the initiator of the Dada movement. Tristan Tzara (born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S For other meanings see Dada (disambiguation DaDa is a Concept album by Alice Cooper, released He became acquainted with other artists involved in the movement, such as Francis Picabia (later to become a Surrealist), André Derain, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray, among others. Francis-Marie Martinez Picabia ( January 22, 1879 - November 30, 1953) was a well-known painter and poet born of a French mother and Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members André Derain ( June 10, 1880 – September 8, 1954) was a French painter and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse Marcel Duchamp (maʀsɛl dyˈʃɑ̃ (28 July 1887 &ndash 2 October 1968 was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist Man Ray, born Emmanuel Radnitzky ( August 27 1890 &ndash November 18 1976) in Philadelphia PA and raised On the day of his first meeting with Man Ray, the two fabricated the artist's first readymade: The Gift (1921). The term found art &mdashmore commonly found object (objet trouvé or readymade &mdashdescribes Art created from the undisguised but often modified The Gift ( Le Cadeau in French) is an early readymade by Man Ray (with the assistance of Erik Satie) consisting of an Satie would contributed writing to the Dadaist publication 391. 391 was a periodical created and edited by the Dadaist Francis Picabia. In the first months of 1922 he was surprised to find himself entangled in the argument between Tzara and André Breton about the true nature of avant-garde art, epitomised by the failure of the Congrès de Paris. André Breton (in French ɑ̃dʀe bʀəˈtɔ̃ ( February 19, 1896 &ndash September 28, 1966) was a French Writer, Satie originally sides with Tzara, but manages to maintain friendly relations with most players in both camps. Meanwhile, an "Ecole d'Arcueil" had formed around Satie, with young musicians like Henri Sauguet, Maxime Jacob, Roger Désormière and Henri Cliquet-Pleyel. Henri Sauguet ( 18 May, 1901 - June 22 1989) was a French Composer. Maxime Jacob, or Dom Clement Jacob, (b January 13 1906 Bordeaux - died Abbaye En-Calcat, Dourgne, Tarn, February 26 1977 was Roger Désormière ( September 13, 1898 - October 25, 1963) was a French conductor.

Finally he composed an "instantaneist" ballet (Relâche) in collaboration with Picabia, for the Ballets Suédois of Rolf de Maré. Rolf de Maré ( May 9 1888 – April 28 1964) sometimes called Rolf de Mare, was a Swedish Art collector and In a simultaneous project, Satie added music to the surrealist film Entr'acte by René Clair, which was given as an intermezzo for Relâche. Entr'acte is French for "between the acts" (German Zwischenspiel, Italian Intermezzo) René Clair (11 November 1898 &ndash 15 March 1981 was a French Filmmaker.

Other work and episodes in this last period of Satie's life:

