256
I HAVE NEVER
WRITTEN A NOTE
I DIDN’ T MEAN
PARADE ( 1917 ), ERIK SATIE
A
t the end of the 19th
century, a new musical
nationalism arose in
France. Young composers sought
to free themselves from European
traditions and imbue their art with
a sense of French, and particularly
Parisian, culture. This led to
two strands of new music: the
impressionist work of composers
such as Debussy and Ravel, which
had parallels in the art of the
period, and the music of Dadaist
composers, which celebrated
the absurd and challenged the
definition of what music might be.An early example of Dadaism in
music was the work of Erik Satie.
His Trois Gymnopédies, the first of
which was published in 1888, with
their focus on repetition of rhythm
and harmony and use of unresolved
dissonances, are both hypnotic
and static. Partly inspired by
medieval French music, they reject
musical development in favor of
the juxtaposition of ideas. Debussy
was so impressed by the pieces
that he orchestrated two of them.Surrealism in music
Satie was influential among young
French composers and well known
to other artists. When Jean Cocteau
heard his Trois morceaux en forme
de poire (Three Pieces in the Shape
of a Pear), a piano suite for piano
duet, in 1903, he commissioned
Satie to compose the music to a
ballet that eventually combined the
talents of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet
Russes, choreographer Léonide
Massine, and Pablo Picasso. The
work, Parade, was described inInspired by his work as a cabaret
pianist, Satie incorporated jazz
influences into some of his music,
including the Ragtime movement from
“Parade,” later transcribed for solo piano.IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Dadaism in musicBEFORE
1881 Le Chat Noir cabaret
club opens in Montmartre,
in Paris. It becomes a meeting
place for avant-garde artists,
writers, and musicians.1907 Pablo Picasso paints
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, in
which he develops the ideas
behind Cubism, which will
influence Satie.AFTER
1924 Satie’s ballet Relâche
includes a surrealist film
sequence by French director
René Clair.1930 Jean Cocteau produces
La Voix humaine, a monologue
that Poulenc later turns into
an opera.US_256-257_Satie.indd 256 26/03/18 1:01 PM