Erik sati musical works. Eric Satie - the founder of modern music genres

, Pianist

Eric Satie(fr. , full name Eric Alfred Leslie Satie, fr. ; May 17, 1866, Honfleur, France - July 1, 1925, Paris, France) - an extravagant French composer and pianist, one of the reformers of European music in the 1st quarter of the 20th century.

His piano pieces influenced many Art Nouveau composers. Erik Satie is the forerunner and founder of such musical movements as impressionism, primitivism, constructivism, neoclassicism and minimalism. It was Sati who came up with the genre of “furniture music”, which does not need to be specially listened to, an unobtrusive melody that sounds in a store or at an exhibition.

Satie was born on May 17, 1866 in the Norman town of Honfleur (Department of Calvados). When he was four years old, the family moved to Paris. Then, in 1872, after the death of their mother, the children were again sent to Honfleur.

In 1879, Satie entered the Paris Conservatory, but after two and a half years of not very successful studies, he was expelled. In 1885 he again entered the conservatory, and again did not finish it.

Why attack God? Perhaps he is as unhappy as we are.

Sati Eric

In 1888, Satie wrote the Three Hymnopedias (fr. ) for piano solo, which was based on the free use of non-chord progressions. A similar technique has already been encountered by S. Frank and E. Chabrier. Satie was the first to introduce chord progressions built in fourths; this technique first appeared in his work "The Son of the Stars" (Le fils des étoiles, 1891). Such innovations were immediately used by almost all French composers. These techniques have become characteristic of French modern music. In 1892, Satie developed his own system of composition, the essence of which was that for each piece he composed several - often no more than five or six - short passages, after which he simply docked these elements to each other.

Sati was eccentric, he wrote his compositions in red ink, and liked to play pranks on his friends. He gave his works such titles as "Three pieces in the form of pears" or "Dried embryos". In his play Annoyance, a small musical theme must be repeated 840 times. Erik Satie was an emotional person and although he used the melodies of Camille Saint-Saens for his "Music as a Furnishing", he sincerely hated him. His words have even become a kind of calling card:

In 1899, Satie began working as a pianist at the Black Cat cabaret, which was his only source of income.

Sati was practically unknown to the general public until his fiftieth birthday; a sarcastic, bilious, reserved person, he lived and worked separately from the French musical beau monde. His work became known to the general public thanks to Maurice Ravel, who organized a series of concerts in 1911 and introduced him to good publishers.

But the general Parisian public recognized Sati only six years later - thanks to Diaghilev's Russian Seasons, where at the premiere of Sati's ballet "Parade" (choreography by L. Massine, scenery and costumes by Picasso) there was a big scandal, accompanied by a fight in the auditorium and shouts of "Down with the Russians! Russian Boches! Fame came to Sati after this scandalous incident. The premiere of Parade took place on May 18, 1917 at the Châtelet Theater under the direction of Ernest Ansermet, performed by the Russian Ballet Company with the participation of ballet dancers Lidia Lopukhova, Leonid Myasin, Voitsekhovsky, Zverev and others.

Erik Satie met Igor Stravinsky as early as 1910 (by the way, the famous photograph taken by Stravinsky as a photographer visiting Claude Debussy, where you can see all three of them, is also dated to this year) and experienced a strong personal and creative sympathy for him. However, closer and more regular communication between Stravinsky and Satie did not occur until after the premiere of the Parade and the end of the First World War. Peru Eric Satie owns two large articles on Stravinsky (1922), published at the same time in France and the United States, as well as about a dozen letters, the end of one of which (dated September 15, 1923) is especially often cited in the literature dedicated to both composers. Already at the very end of the letter, saying goodbye to Stravinsky, Sati signed with his usual irony and smile, this time with a kind one, which happened to him not so often: “You, I adore you: aren’t you the same Great Stravinsky? And this is me - none other than little Eric Satie ". In turn, both the poisonous character and the original, "unlike" music of Erik Satie aroused the constant admiration of "Prince Igor", although neither close friendship nor any permanent relationship arose between them. Ten years after Sati's death, Stravinsky wrote about him in the Chronicle of my life: “I liked Sati at first sight. A subtle thing, he was all filled with slyness and clever anger.

