257
See also: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune 228–231 ■ Quartet for the End of
Time 282–283 ■ 4 ́33 ̋ 302–305 ■ In C 312–313 ■ Einstein on the Beach 321MODERN 1900 –1950
Guillaume Apollinaire’s program
notes as a “kind of surrealism”—
three years before the eponymous
art movement. Evoking the streets
of Paris, the music was scored for
“noise-making” instruments, such
as a typewriter and a foghorn.Influential figure
It was after this, in 1917, that Satie
formed Les Nouveaux Jeunes,
a collective of six young French
composers. Under the influence
of Cocteau, the group became
Les Six, whose different styles
were united in their opposition
to German Romanticism.
Satie also influenced much later
composers such as John Cage.
In 1963, Cage published Satie’sVexations (c.1893–1894), a piano
piece that may have been a joke—
the minimalist music consists of
a bass theme and accompanying
chords above it—which was never
published in Satie’s lifetime. Satie’s
score bore the inscription: “In order
to play the theme 840 times in
succession, it would be advisable
to prepare oneself beforehand, and
in the deepest silence, by serious
stillness.” Played by a relay team of
six, the first performance took more
than 18 hours, although it has since
been performed by a single pianist.
Some critics saw the piece as pure
experimentation; others as a
reaction against Wagner. In the
20th century, it became a key
work for conceptual artists. ■Erik Satie
Born in Honfleur, France, in
1866, Satie was a natural
rebel. He spent two periods
at the Paris Conservatoire,
first as a pianist and then
as a composer, but left to
join the military in 1886.
Soon discharged, he moved
to Montmartre in Paris, where
he became a regular patron
of Le Chat Noir club.
In 1888, Satie published
Gymnopédies, innovative
piano pieces. Always seen
in a gray velvet suit (he had
seven of them), he lacked a
steady income and so resorted
to writing and playing cabaret
music. By 1912, he began to
receive more attention from
critics, especially for his earlier
piano pieces. Commissions
followed, including two ballets
and the multimedia Sports et
divertissements. After his
death from cirrhosis of the
liver in 1925, a great many
unknown works, including
Vexations, came to light, found
in his chaotic apartment.Other key works1888 Gymnopédies
1914 Sports et divertissements
1917 Sonatine bureaucratique
1924 RelâcheNoise-making instruments in Parade
Satie used a
variety of “found
sounds” in Parade in
order to add unusual
percussive
elements.Ticker tapeFoghornTypewriterMilk bottlePistolAirplane propellorUS_256-257_Satie.indd 257 26/03/18 1:01 PM