• Since 1911 he had been on friendly terms with Igor Stravinsky, about whom he would later write articles. Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to
• Le Piège de Méduse (1913) had a unique position in Satie's oeuvre, as it was a stage work conceived and composed seemingly without any collaboration with other artists. Le piège de Méduse ("Medusa's trap" is a short play of which Erik Satie wrote both the text and the Incidental music. In Fine art, a work of art (or artwork or work) is a creation such as a Song, Book, Film, Video game,
• Sports et divertissements was a kind of multi-media project, in which Satie provided piano music to drawings made by Charles Martin, composed in 1914 (publication and first public performance in the early 1920s). Charles Martin (1884-1934 was a French Artist and Illustrator.
• He got in trouble over an insulting postcard he had written to one of his critics shortly after the premiere of Parade; he was condemned to a week of imprisonment, but was finally released as a result of the (financial) intercession of Winnaretta Singer, Princess Edmond de Polignac. Winnaretta Singer Princess Edmond de Polignac ( 8 January 1865 - 26 November 1943) was an important musical Patron and heir to the
• Singer, who had learnt ancient Greek when she was over 50, had commissioned a work on Socrates in October 1916; this would become his Socrate, which he presented early in 1918 to the Princess. SOCRATES is the European Community action programme in the field of Education. Socrate is a work for voice and small orchestra (or piano by Erik Satie.
• From 1917 Satie wrote five pieces of furniture music ("Musique d'ameublement") for different occasions. Furniture music, or in French musique d’ameublement (sometimes more literally translated as furnishing music is Background
• From 1920, he was on friendly terms with the circles around Gertrude Stein, amongst others, leading to the publication of some of his articles in Vanity Fair (commissioned by Sibyl Harris). Gertrude Stein ( February 3, 1874 &ndash July 27, 1946) was an American Writer who spent most of her life in France Vanity Fair is an American magazine of Culture, Fashion, and Politics published by Condé Nast Publications.
• Some works would originate under the patronage of the count Etienne de Beaumont, from 1922 onwards:
  • La Statue retrouvée (or "Divertissement"): another Satie-Cocteau-Picasso-Massine collaboration.
  • Ludions: a setting of nonsense rhyme by Léon-Paul Fargue
  • Mercure: the subtitle of this piece ("Poses plastiques") suggests it might have been intended rather as an emulation of the tableau vivant genre than as an actual ballet, the "tableaux" being cubist, by Picasso (and Massine). Nonsense verse is the poetic form of Literary nonsense, normally composed for humorous effect which is intentionally and overtly paradoxical silly witty whimsical or otherwise Léon-Paul Fargue ( March 4, 1876 - November 24, 1947) was a French Poet and essayist Mercure can also refer to the chain of hotels run by Accor. See Mercure Hotels. Tableau vivant (plural tableaux vivants) is French for "living picture
• During his final years Satie travelled; for example, in 1924 to Belgium, invited by Paul Collaer, and to Monte Carlo for the premiere of a work on which he had collaborated. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Monte-Carlo ( Occitan: Montcarles, Monégasque: Monte-Carlu) is one of Monaco 's various administrative areas sometimes erroneously

Epilogue: the shrine of Arcueil

At the time of Satie's death in 1925, absolutely nobody else had ever entered his room in Arcueil since he had moved there twenty-seven years earlier. Arcueil is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department located in what can be considered as the southern suburbs of Paris What his friends would discover there, after Satie's burial at the Cimetière d'Arcueil, had the allure of the opening of the grave of Tutankhamun; apart from the dust and the cobwebs (which among other things made clear that Satie never composed using his piano), they discovered numerous items that included,

• great numbers of umbrellas, some that had apparently never been used by Satie,
• the portrait of Satie by Suzanne Valadon,
• love-letters and drawings from the Valadon romance,
• other letters from all periods of his life,
• his collection of drawings of medieval buildings (only then did his friends see a link between Satie and certain previously anonymous, journal advertisements regarding "castles in lead" and the like),
• other drawings and texts of autobiographical value,
• other memorabilia from all periods of his life, amongst which were the seven velvet suits from his Velvet gentleman period. "Parasol" redirects here For other uses see Umbrella (disambiguation, Umbrella (song or Parasol (disambiguation In academic usage medievalism is the study of the Middle Ages, also referred to as medieval studies.

Most importantly, however, everywhere there were compositions that were totally unknown or which were thought to have been lost. They were found behind the piano, in the pockets of the velvet suits, and in other odd places. These included the Vexations, Geneviève de Brabant, and other unpublished or unfinished stage works, The Dreamy Fish, many Schola Cantorum exercises, a previously unseen set of "canine" piano pieces, several other piano works, often without a title. Vexations is a noted musical work by Erik Satie. It consists of a short chordal passage and a bass line which is repeated twice in each repetition of the Geneviève de Brabant is an Opéra bouffe, or Operetta, by Jacques Offenbach. This article is about the Parisian musical institute For other organizations called Schola Cantorum see Schola Cantorum (disambiguation. Some of these works would be published later as more Gnossiennes, Pièces Froides, Enfantines, and Furniture music). " Gnossienne " is the name given to several piano pieces by French composer Erik Satie in the late 19th century Furniture music, or in French musique d’ameublement (sometimes more literally translated as furnishing music is Background