In addition to "Parade", Erik Satie is the author of four more ballet scores: "Uspud" (1892), "The Beautiful Hysterical Woman" (1920), "The Adventures of Mercury" (1924) and "Show Canceled" (1924). Also (already after the death of the author) many of his piano and orchestral works were often used for staging one-act ballets and ballet numbers.

Eric Satie died of cirrhosis of the liver as a result of excessive drinking on July 1, 1925 in the working-class suburb of Arceuil near Paris. His death passed almost unnoticed, and only in the 50s of the 20th century did his work begin to return to active space. Today, Erik Satie is one of the most frequently performed piano composers of the 20th century.

Satie's early work influenced the young Ravel. He was a senior friend of the short-lived friendly association of composers of the Six. It did not have any common ideas or even aesthetics, but everyone was united by a common interest, expressed in the rejection of everything vague and the desire for clarity and simplicity - just what was in the works of Sati. He was one of the pioneers of the prepared piano idea and significantly influenced the work of John Cage.

Under his direct influence, such famous composers as Claude Debussy (who was his friend for more than twenty years), Maurice Ravel, the famous French group "Six" were formed, in which Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric and Arthur Honegger are best known. The work of this group (it lasted a little over a year), as well as Sati himself, had a strong influence on Dmitri Shostakovich. Shostakovich heard Satie's works after his death, in 1925, during a tour of the French "Six" in Petrograd. In his ballet "Bolt" you can see the influence of Satie's music.

Some of Satie's works made an extremely strong impression on Igor Stravinsky. In particular, this applies to the ballet "Parade" (1917), the score of which he asked the author for almost a whole year, and the symphonic drama "Socrates" (1918). It was these two compositions that left the most noticeable mark on Stravinsky's work: the first in his constructivist period, and the second in the neoclassical works of the late 1920s. Having been greatly influenced by Satie, he moved from the impressionism (and fauvism) of the Russian period to an almost skeletal style of music, simplifying the writing style. This can be seen in the works of the Parisian period - "The Story of a Soldier" and the opera "Mavra". But even thirty years later, this event continued to be remembered only as an amazing fact in the history of French music.

Enough clouds, mists and aquariums, water nymphs and scents of the night; we need earthly music, the music of everyday life!...
J. Cocteau

E. Satie is one of the most paradoxical French composers. He surprised his contemporaries more than once by actively speaking in his creative declarations against what he had zealously defended until recently. In the 1890s, having met C. Debussy, Satie opposed the blind imitation of R. Wagner, for the development of the emerging musical impressionism, which symbolized the revival of French national art. Subsequently, the composer attacked the epigones of impressionism, opposing its vagueness and refinement with the clarity, simplicity, and rigor of linear writing. The young composers of the "Six" were strongly influenced by Sati. A restless rebellious spirit lived in the composer, calling for the overthrow of traditions. Sati captivated the youth with a bold challenge to philistine taste, with his independent, aesthetic judgments.

Sati was born into the family of a port broker. Among relatives there were no musicians, and the early manifested attraction to music went unnoticed. Only when Eric was 12 years old - the family moved to Paris - did serious music lessons begin. At the age of 18, Sati entered the Paris Conservatory, studied harmony and other theoretical subjects there for some time, and took piano lessons. But dissatisfied with the training, he leaves classes and volunteers for the army. Returning to Paris a year later, he works as a pianist in small cafes in Montmartre, where he meets C. Debussy, who became interested in the original harmonies in the improvisations of the young pianist and even took up the orchestration of his piano cycle Gymnopédie. The acquaintance turned into a long-term friendship. Satie's influence helped Debussy overcome his youthful infatuation with Wagner's work.

In 1898, Satie moved to the Parisian suburb of Arcay. He settled in a modest room on the second floor above a small cafe, and none of his friends could penetrate this refuge of the composer. For Sati, the nickname "Arkey hermit" was strengthened. He lived alone, avoiding publishers, avoiding the lucrative offers of theaters. From time to time he appeared in Paris with some new work. All musical Paris repeated Sati's witticisms, his well-aimed, ironic aphorisms about art, about fellow composers.

