Erik Satie Sheet Music

Erik Satie

Éric Alfred Leslie Satie (b. May 17, 1866 in Honfleur, † July 1, 1925 in Paris), or Erik Satie for short, was a French composer who – in the wake of late Romanticism, the Impressionism that surrounded him, and the flare-up of Expressionism – knew how to remain true to himself and his view of music, creating and maintaining his own unique style.
Erik Satie could be called the satirist among turn-of-the-century composers. His pieces are short, straightforward, and downright minimalist, only to have playing instructions and headings that are all the longer and veer into the Dadaist. Here Satie is possibly satirizing the fashion, burgeoning at the time, of giving performers, instead of conventional instructions such as "Adagio" or "Allegro moderato," more detailed instructions such as "Andante très expressif" and "morendo jusq'à la fin" ("Very expressive andante" and "Morendo to the end", from Clair de lune by C. Debussy) or "Mouvement de Valse très modéré" ("Very moderate waltz movement" from Ma mère l'oye No. IV by M. Ravel) to hand. In Satie's case, playing instructions then sound like this: "Conseillez-vous soigneusement" ("Consult carefully"), "De manière à obtenir un creux" ("To obtain a hollow") or "Dans une saine supériorité" ("In healthy superiority", all from Gnossienne). Satie's 7th dance from Danses Gothique is headed: "Par pitié pour les ivrognes, honteux, débauchés, imparfaits, désagréables et faussaires en tous genres", which can be translated, mutatis mutandis, as "Out of pity for the drunkards, ashamed, dissolute, imperfect, disagreeable and fakers of all kinds".
But there are also non-ironic compositions in Satie's oeuvre. In addition to his piano works, Satie produced three ballet scores and the symphonic drama Socrate, as well as the mass Messe des pauvres ("Poor People's Mass"), furthermore a piece for violin and piano entitled Choses vues à Droite et à Gauche - sans lunettes ("Seen right and left - without glasses"), furthermore some vocal works/songs.

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