Thoughts on Satie?

Question

I just recently came across a Erik Satie's Trois Gnossiennes and I think it's pretty cool. I like how minimalist these three short pieces are and the use of different scales. I have a hard time getting the touch right, but I always enjoy playing them, especially the first one. Satie's definitely different from the composers I'm used to (I'm play the piano every now and then).

What do you think of him? What other works from him do you recommend?

*I play the piano every now and then.

Answer 1

Satie is one of my all-time favorite composers.

For playing those pieces, 3 Gymnopedie and 6 Gnossienne (there are actually 7, but I'm yet to find the 7th on a recording) you play them rubato. That's why there are no bar lines.

Satie is one of the more interesting characters in music history. He composed some music meant as background music for a gathering, and was insulted when people were paying attention to the music.

His Sport et Divertissements were twenty short (some 30 seconds) composed for artwork by Charles Martin. Originally, Stravinsky was asked to compose the works, but asked to high of a fee. When Satie was asked, he was insulted that he offered a fee.

He had a real hostility for the current musical canon. He rebelled against German music, which at that time in history was Wagnerian and whole works were hours long (hence the short pieces). He entitled his works bizarre names such as Veritables preludes flasques (pour un chien) translated as True flabby preludes (for a dog). He also poked fun at the way composers used musical direction. He would instruct the musician to play "with surprise," "very shiny," or "nonlegato without dryness." He composed a sonatina called Sonatine Bureaucratique which is play on Clementi's famous sonatina op 36, no 1. Satie's sonatina is a story about a lazy bureaucrat. The Gnossienne and Gymnopedie are supposed to be reminiscent of Ancient Greece. That's why they are in somewhat modal keys (not entirely).

Musicologists don't give Satie enough credit for his works; however, he was composing music outside of tonality before most. A foreshadowing of what was to come in the 20th Century.

I could go on about all the funny things that he did, and his curious peccadillos, but I won't. If you like the Gnossienne, you won't be disappointed with most of his other music.

Answer 2

Do check out the Gymnopedies (different works from the Gnossiennes but similar sounding) as well as some of his other works (you can buy the Dover edition score which contain all these pieces and many more in one volume).

Also look into some of the French composers who he inspired, especially Georges Auric and Germaine Tailleferre (whose "Fleurs de France" - available from sheetmusicplus.com - is one of my favorite pieces to play.)

Answer 3

An extraordinary composer: very unique, rather mysterious in some ways.

You mentioned his "Gnossiennes". I don't speak(nor read) French. And don't know whether this term can also mean "Gymnopedies": these are his most well known and interesting compositions.

So if they are not synonyms, you should check out his "Gymnopedies": they are very strange, yet haunting pieces.

And thanks for your question,

Alberich

Answer 4

I love the Gymnopedies, particularly number one.