In 1905-08. at the age of 39, Satie entered the Schola cantorum, where he studied counterpoint and composition with O. Serrier and A. Roussel. Sati's early compositions date back to the late 80s and 90s: 3 Gymnopedias, Mass of the Poor for choir and organ, Cold Pieces for piano.

In the 20s. he began to publish collections of piano pieces, unusual in form, with extravagant titles: "Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear", "In a Horse's Skin", "Automatic Descriptions", "Dried Embryos". A number of spectacular melodic songs-waltzes, which quickly gained popularity, also belong to the same period. In 1915, Satie became close to the poet, playwright and music critic J. Cocteau, who invited him, in collaboration with P. Picasso, to write a ballet for S. Diaghilev's troupe. The premiere of the ballet "Parade" took place in 1917 under the direction of E. Ansermet.

Deliberate primitivism and emphasized disregard for the beauty of sound, the introduction of the sounds of car sirens into the score, the chirping of a typewriter and other noises caused a noisy scandal in the public and attacks from critics, which did not discourage the composer and his friends. In the music of Parade, Sati recreated the spirit of the music hall, the intonations and rhythms of everyday street melodies.

Written in 1918, the music of "symphonic dramas with the singing of Socrates" on the text of Plato's genuine dialogues, on the contrary, is distinguished by clarity, restraint, even severity, and the absence of external effects. This is the exact opposite of "Parade", despite the fact that these works are separated by only a year. After finishing Socrates, Satie began to implement the idea of ​​furnishing music, representing, as it were, the sound background of everyday life.

Sati spent the last years of his life in seclusion, living in Arkay. He broke off all relations with the "Six" and gathered around him a new group of composers, which was called the "Arkey school". (It included composers M. Jacob, A. Cliquet-Pleyel, A. Sauge, conductor R. Desormières). The main aesthetic principle of this creative union was the desire for a new democratic art. Sati's death passed almost unnoticed. Only in the late 50s. there is a rise in interest in his creative heritage, there are recordings of his piano and vocal compositions.

One of the most amazing and controversial composers in the history of music is Eric Satie. The composer's biography is replete with facts when he could shock his friends and admirers, first fiercely defending one statement, and then refuting it in his theoretical works. In the 90s of the nineteenth century, Eric Satie met Carl Debussy and denied following the creative developments of Richard Wagner - he advocated support for the emerging impressionism in music, because this was the beginning of the reincarnation of the national art of France. Later, the composer Eric Satie waged an active skirmish with imitators of the Impressionist style. In contrast to ephemerality and elegance, he put the clarity, sharpness and certainty of linear notation.

Young years

Eric Satie was born in 1866. His father worked as a port broker. From an early age, young Eric was drawn to music and showed remarkable abilities, but since none of his relatives were involved in music, these attempts were ignored. Only at the age of 12, when the family decided to change their place of residence to Paris, Eric was honored with constant music lessons. At the age of eighteen, Erik Satie entered the conservatory in Paris. He studied a complex of theoretical subjects, among which was harmony. He also took piano lessons. Studying at the conservatory did not satisfy the future genius. He quits classes and joins the army as a volunteer.

A year later, Eric returns to Paris. He works in small cafes as a pianist. In one of these establishments in Montmartre, a fateful meeting took place with Carl Debussy, who was impressed and intrigued by the unusual choice of harmonies in the seemingly simple improvisations of the young musician. Debussy even decided to create an orchestration for Satie's piano cycle, the Gymnopedia. The musicians became friends. Their opinion meant so much to each other that Satie was able to lead Debussy away from his youthful fascination with Wagner's music.

Moving to Arkay

At the end of the nineteenth century, Satie leaves Paris for the suburb of Arcay. He rented an inexpensive room above a small cafe and stopped letting anyone in there. Even close friends could not come there. Because of this, Sati received the nickname "Arkey hermit". He lived completely alone, did not see the need to meet with publishers, did not take large and profitable orders from theaters. Periodically, he appeared in the fashionable circles of Paris, presenting a fresh musical work. And then the whole city discussed it, repeated Sati's jokes, his words and witticisms about musical celebrities of that time and about art in general.

