L ymagier d erik satie biography

By mid, he had composed the first pieces in a compositional system of his own making. While the 'comrades' from both the Chat Noir and Miguel Utrillo's "Auberge du Clou" sympathized, a promotional brochure was produced for the project, which reads as a pamphlet for a new esoteric sect. Satie started an affair early in with Suzanne Valadon, known for her work as a model for numerous artists including Edgar Degas , Renoir and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

She became a successful artist and long-time friend of tavern owner Miguel Utrillo y Morlius. After their first night together, Satie proposed marriage. There was no marriage, but soon Valadon moved to a room next to Satie's at the Rue Cortot. Satie became obsessed with her, calling her his Biqui, and writing impassioned notes about "her whole being, lovely eyes, gentle hands, and tiny feet.

After six months she moved away, leaving Satie broken-hearted. Afterwards, he said that he was left with nothing but an icy loneliness that fills the head with emptiness and the heart with sadness. Apparently, this would remain the only intimate relationship Satie ever had. In the same year, he met the young Maurice Ravel for the first time, Satie's style emerging in the first compositions of the youngster.

One of Satie's own compositions of that period, the Vexations, was to remain undisclosed until after his death. Such proceedings, without doubt, helped to destroy his popularity in the cultural establishment. In , he inherited some money, allowing him to have some more of his writings printed, and to change from wearing a priest-like habit to being the "Velvet Gentleman.

At this period, he re-established contact with his brother Conrad in much the way Vincent Van Gogh had with his brother Theo for numerous practical and financial matters, disclosing some of his inner feelings in the process. For example, from his letters to his brother, it's clear that he had set aside any religious ideas which were not to return until the last months of his life.

Satie used humor very often to indicate his many strong views. From the winter of —, Satie could be seen, as a daily routine, leaving his apartment in the Parisian suburb of Arcueil to walk across Paris to either Montmartre or Montparnasse, before walking back again in the evening. It appeared that he did not completely reject Romanticism and its exponents like Wagner since he had become more moderate; however, he rejected certain aspects of it.

Musically, what he rejected most, from his very first composition to his very last, was the idea of musical development, or the intertwining of different themes in a development section of a sonata form. This naturally made his works, especially his contrapuntal ones very short, e. Generally he would say that he didn't think it permitted a composer to take more time from his public than strictly necessary, certainly avoiding being boring in any way.

Also, Satie appears to have succeeded quite well in staying clear of the art of melodrama, in its historical meaning of the then popular romantic genre of "spoken words to a background of music. In the meanwhile, some other changes had also taken place. Also, instead of involving himself again in any kind of medievalist sect, he channelled these interests into a peculiar secret hobby.

He maintained a collection of imaginary buildings most of them described as being made out of some kind of metal , which he drew on little cards. Occasionally, extending the game, he would publish anonymous small announcements in local journals, offering some of these buildings e. From this point, things started to move very quickly for Satie.

As for Satie's motivation for this step, there were probably two main reasons: first, he was tired of being told that the harmonisation of his compositions was erratic a criticism he could not very well counter while not having completed any studies in music , and secondly, he was developing the idea that one of the most typical characteristics of French music was clarity which could better be achieved with a good background knowledge of how traditional harmony was perceived.

Satie would follow these courses at the Schola, as a respected pupil, for more than five years, receiving a first intermediate diploma in Some of his classroom counterpoint-exercises would, after his death, be published e. Another summary, of the period prior to the Schola, also appeared in the Trois Morceaux en forme de poire , which was a kind of compilation of the best of what he had written up to Also, instead of involving himself again in any kind of medievalist sect , he channelled these interests into a peculiar secret hobby : in a filing cabinet he maintained a collection of imaginary buildings most of them described as being made out of some kind of metal , which he drew on little cards.

Occasionally, extending the game, he would publish anonymous small announcements in local journals, offering some of these buildings e. From this point, things started to move very quickly for Satie. His habit of accompanying the scores of his compositions with all kinds of written remarks was now well established so that a few years later he had to insist that these not be read out during performances.

Mostly there were no barlines any more. These pieces had been performed in Rossini's exclusive salon in Paris some decades before. In all probability, however, Satie hadn't seen or heard any of this music when he was composing his own piano music in the first decades of the 20th century; the Rossini piano pieces had not yet been published at that time.

It is said that Diaghilev discovered the manuscripts of these Rossini pieces around at Naples , before staging La Boutique Fantasque — this was about the same time that Satie stopped writing humorous comments on his scores. But the real acceleration in Satie's life didn't come so much from the increasing success of his new piano pieces; in fact it was Ravel who probably unknowingly triggered something that was to become a characteristic of Satie's remaining years: being a part of every progressive movement that manifested itself in Paris over the following years.

These movements succeeded one another rapidly, while without doubt in these years Paris was the artistic capital of the world long before London or New York would achieve much significance in this regard , and the beginning of the new century appeared to have set many minds on fire. At first Satie was pleased that at least some of his works were receiving public attention, but when he realised that this meant that his more recent work was overlooked or dismissed, he looked for other young artists who related better to his more recent ideas, so as to have better mutual support in creative activity.

Thus young artists such as Roland Manuel , and later Georges Auric and Jean Cocteau , started to receive more of his attention than the 'Jeunes'. Then, with Jean Cocteau, whom he had first met in , he started work on incidental music for a production of Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night's Dream resulting in the Cinq Grimaces. Later the group was joined by Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud.

In September , Satie — giving little or no explanation — withdrew from the Nouveaux Jeunes. Jean Cocteau gathered the six remaining members, forming the Groupe des Six to which Satie would later have access, but later again would fall out with most of its members. From on he was in contact with Tristan Tzara , the initiator of the Dada movement.

On the day of his first meeting with Man Ray they fabricated the first ever readymade : The Gift. Satie contributed to the Dadaist publication Volta devoted nearly 50 years of her life to researching and writing about the life and works of composer Erik Satie.

L ymagier d erik satie biography

Volta was forced to close the museum in due to lack of subsidies. In , Volta donated a large collection of Satie's works to the French National Archives , which entrusted their conservation to the Institute for Contemporary Publishing Archives. She also organized numerous exhibitions dedicated to Satie, including the foundation of Erik Satie : les Maisons Satie in Honfleur in Contents move to sidebar hide.

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