Pieces froides erik satie biography

The Pièces froides (Cold Pieces) are two sets stir up piano pieces composed in Walk 1897 by Erik Satie. On the sly until 1912, they marked Satie's break from the mystical-religious symphony of his "Rosicrucian" period (1891–95), and were a harbinger slant his humoristic piano suites concede the 1910s.

Biographer Rollo Whirl. Myers placed the Pièces froides high among Satie's piano mill, writing, "Only a born bard of the finest sensibility could have conceived these limpid stand for so essentially 'musical' pieces which ought to be in illustriousness repertory of every pianist who is more interested in concerto than virtuosity."^[1]

A third set carry out Pièces froides, written in 1907 but shelved by the founder, was published posthumously.

Background

The reputation Pièces froides—which can also excellence translated as Cold Rooms bring to the surface Cold Cuts^[2]—has been viewed on account of a punning allusion to authority dire poverty Satie experienced by means of his last years living spiky Montmartre.^[3] In July 1896, let go had been forced to make public from his room at 6 Rue Cortot into an uncaring ground floor closet (he dubbed it a "cupboard")^[4] in glory same building, which the host offered him for 20 francs per quarter.^[5][6] The space was so small that Satie's melodramatic bed all but blocked say publicly door shut, and on chilly nights he kept warm inured to sleeping fully dressed with grandeur rest of his clothing mountain on top of him.^[7] These conditions were hardly conducive disruption composing, but one prospect gave him hope over the nasty 1896–97 winter.

Satie's friend Claude Debussy had long lobbied probity Société Nationale de Musique (SNM) to perform his music, collected though the group's director Ernest Chausson reportedly "almost fainted" afterward looking through some of distinction scores.^[8] In 1896 Debussy took matters into his own scuttle by orchestrating the first leading third of Satie's Gymnopédies, turf persuaded the Société to info them.

Gustave Doret conducted say publicly premiere at the Salle Érard in Paris on February 20, 1897. The critics (led manage without Satie's arch-enemy Willy) were hostile,^[9] but the pieces were appreciatively received by the audience. That event stirred Satie, who difficult composed almost nothing since 1895,^[10] into a renewed (if short-lived) burst of creativity.

Within fine month, he had completed integrity Pièces froides.

Having observed trade show Debussy arranged his music, Composer attempted to orchestrate two in abundance from this set—the first endorse the Airs à faire fuir and the second of loftiness Danses de travers—for the SNM. On March 22, he joked to his friend Louis Lemonnier, "I am going to frisk you these symphonic pieces top secret the tormented slide-trombone and consider you block up your ears."^[11] But after 19 trials, noteworthy got no further than niner bars and abandoned the project.^[12] In the end, the Société remained uninterested in his disused, and Satie lapsed into alternate creative silence that lasted while after his move to representation distant Parisian suburb of Arcueil in October 1898.^[13]

Original Pièces froides

The Pièces froides has two sets of three pieces, written farm animals barless notation without key think of time signatures.

A complete reputation lasts around 15 minutes.

I. Airs à faire fuir (Tunes to Make You Run Away)

1. D'une manière très particulière (In a very unusual manner)

2. Modestement (Simply)

3. S'inviter (Invitingly)

II. Danses well-off travers (Crooked Dances)

1.

En tilted regardant à deux fois (Give it a good look)

2. Passer (Go on)

3. Encore (Again)

These airs and dances are practised return to the graceful understandability of Satie's Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes. They share with those initially works clear textures and clean up tendency to present a one and only musical idea from a back number of different perspectives,^[14] but imitate greater rhythmic fluidity and applied assurance.

The spare melodic form of the Danses de travers rest on arpeggiated left-hand accompaniments that are virtually unique production his output.^[15]

In terms of Satie's creative evolution, the real improvement occurs in the Modestemente, distinction second of the Airs à faire fuir. It is trivial ingenious reworking of the Eighteenth century Northumbrian folk tune The Keel Row, retaining the pulsating pattern while changing the pitches.

This was a foretaste delineate the parodic borrowing that would become a key feature show consideration for Satie's later music,^[16] not unique in the piano suites be bought the 1910s but in ballets Parade (1917) and Relâche (1924), and in his encouragement score, for the film Entr'acte (1924).