Sati meets the twentieth century by learning. From 1905 to 1908, when he was 39 years old, Eric Satie studied at the Schola cantorum. He studied composition and counterpoint with A. Roussel and O. Serrier. Erik Satie's early music dates from the late nineteenth century, 80s-90s. These are the "Mass of the Poor" for choir and organ, the piano cycle "Cold Pieces" and the well-known "Gymnopedias".

Collaboration with Cocteau. Ballet "Parade"

Already in the 1920s, Satie published collections of piano pieces that had a strange structure and an unusual name: "In a horse's skin", "Three pieces in the form of embryos", "Automatic descriptions". At the same time, he wrote several expressive, extremely melodic songs in the waltz rhythm, which appealed to the public. In 1915, Satie had a fateful acquaintance with Jean Cocteau, playwright, poet and music critic. He received a proposal to create, together with Picasso, a ballet for the famous Diaghilev troupe. In 1917, their brainchild - the ballet "Parade" - was published.

Intentional, emphasized primitivism and deliberate contempt for the euphony of music, the addition of alien sounds to the score, such as a typewriter, car sirens and other things, caused loud condemnation of the public and attacks from critics, which, however, did not stop the composer and his associates. The music of the ballet "Parade" had a music hall response, and the motives resembled melodies that were sung in the streets.

Drama "Socrates"

In 1918, Satie writes a radically different work. The symphonic drama with singing "Socrates", the text for which was the original dialogues of the authorship of Plato, is restrained, crystal clear and even strict. There are no frills and games for the public. This is the antipode of "Parade", although only a year has passed between their writing. At the end of Socrates, Eric Satie promoted the idea of ​​furnishing, accompanying music that would serve as a backdrop to everyday affairs.

last years of life

He met the end of his Sati while living in the same suburb of Paris. He did not meet with his own people, including the Six. Eric Satie gathered around him a new circle of composers. Now they called themselves the "Arkey school". It included Cliquet-Pleyel, Sauguet, Jacob, as well as the conductor Desormières. The musicians discussed the new art of a democratic nature. Almost no one knew about Sati's death. It wasn't covered, it wasn't talked about. The genius left unnoticed. It was not until the middle of the twentieth century that interest in his art, his music and philosophy began again.

eccentric French composer and pianist

Eric Satie

short biography

Eric Satie(French Erik Satie, full name Eric-Alfred-Leslie Satie, fr. Érik Alfred Leslie Satie; May 17, 1866, Honfleur - July 1, 1925, Paris) - an eccentric French composer and pianist, one of the reformers of European music in the first quarter of the 20th century.

His piano pieces have influenced many modern composers, from Claude Debussy, the French Six, to John Cage. Erik Satie is the forerunner and founder of such musical movements as impressionism, primitivism, constructivism, neoclassicism and minimalism. In the late 1910s, Satie came up with the genre of "furnishing music", which does not need to be specially listened to, an unobtrusive melody that constantly sounds in a store or at an exhibition.

Satie was born on May 17, 1866 in the Norman town of Honfleur (Department of Calvados). When he was four years old, the family moved to Paris. Then, in 1872, after the death of their mother, the children were again sent to Honfleur.

In 1879, Satie entered the Paris Conservatory, but after two and a half years of not very successful studies, he was expelled. In 1885 he again entered the conservatory, and again did not finish it.

In 1888, Satie wrote Trois gymnopédies (Three Gymnopédies) for piano solo, which was based on the free use of non-chord progressions. A similar technique has already been encountered by S. Frank and E. Chabrier. Satie was the first to introduce chord progressions built in fourths; this technique first appeared in his work "The Son of the Stars" (Le fils des étoiles, 1891). Such innovations were immediately used by almost all French composers. These techniques have become characteristic of French modern music. In 1892, Satie developed his own system of composition, the essence of which was that for each piece he composed several - often no more than five or six - short passages, after which he simply docked these elements to each other.

Sati was eccentric, he wrote his compositions in red ink and liked to play pranks on his friends. He gave his works such titles as "Three pieces in the form of pears" or "Dried embryos". In his play Annoyance, a small musical theme must be repeated 840 times. Eric Satie was an emotional person and, although he used the melodies of Camille Saint-Saens for his "Music as a Furnishing", he sincerely hated him. His words have even become a kind of calling card:

It is foolish to defend Wagner just because Saint-Saens is attacking him, you need to shout: Down with Wagner along with Saint-Saens!