"Petit dictionnaire d'idées reçues" (short dictionary of preconceived ideas)

"Idée reçue" is a play on words; in French it is the normal term for "prejudice", but Satie used it as the non-material equivalent of found objects (as in readymades) — for example, when he incorporated odd bits of music by Saint-Saëns and Ambroise Thomas in his furniture music. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people A found object, in an artistic sense indicates the use of an object which has not been designed for an artistic purpose but which exists for another purpose already (Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas ( Metz August 5, 1811 - Paris, February 12, 1896) was a French Opera This section treats some popular (mis)conceptions regarding Satie and his music:

Satie and furniture music: not all of Satie's music is furniture music. Furniture music, or in French musique d’ameublement (sometimes more literally translated as furnishing music is Background In the strict sense the term applies only to five of his compositions, which he wrote in 1917, 1920, and 1923. For the first public performance of furniture music see Entr'acte. Entr'acte is French for "between the acts" (German Zwischenspiel, Italian Intermezzo)

Satie as precursor: the only "precursor" discussion Satie was involved in during his lifetime was whether or not he was a precursor of Claude Debussy, but many would follow. Achille-Claude Debussy (aʃil klod dəbysi (August 22 1862 &ndash March 25 1918 was a French Composer. Over the years Satie would be described as a precursor of movements and styles as varied as Impressionism, neo-classicism, Dada, Surrealism, atonalism, minimalism, conceptual art, the Theatre of the Absurd, muzak, ambient music, multimedia art, etc. Impressionism was a 19th-century Art movement that began as a loose association of Paris -based Artists exhibiting their art publicly in the 1860s Neoclassicism in music was a 20th century development particularly popular in the period between the two World Wars in which composers drew inspiration from music of the 18th century For other meanings see Dada (disambiguation DaDa is a Concept album by Alice Cooper, released Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members Atonality in its broadest sense describes Music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Minimalist music is an originally American genre of experimental or Downtown music named in the 1960s based mostly in consonant harmony, steady Conceptual art is Art in which the Concept (s or Idea (s involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns The Theatre of the Absurd ( French: Théâtre de l'Absurde) is a designation for particular plays written by a number of primarily European Playwrights Ambient music is a Musical genre in which sound is more important than notes , and as taking the first steps towards techniques such as prepared piano and music-to-film synchronisation. A prepared piano is a Piano which has had its sound altered by placing objects (preparations between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers Further, Satie became one of the first musicians to perform a cameo appearance — he was in a 1924 film by René Clair (see: a sample of the film (rm format) and the Entr'acte article). A cameo role or cameo appearance (often shortened to just cameo) is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the Performing arts, such as René Clair (11 November 1898 &ndash 15 March 1981 was a French Filmmaker. Entr'acte is French for "between the acts" (German Zwischenspiel, Italian Intermezzo)

All by himself Satie appears to have been the avant-garde to half of the avant-garde movements of the 20th century. Many of these "precursorisms" are possibly based on quite superficial resemblances only, while, on the other hand, he undeniably inspired and influenced many later artists, and their ideas. According to Milhaud, Satie had "prophesied the major movements in classical music to appear over the next fifty years within his own body of work. " There is a website exploring that theory in detail: Erik Satie's Crystal Ball

Satie as humorist: many would be surprised to know how many of Satie's seemingly humorous compositions were at heart taken very seriously by him. When he forbade commentaries written in his partitions to be read aloud, he probably saw this himself as a means to safeguard the seriousness of his intentions. In Music using the Twelve tone technique derivation is the construction of a row through segments When, at the first public performance of Socrate, there was laughter, he felt hurt. Socrate is a work for voice and small orchestra (or piano by Erik Satie. Many other examples of his serious attitude can be found, but there's no doubt that Satie was a witty person, certainly not without many humorous idiosyncrasies. Idiosyncrasy, from Greek ιδιοσυγκρασία idiosunkrasia, "a peculiar temperament" "habit of body" ( idios "one's own"

