Satie
NAME: Satie, Erik.
ACHIEVEMENT(S): Modern composer
NICKNAME/ALIAS: Born Eric Alfred Leslie Satie.
DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: 17th May 1866, at Honfleur, Calvados, France.
DATE/PLACE/AGE AT DEATH: 1st July 1925, at Paris, France. Aged 59.
DISCIPLINE: Composer.
FIELD: Music.
LANGUAGE: French.
PARENTS: Alfred Satie and Jane Leslie Anton, married 1865.
SIBLINGS: Louise Olga Jeannie, Conrad and Diane.
SPOUSE: None.
CHILDREN: None.
EDUCATION: College de Honfleur; Paris Conservatoire; Schola Cantorum.
MAJOR WORK: 'Socrate', 1920.
LIFE AND TIMES:
In 1879, aged thirteen, Satie enrolled at the Paris Conservatory, where he studied until his dismissal, in 1882, for failing to reach the required standard. In late 1887, in an attempt to establish a music publishing business, Satie's father published five songs written by Satie and his great friend, Contamine de Latour.
Now working as a cafe pianist, Satie turned to composing piano pieces, producing the 'Trois Sarabandes' in 1887-88, the 'Trois Gymnopedies' in 1888 and his orientally influenced 'Gnossiennes' in 1890.
In late 1888, he had started to spend time in Montmarte with de Latour, and developed a keen interest in mystical religion, Gregorian chant, Gothic art and the lives of the saints.
Meanwhile, his relationship with his family grew strained and he went to live in Montmarte where he joined the flamboyant Josephin Peladan.
Peladan was of the Catholic 'Rosicrucian' artistic movement, for which Satie later became the official composer. His first score for the movement was 'Le Fils des Etoiles' in 1891. During the composition of this piece, Satie met <a pal of> Debussy*, the man who, for twenty five years, was his greatest friend.
Influenced by Debussy, Satie was often flamboyant and exhibitionist, at one point purchasing twelve identical grey suits. In 1892, he publicly announced his break with Peladan and he and de Latour had their 'Christian Ballet', 'Uspud', perfrmed at the Paris Opera.
In 1893, he had a stormy affair with the painter Suzanne Valadon, mother of the painter Maurice Utrillo. In the same year, he formed his own 'Eglise Metropolitaine d'Art de Jesus Conducteur', publishing its broadsheet paper, 'Le Cartulaire'.
Two further 'Gymnopedies' were published in 1895, but over the next decade he composed little beyond his Rosicrucian-inspired 'Messe des Pauvres' ('Mass of the Poor', 1895). Leaving Montmarte, he moved to his last home in 1898, in the southern Paris suburb of Arcueil-Cachan, where he lived alone.
His main work between 1898 and 1913 was the set 'Three Pear-shaped Pieces', written between 1890 and 1903. These consisted, for the most part, of arrangements of cabaret melodies.
The tide finally began to turn in Satie's favour in 1911, when the composer <promoted by> Ravel* played his 'Sarabandes' at a concert of the Societe Musicale Independante. Two months later, Debussy conducted a performance of his 'Gymnopedie' orchestrations and the following years saw orchestrations of his works by Roland-Manuel and Ravel.
In April 1915, Satie gave a performance of his 'Trois Morceaux' and was heard by the young <promoted by> Cocteau*. From this time, Cocteau championed Satie at every opportunity and his meteoric rise to fame after World War I was entirely due to Cocteau.
Using his influence in wealthy circles to win commissions for Satie, Cocteau then persuaded virtuoso pianists to play the pieces. He also wrote and lectured about Satie and collaborated with him, most notably in the ballet commissioned by <worked for> Sergei Diaghilev* for his Ballets Russes: 'Parade' (1917).
The opening of 'Parade' in May 1917, choreographed by <collaborated with> Massine*, scenario by Cocteau, and stage design and costumes by <collaborated with> Picasso*, caused a scandal. The ballet was scored by Satie for typewriters, sirens, aeroplane propellers, ticker tape and a lottery wheel and anticipated the use of jazz materials by <anticipated work of> Stravinsky* and others. The word 'surrealism' was used for the first time in <program notes by> Apollinaire*'s program notes for 'Parade' and this work established Satie as a major figure.
Meanwhile, he had begun work on what is often considered his masterpiece, the cantata 'Socrate' (1918), for four sopranos and chamber orchestra, based on Plato's 'Dialogues'. It was not publicly performed until 1920. During this time, he completed his last serious piano works, the five 'Nocturnes' (1919).
In this final period, Satie's output was far more varied than before. He co-produced 'Musique d'Ameublement' as a background for the intervals in a concert and he also wrote songs, piano music and ballet scores. The latter culminated in 'Mercure' and 'Relache' of 1924.
By this time Satie's health had begun to deteriorate. For some years he had been drinking quite heavily and, from now on, he became increasingly unsociable, declining rapidly after 'Relache'. Eventually, he was forced to move into hospital and on 1st July 1925, he died of sclerosis of the liver.
ASSESSMENT: Satie guided composition away from the style of impressionism.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: <reviewed by> Ford Madox Ford* reviewed his work
He superseded <superseded> Wagner’s* style.
ONELINER: Erik Satie, major modern composer
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Oxford Dictionary of Music
Gowers, Patrick, "Eric Satie", in The New Grove Twentieth-Century French Masters, London: Macmillan, 1986.
Volta, Ornella, Satie Seen Through His Letters, trans. Michael Bullock, London & New York: Marion Boyars, 1989.