In 1899, Satie began working as a pianist at the Black Cat cabaret, which was his only source of income.

When you work as a pianist or accompanist in a cafe-chantan, many people consider it their duty to bring a glass or two of whiskey to the pianist, but for some reason no one wants to treat even a sandwich.

Eric Satie, self-portrait

Sati was practically unknown to the general public until his fiftieth birthday; a sarcastic, bilious, reserved person, he lived and worked separately from the French musical beau monde. His work became known to the general public thanks to Maurice Ravel, who organized a series of concerts in 1911 and introduced him to good publishers.

“In short, at the very beginning of 1911, Maurice Ravel (as he always said, very much “owes me a lot”) made a double public injection - both by me and me at the same time. Several concerts at once, performances in the orchestra, in the salon, in the piano, plus publishers, conductors, donkeys ... and again - the obsessive lack of money, how tired I am of this rotten word! Applause and shouts of "encore!" had a strong, but bad effect on me. It’s a sinful thing, having yearned for them over the past years, I didn’t even immediately understand that they can’t be taken too seriously ... and at my own expense.

Eric Satie, Yuri Khanon. "Memories in hindsight"

In 1917, Satie, commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev, wrote the ballet Parade for his Russian Seasons (libretto by Jean Cocteau, choreography by Leonid Myasin, design by Pablo Picasso; Ernest Ansermet conducted the orchestra). During the premiere, which took place on May 18, 1917 at the Chatelet Theater, a scandal erupted in the theater: the audience demanded to lower the curtain, shouted “Down with the Russians! Russian Boches!”, a fight broke out in the auditorium. Irritated by the reception given to the performance not only by the audience, but also by the press, Satie sent one of the critics, Jean Pueg, an insulting letter - for which on November 27, 1917 he was sentenced by the tribunal to eight days in prison and 800 francs of a fine (thanks to the intervention of Mizia Sert, the Minister of the Interior Jules Pams on March 13, 1918 gave him a "respite" from punishment).

At the same time, the score of "Parade" was highly appreciated by Igor Stravinsky:

“The performance struck me with its freshness and genuine originality. “Parade” just confirmed to me to what extent I was right when I put such a high value on the merits of Satie and the role that he played in French music by contrasting the vague aesthetics of impressionism that is surviving its age with its powerful and expressive language, devoid of any or pretentiousness and embellishment.

Igor Stravinsky. Chronicle of my life

Eric Satie met Igor Stravinsky back in 1910 (the same year is the famous photograph taken by Stravinsky visiting Claude Debussy, in which you can see all three) and experienced a strong personal and creative sympathy for him. However, closer and more regular communication between Stravinsky and Satie happened only after the premiere of "Parade" and the end of the First World War. Peru Eric Satie owns two large articles about Stravinsky (1922), published at the same time in France and the USA, as well as about a dozen letters, the end of one of which (dated September 15, 1923) is especially often cited in the literature dedicated to both composers. Already at the very end of the letter, saying goodbye to Stravinsky, Sati signed with his usual irony and smile, this time - kind, which happened to him not so often: “You, I adore you: aren’t you the same Great Stravinsky? And this is me - none other than little Eric Satie".In turn, both the poisonous character and the original, "unlike" music of Erik Satie aroused the constant admiration of "Prince Igor", although neither close friendship nor any kind of permanent relationship arose between them. Ten years after Sati's death, Stravinsky wrote about him in the Chronicle of my life: “I liked Sati at first sight. A subtle thing, he was all filled with slyness and clever anger.

In addition to "Parade", Erik Satie is the author of four more ballet scores: "Uspud" (1892), "The Beautiful Hysterical Woman" (1920), "The Adventures of Mercury" (1924) and "Show Canceled" (1924). Also (already after the death of the author) many of his piano and orchestral works were often used for staging one-act ballets and ballet numbers.

Eric Satie died of cirrhosis of the liver as a result of excessive drinking (especially absinthe) on July 1, 1925 in the working-class suburb of Arceuil near Paris. His death passed almost unnoticed, and only in the 50s of the 20th century did his work begin to return to active space. Today, Erik Satie is one of the most frequently performed piano composers of the 20th century.

