Erik Satie

Alfred Eric Leslie Satie was born in Normandy on 17 May 1866 to a Norman father and a Scottish mother. He began his musical education with organ lessons.

He first studied with the celebrated organist Félix Alexandre Guilmant, then with Albert Lavignac at the Paris Conservatoire. An unsuccessful student, he had to leave the conservatoire after eight years in 1886 and joined the army. A year later bronchitis led to his discharge. He changed his name to Erik and published his first work, “Valse-Ballet”.

After returning to civilian life, he composed “Trois Gymnopédies” for piano in 1888, inspired by a poem by his friend J. P. Contamine de Latour. A year later, Romanian popular music and an Indonesian percussion ensemble heard at the Paris Exposition influenced his work on “Gnossiennes”. In 1891 he began working as a cabaret's second pianist but left after disagreements.

In 1893 he wrote “Danses gothiques” after the end of his relationship with the painter Suzanne Valadon, his only known love. She had given him a portrait of himself, but left him six months later. He composed the piano work to soothe his spirit during this painful period. Between 1893 and 1895 he founded his own church and wrote letters and pamphlets expressing religious and artistic views. In 1895 he composed “Vexations”, an eight-bar motif intended to be repeated 840 times without interruption over eighteen hours. That year, a small inheritance allowed him to change his appearance, abandoning priestly dress for the look of a “Velvet Gentleman”.

In late 1898, financial difficulties led Satie to move to a district of Paris, where a spacious room inspired him to compose “Pièces froides”. He remained in that home for the rest of his life. He is known to have walked 10 km into Paris each day, stopping at cafés to drink and compose, then walking back at night. His musical life changed over the years. In 1905, tired of being regarded as an amateur and of clashes with the academic music world, he enrolled at a school to study counterpoint. He received his diploma in 1908.

Not taken seriously as a composer until his forties, Satie became famous through the ballet “Parade”, created with Picasso and included in the programme of the Ballets Russes, then taking Paris by storm. At Cocteau's suggestion, he used a typewriter, foghorn and baby rattle in the orchestration. The work caused a major scandal and brought his name to public attention. The Dadaists in Zurich made him an honorary member of their movement.

The work that best reflects his musical outlook is “Socrate”, a symphonic drama for four sopranos and chamber orchestra.

Known for his turbulent and unconventional life, Satie died of cirrhosis in a Paris hospital on 1 July 1925.

Cabaret: a theatrical form that treats current issues with irony, satire and pointed humour, offering social criticism.

Gülden Şair
Rekor Sanat – Piano Teacher