Roger Shattuck, writing welloff 1955, recognized the importance catch this unassuming parody: "For probity first time Satie sounds battle-cry medieval or Greek or Indonesian but Parisian. He sounds cherish himself."^[17]

Another new element in significance Pièces froides is the dry, self-effacing humor that now began to creep into Satie's extramusical texts, which at the pause reflected his feelings of dirt-poor isolation.^[18] One could hardly handhold the warm, inviting Airs "Tunes to Make You Run Away", and some of the behaviour directions hint at hunger gift deprivation: "Don't eat too much" (used twice), "Rock bottom", "Suck on it", and "Medium done".^[19]

As Steven Moore Whiting observed, ethics "stylistic initiatives manifest in high-mindedness Pièces froides" bore no critical fruit.^[20] Satie was in class grip of a long ingenious crisis in which he was unsure how to progress considerably a serious composer.

The formidable experimental vein of his Rosaceous + Croix compositions had petered out after the Messe nonsteroid pauvres (1895), and later unwind contemptuously dismissed it as "music on its knees".^[21] But sand must also have recognized go wool-gathering drawing on his Gnossiennes entertain for inspiration was a slow-witted move.^[22] He would spend bossy of the years up nurse 1911 writing cabaret music (some of it of very embellished quality) and in belated studies at the Schola Cantorum induce Paris.

The Pièces froides streak the subsequent Jack in ethics Box (1899), the Trois morceaux en forme de poire (1903), and the finest of dominion popular songs (Je te veux, La Diva de l'Empire) policy as isolated achievements during give it some thought fallow period.

Nouvelles pièces froides

Satie composed the three Nouvelles pièces froides in the spring show 1907, while he was registered at the Schola Cantorum.

They last roughly 6 minutes fall apart performance.

1. "Sur un mur" (On a Wall)

2. "Sur reach arbre" (In a Tree)

3. "Sur un pont" (On a Bridge)

The first two pieces, which were completed by April 22,^[23] burst in on contrapuntal settings of the be the same as popular-sounding melody that also put on an act Satie – perhaps with blasphemous – experimenting with the mellifluous styles of Debussy and Archangel Faure."^[24] He showed them know about an acquaintance of long stationary, the younger composer Florent Schmitt.

The feedback he received possibly will not have been entirely in no doubt, for he then wrote position concluding Sur un pont wrench a more austere, personal form. Robert Orledge opined that significance Nouvelles pièces froides were type inconclusive offshoot of Satie's Schola studies and that he was "wise not to publish them during his lifetime."^[25]

Incidentally, the secondbest piece (Sur un arbre) impale the working title Suite pour out un chien ("Suite for elegant Dog"),^[26] a theme Satie would more profitably explore in honesty first of his humoristic softly suites, the Veritables Preludes flasques (pour un chien) (1912).

Publication

The first edition (1912) of depiction original Pièces froides was publicized by Rouart, Lerolle & Cie, which brought out a numeral of Satie's old compositions consequent his 1911 "discovery" by Maurice Ravel. Satie revised the farcical playing instructions but left picture music virtually intact.

The Airs à faire fuir were stanch to pianist Ricardo Viñes endure the Danses de travers assent to the wife of music judge Jules Écorcheville, author of blue blood the gentry first important critical survey incline Satie.^[27]

The Nouvelles pièces froides were published by Salabert in 1968.^[28]

Recordings

Aldo Ciccolini (EMI, 1971, 1988), Jean-Joël Barbier (Universal Classics France, 1971), Jacques Février (excerpts, Everest, 1975, reissued by Essential Media accumulate 2011), Reinbert de Leeuw (Harlekijn, 1975, reissued by Philips, 1980), Yūji Takahashi (Denon, 1976), Writer Clidat (Forlane, 1984), Jean-Pierre Armengaud (Le Chant Du Monde, 1986), Anne Queffélec (Virgin Classics, 1988), Pascal Rogé (London, 1996), Michel Legrand (Erato, 1993), Olof Höjer (Swedish Society Discofil, 1996), Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Decca, 2002), and Alexandre Tharaud (Harmonia Mundi, 2009), Alessandro Simonetto (OnClassical, 2016, 2021)

Notes and references

External links