Ramon Casas El Bohemio, Poet of Montmartre, 1891, the painting depicts Eric Satie.

creative influence

Satie's early work influenced the young Ravel. He was a senior friend of the short-lived friendly association of composers of the Six. It did not have any common ideas or even aesthetics, but everyone was united by a common interest, expressed in the rejection of everything vague and the desire for clarity and simplicity - just what was in the works of Sati.

Satie became one of the pioneers of the idea of ​​the prepared piano and significantly influenced the work of John Cage. Cage became interested in Eric Satie during his first trip to Europe, having received notes from the hands of Henri Sauge, and in 1963 he decided to present to the American public the work of Satie "Annoyance" - a short piano piece accompanied by the instruction: "Repeat 840 times." At six o'clock on the evening of September 9, Cage's friend Viola Farber sat down at the piano and began to play Annoyances. At 8:00 p.m., she was replaced at the piano by another friend of Cage's, Robert Wood, picking up where Farber left off. There were eleven performers in total, they replaced each other every two hours. The audience came and went, the New York Times columnist fell asleep in his chair. The premiere ended at 0:40 on September 11, it is considered to be the longest piano concerto in the history of music.

Under the direct influence of Satie, such famous composers as Claude Debussy (who was his close friend for more than twenty years), Maurice Ravel, the famous French group "Six" were formed, in which Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric and Arthur Honegger are best known. . The work of this group (it lasted a little over a year), as well as Satie himself, had a noticeable influence on Dmitri Shostakovich, who heard Satie's works after his death, in 1925, during a tour of the French "Six" in Petrograd-Leningrad. In his ballet "Bolt" the influence of the musical style of Sati from the time of the ballet "Parade" and "Beautiful Hysterical" is noticeable.

Some of Satie's works made an extremely strong impression on Igor Stravinsky. In particular, this applies to the ballet Parade (1917), the score of which he asked the author for almost a year, and the symphonic drama Socrates (1918). It was these two compositions that left the most noticeable mark on Stravinsky's work: the first in his constructivist period, and the second in the neoclassical works of the late 1920s. Having been greatly influenced by Satie, he moved from the impressionism (and fauvism) of the Russian period to an almost skeletal style of music, simplifying the writing style. This can be seen in the works of the Parisian period - "The Story of a Soldier" and the opera "Mavra". But even thirty years later, this event continued to be remembered only as an amazing fact in the history of French music:

“Since the Six felt themselves free from their doctrine and were filled with enthusiastic reverence for those against whom they presented themselves as an aesthetic opponent, then they did not constitute any group. The "Sacred Spring" sprouted like a powerful tree, pushing back our bushes, and we were about to admit defeat, when suddenly Stravinsky soon joined myself to our circle of techniques and inexplicably in his works even the influence of Eric Satie was felt.

- Jean Cocteau, "for the anniversary concert of the Six in 1953"

Having invented in 1916 the avant-garde genre of "background" (or "furnishing") industrial music, which does not need to be specifically listened to, Eric Satie was also the pioneer and forerunner of minimalism. His obsessive melodies, repeated hundreds of times without the slightest change or interruption, sounding in a store or in a salon while receiving guests, were ahead of their time by a good half century.

Bibliography

Eric Satie, self-portrait 1913(from the book "Memories in hindsight")

• Schneerson G. French music of the 20th century. M., 1964; 2nd ed. - 1970.
• Filenko G. E. Satie // Questions of theory and aesthetics of music. L .: Music, 1967. Issue. 5.
• Hanon Yu. Eric-Alfred-Leslie: A completely new chapter in every sense // Le Journal de St. Petersburg. 1992. No. 4.
• Satie, E., Hanon Y. Memories in hindsight. - St. Petersburg: Faces of Russia; Center for Middle Music, 2010. - 680 p. - 300 copies. - the first book of Sati and about Sati in Russian, which includes all his literary works, notebooks and most of the letters.
• Selivanova A. D. Socrates by Erik Satie: Musique d'ameublement or rehearsal music? // Scientific Bulletin of the Moscow Conservatory. Moscow, 2011, No. 1, pp. 152-174.
• Davis, Mary E. Erik Satie / Per. from English. E. Miroshnikova. - M: Garage, Ad Marginem, 2017. - 184 p.