Satie and compositions in three parts: although many of his compositions (e. g. , most of the pre-war piano pieces) were indeed in three parts, there is no general rule in this respect. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All After his death, publishers would force more of them into an artificial three-part structure; Satie had actually already made a joke of such proceedings with his seven-part Trois Morceaux en forme de poire, which is French for "Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear. "

Satie and (lack of) money: although Satie certainly knew periods of dire poverty, and was perhaps a little uncontrollable in his spending, in long periods of his life he had few worries in this sense. Although maybe not having much money in his pockets, he was (certainly from the second decade of the new century) often invited to expensive restaurants and to all sort of events, and was given financial help, by all sorts of people. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on

Satie as an opponent of other musical styles. The musical styles Satie opposed were allegedly numerous: Wagnerism, Romanticism (Saint-Saëns, Franck, etc. ), Impressionism (Debussy and Ravel), Expressionism (later Ravel), Slavism (Stravinsky), post-Wagnerism (Schoenberg), cabaret music, etc. Expressionism as a musical genre is notoriously difficult to exactly define Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with Cabaret is a form of entertainment featuring Comedy, Song, Dance, and Theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue &mdash a Restaurant Apart from some animosities on the personal level (which can be seen as symptomatic of most adherents of avant-garde movements of those days), Satie's ideas on other music of his time generally had more subtlety; for example, about César Franck he could not be brought to write critically, but would avoid the issue with jokes ("Franck's music shows surprisingly much Franckism; Some even say César Frank was lazy, which is not a commendable property in a hard working man"). César Franck (December 10 1822 – November 8 1890 a Composer, Organist and music teacher of Belgian and German origin who lived in France Perhaps the same can be said as above regarding "Satie as precursor": there is much empty discussion — for example, the debate with Debussy appears to have been over whether or not Satie was a precursor of Impressionism, which would not have made much sense if he had been opposed to Impressionism as such.

Satie and boredom. Satie often consciously disregarded the conception of development found in the German tradition (Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms). In European classical music, musical development is a process by which a musical Idea is communicated in the course of a composition. Satie's compositions tend to be very short; a typical movement of a Satie composition takes less than two minutes to play, and compositions with more than five movements are exceptional. A movement is a self-contained part of a Musical composition or Musical form. Even his larger-scale works conforming to the genres known in his time would be two to five times shorter than the usual duration of such compositions (Socrate, a secular oratorio — or "symphonic drama" — lasting about half an hour, is the longest). Secularity ( adjective form secular) is the state of being separate from Religion. An oratorio is a large Musical composition including an Orchestra, a Choir, and soloists The oratorio was somewhat modeled after the Opera In general, Satie thought it to be a great fault for a composer to bore his audience in any way. There are eight of his compositions that use repetition as a compositional technique, more than doubling the total duration:

• Vexations: with 840 repetitions of the musical motif (and many more of the melody of the bass), this is definitely the longest single-movement work with a defined number of repetitions (note that, without the repetitions, the actual music takes less than two minutes to play). Vexations is a noted musical work by Erik Satie. It consists of a short chordal passage and a bass line which is repeated twice in each repetition of the No explanation by Satie survives regarding the exceptional length of the piece. If excluding the Tango mentioned in the next point, performing the Vexations takes longer than all his other music played in sequence.
• For Le Tango ("The Tango"), a rather catchy tune from Sports et divertissements, Satie indicates in the score perpétuel (i. e. something like a perpetuum mobile, which in French is "mouvement perpétuel"). Perpetuum mobile ( Latin) moto perpetuo ( Italian) mouvement perpétuel ( French) literally meaning There is little indication how Satie understood this "perpetual", apart that at the premiere, at least assisted by Satie, there was obviously nothing repeated ad infinitum, taken literally. When performed for a recording there is seldom more than one repeat of this part of the composition, making it one of the shortest tangos ever, something like a Minute Tango. Tango is a style of music that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay.
• Five pieces of furniture music, which were intended as "background" music with no number of repeats specified. The circumstances in which such music was performed by Satie himself indicate, however, that the total playing times would be intended to be the usual 'intermission' time of a stage production (see Entr'acte). Entr'acte is French for "between the acts" (German Zwischenspiel, Italian Intermezzo) While the public was not expected to be silent, these compositions can hardly be seen as an experiment in boredom.
• His music for the film Entr'acte has ten repeat zones in order to synchronise with the twenty-minute film (which has a very varied plot, so not much boredom is to be found there either).

