Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (his mother was a Scot, hence the names) who, on his compositions at least, signed himself as Erik, was one of the most eccentric composers in a world where most composers are slightly odd (and why not?).
His professional life started as a nightclub/cabaret pianist at the Chat Noir and then the Auberge du Clou where he first met and befriended Claude Debussy; and while he destroyed most of his cabaret songs, one or two still survive:
It’s in this period (1880s) that his best known piano works – the Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes were written:
Satie: Gymnopédies 1-3
Two of the Gymnopédies were later orchestrated by his newly acquired friend:
Satie: Gymnopédies arr. Debussy
His eccentricity can be sampled in some of his other piano pieces. Take this, for example, it’s entitled ‘Cold pieces’ the first of which is called ‘Tunes to make you flee’ with the performer instructed to play ‘in a very particular manner’. But also note, on a purely musical level, the futuristic lack of bar lines and key signature!
Satie: Parade
There are two ballets, Parade and Relâche [i.e. Cancelled], on which he collaborated with the likes of Cocteau, Picasso and Picabia…
… Parade, in particular, was a succès de scandale with lots and lots of booing and even a subsequent law case which saw Satie sentenced to eight days imprisonment.
Satie: Socrate
Then there’s the deeply serious Socrate, a setting of Plato commissioned by Princesse de Polignac (aka Winnaretta Singer).
0:00 Portrait de Socrate
6:52 Sur les bords de l’Illissus
14:56 Mort de Socrate
There’s no doubting Satie’s influence on Debussy (and vice versa). You can detect it in some of his (Debussy’s) Préludes of 1909-1910. Sadly, the composers quarreled in 1917 and weren’t reconciled before Debussy’s death the following year.
Debussy: Préludes, Book 1
00:00:00 1. Danseuses de delphes
00:02:54 2. Voiles
00:07:24 3. Le vent dans la plaine
00:09:49 4. ‘Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir’
00:13:49 5. Les collines d’Anacapri
00:16:46 6. Des pas sur la neige
00:19:58 7. Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest
00:23:10 8. La fille aux cheveux de lin
00:25:23 9. La sérénade interrompue
00:28:06 10. La cathédrale engloutie
00:34:14 11. La danse de Puck
00:36:48 12. Minstrels
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Pontarddulais!
The Art of Listening 