In French

• Cocteau Jean E. Satie. Liege, 1957.
• Satie, Eric. Correspondance presque complete. Paris: Fayard; IMEC, 2000.
• Satie, Eric. Ecrits. Paris: Champ libre, 1977.
• Rey, Anne satie. Paris.: Editions du Seuil, 1995.

Satie was born on May 17, 1866 in the Norman town of Honfleur (Department of Calvados). When he was four years old, the family moved to Paris. Then, in 1872, after the death of their mother, the children were again sent to Honfleur.

In 1888, Satie wrote the work Trois gymnopédies for piano solo, which was based on the free use of non-chord progressions. A similar technique has already been encountered by S. Frank and E. Chabrier.

In 1879, Satie entered the Paris Conservatory, but after two and a half years of not very successful studies, he was expelled. In 1885 he again entered the conservatory - and again did not finish it.

In 1892, he developed his own system of composition, the essence of which was that for each play Satie composed several - often no more than five or six - short passages, after which he joined these elements to each other without any system.

This work of Satie influenced the young Ravel. He was a senior friend of the short-lived friendly association of composers of the Six. It did not have any ideas or even aesthetics, but everyone was united by a common interest, expressed in the rejection of everything vague and the desire for clarity and simplicity - just what was in the works of Sati. Satie was one of the pioneers of the prepared piano idea and significantly influenced the work of John Cage.

Sati was eccentric, he wrote his compositions in red ink, and he liked to play pranks on his friends. He gave such titles to his works as "Three pieces in the form of pears" or "Dried embryos". In his play Annoyance, a small musical theme must be repeated 840 times. Eric Satie was an emotional person and although he used the melodies of Camille Saint-Saens for his "Music as a Furnishing", he sincerely hated him.

As a result of excessive drinking, Satie developed cirrhosis of the liver and died on July 1, 1925 in the working-class suburb of Arceuil near Paris.

Sati himself, until his fiftieth birthday, was practically unknown to the general public, a sarcastic, bilious, reserved person, he lived and worked separately from the musical beau monde of France.

Best of the day

Sati became known to the general public thanks to Maurice Ravel, who arranged a cycle of his concerts in 1911 and introduced him to good publishers, and three years later - thanks to Diaghilev's Russian Seasons, where at the premiere of Sati's ballet "Parade" (choreography by L. Myasin, scenery and costumes by Picasso ) in 1916, a big scandal took place, accompanied by a fight in the auditorium and shouts of “Down with the Russians! Russian Boches! Fame came to Sati after this scandalous incident. Nevertheless, it is noted that Igor Stravinsky's "Spring" had a clear influence on the music of "Parade", as well as on the work of many composers.

Having invented in 1916 the avant-garde genre of "background" (or "furnishing") music, which does not need to be specially listened to, Eric Satie was also the pioneer and forerunner of minimalism. His obsessive melodies, repeated hundreds of times without the slightest change or interruption, sounding in a store or in a salon while receiving guests, were ahead of their time by a good half century.

The death of Eric Satie went almost unnoticed, and only in the 50s of the XX century did his work begin to return to the active space. Today, Erik Satie is one of the most frequently performed piano composers of the 20th century.

Creative influence of Sati

Under his direct influence, such famous composers as Claude Debussy (who was his friend for more than twenty years), Maurice Ravel, the famous French group "Six" were formed, in which Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric and Arthur Honegger are best known. The work of this group (it lasted a little over a year), as well as Sati himself, had a strong influence on Dmitri Shostakovich. Shostakovich heard Satie's works after his death, in 1925, during a tour of the French "Six" in Petrograd. In his ballet "Bolt" you can see the influence of Satie's music.

For a decade, one of Satie's brightest followers was Igor Stravinsky, continuing his Parisian period. Highly influenced by Satie, he moved from the Impressionism (and Fauvism) of the Russian period to an almost skeletal style of music, simplifying the writing style. This can be seen in the works of the Parisian period - "The Story of a Soldier" and in the opera "Mavra".