Satie and sexuality: much has been said about Satie's sexuality, ranging from "hidden" homosexuality to "ordinary" heterosexuality. In fact, apart from the short-lived, and highly "idealised", Valadon period, Satie's behaviour appeared more or less asexual: he tended to be dismissive when the topic of sexuality came up. Asexuality is a Sexual orientation that describes individuals who do not experience Sexual attraction. See also: Gymnopédie. For the Ancient Greek festival and dance see Gymnopaedia. The Gymnopédies, published in Paris starting in 1888

Media

Notes

1. ^ Erik Satie in a 17 January 1911 letter to his brother Conrad, quoted in Volta 1989 and in Gillmor 1992 (Chronology p. Events 38 BC - Octavian marries Livia Drusilla. 1287 - King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca Year 1911 ( MCMXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year xxix)
2. ^ English translations of these pieces were published in A Mammal's Notebook, see Sources section below.

See also

A number of works by Erik Satie are listed in the Category of compositions by Erik Satie and the Category of writings by Erik Satie.

Sources

In English, unless indicated:

Writings by Satie

• A Mammal's Notebook: Collected Writings of Erik Satie (Serpent's Tail; Atlas Arkhive, No 5, 1997) ISBN 0-947757-92-9 (with introduction and notes by Ornella Volta, translations by Anthony Melville, contains several drawings by Satie)
• Correspondence presque complète: Réunie, établie et présentée par Ornella Volta (Paris: Fayard/Imes, 2000; 1265pp) ISBN 2-213-60674-9 (an almost complete edition of Satie's letters, in French)

Books on Satie

• Gillmor, Alan M. , Erik Satie (Twayne Pub. , 1988, reissued 1992; 387pp) ISBN 0-393-30810-3
• Myers, Rollo H. , Erik Satie. (Dover Publications, New York 1968. ) ISBN 0-486-21903-8
• Orledge, Robert, Satie Remembered (London: Faber and Faber, London, 1995)
• Orledge, Robert, Satie the Composer Cambridge University Press: 1990; 437pp — in the series Music in the Twentieth Century [ed. Robert Orledge is a leading scholar of early twentieth century French music Robert Orledge is a leading scholar of early twentieth century French music ] Arnold Whittall) ISBN 0-521-35037-9
• Templier, Pierre-Daniel (translated by Elena L. French and David S. French), Erik Satie (The MIT Press, 1969, reissued 1971) ISBN 0-262-70005-0 and (New York: Da Capo Press, 1980 reissue) ISBN 0-306-76039-8
  • note: Templier extensively consulted Conrad, Erik Satie's brother, when writing this first biography that appeared in 1932. The English translation was, however, criticised by John Cage; in a letter to Ornella Volta (25 May 1983) he referred to the translation as disappointing compared to the formidable value of the original biography. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> John Milton Cage Jr Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar)
• Volta, Ornella and Simon Pleasance, Erik Satie (Hazan: The Pocket Archives Series, 1997; 200pp) ISBN 2-85025-565-3
• Volta, Ornella, transl. Michael Bullock, Satie Seen Through His Letters (Marion Boyars, 1989) ISBN 0-7145-2980-X
• Whiting, Steven, Satie the Bohemian: from Cabaret to Concert Hall (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999; 596pp)
  • a fully researched account of Satie's musical career in what then was regarded as popular music.

Other

• Satie Home page — Niclas Fogwall's website dedicated to Satie

Recordings and arrangements

Piano works

Recordings of Satie's piano works have been released performed by Reinbert de Leeuw, Pascal Rogé, Olof Höjer, Claude Coppens (live recording), Aldo Ciccolini, Daniel Varsano, Philippe Entremont, João Paulo Santos, Michel Legrand, Jacques Loussier, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Bill Quist and Cristina Ariagno, among others. Pascal Rogé is a French Pianist who was born in Paris on April 6, 1951. Claude Coppens (b December 23, 1936, Schaarbeek, near Brussels) is a Belgian Pianist and Composer. Aldo Ciccolini (born August 15, 1925) is a French Pianist of Italian origin Philippe Entremont (b Rheims, June 7, 1934) is a French Pianist and conductor. Michel Legrand (born February 24, 1932 in Paris) is a French musical composer arranger conductor and pianist of Armenian descent Jacques Loussier (born 26 October 1934 in Angers, northwestern France) is a noted Pianist and Composer. Jean-Yves Thibaudet (born 7 September 1971) is a French Pianist born in Lyon, France to non-professional musical parents

Orchestral and vocal

• A recording of historical importance is probably Erik Satie, Les inspirations insolites, re-issued by EMI as a 2-CD set, containing among other pieces: Geneviève de Brabant (in a version before Contamine's text had been recovered), Le piège de Méduse, Messe des pauvres, etc. The EMI Group is a British music company comprising the major record company EMI Music – which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in Geneviève de Brabant is an Opéra bouffe, or Operetta, by Jacques Offenbach. Le piège de Méduse ("Medusa's trap" is a short play of which Erik Satie wrote both the text and the Incidental music.
• Many other recordings exist: Parade/Relâche (Michel Plasson / Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse), Satie: Socrate [etc. A parade (also called march or marchpast) is a procession of people usually organized along a street often in Costume, and often accompanied by Fire Michel Plasson (born 2 October 1933, Paris, France) is a French conductor. The Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse is the Orchestra of the city of Toulouse. ] (Jean-Paul Fouchécourt / Ensemble), and recordings of songs, e. Jean-Paul Fouchécourt is a French Tenor, mostly as an Opera singer g. , by Anne-Sophie Schmidt.

Arrangements

Various composers and performers have made arrangements of Satie's piano pieces for chamber ensembles and orchestras, including Debussy.

In 1980 Gary Numan's 7" We Are Glass featured Trois Gymnopedies (First Movement) on the B-side.

In 2000, ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett released the album, "Sketches of Satie", performing Satie's works on acoustic guitar, with contributions by his brother John on flute. Genesis are an English rock band formed in 1967 With approximately 150 million albums sold worldwide Genesis are among the top 30 highest-selling recording artists Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950 is a British Songwriter and Guitarist. John Hackett is a British flautist the younger brother of guitarist Steve Hackett. The flute is a Musical instrument of the Woodwind family Unlike other woodwind instruments a flute is a Reedless wind instrument that produces its Frank Zappa was also a devoted fan of Satie, incorporating many elements into both his rock and orchestral works. Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21 1940 – December 4 1993 was an American Composer, Electric guitarist Record producer and Film director The English electronic duo Isan recorded versions of the three Gymnopédies for a 2006 7-inch single, "Trois Gymnopedies" on the Morr Music record label. Isan (sometimes written isan or ISAN) are an English Electronic music duo For the Ancient Greek festival and dance see Gymnopaedia. The Gymnopédies, published in Paris starting in 1888 Morr Music is an Independent record label based in Berlin, Germany, founded in 1999

External links

• www.kreusch-sheet-music.net Free Scores by Satie
• Satie's Scores — by the Mutopia Project
• Free scores by Erik Satie in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Photos of Satie's tomb in Arcueil
• An Erik Satie Primer - including samples
• Erik Satie at Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
• Music for all 7 Gnosssiennes can be dowloaded from Howard Harrison Music